I am in between my 3rd and 4th shot of Humira. There are days that I am waking up with more swelling and pain than before. I am just wondering what the experience of having the drug work for different people is like. Thanks for sharing your experience with this drug.
Best,
Martine
Hey Martine!
I switched from Enbrel to Humira almost 2 years ago. At first I was convinced they had given me a dodgy batch of injections as it did NOTHING. Contrast that to my Enbrel experience which was that it worked immediately.
It took a while for Humira to kick in--like three or four months. And it came on very slowly. Fatigue level changed first, then pain, then stiffness. But then, all of a sudden, I wasn't in pain, I wasn't swollen and I wasn't tired. Like you might be thinking right now, I went through the process of wondering whether I should switch meds again.
Only you can know if/when you're done waiting. But maybe hang in there for a little while longer?
This is early days for sure. I'm assuming you're taking Humira fortnightly? I'd had huge knees forever, or at least it seemed like that, and Humira made them return to normal. I think it only took a couple of months. But generally I reckon you're looking at rather longer than that to see a real difference, 3 months at least. I would say that after 6 to 8 months most of my joints started to feel, well, normal. I hadn't had severe pain for years before starting the drug but I did have some which I'd kind of got used to. Humira has slowly but surely eliminated most pain, most of the time.
Thank you. Your respponse was very helpful.
janeatiu said:
Hey Martine!
I switched from Enbrel to Humira almost 2 years ago. At first I was convinced they had given me a dodgy batch of injections as it did NOTHING. Contrast that to my Enbrel experience which was that it worked immediately.It took a while for Humira to kick in–like three or four months. And it came on very slowly. Fatigue level changed first, then pain, then stiffness. But then, all of a sudden, I wasn’t in pain, I wasn’t swollen and I wasn’t tired. Like you might be thinking right now, I went through the process of wondering whether I should switch meds again.
Only you can know if/when you’re done waiting. But maybe hang in there for a little while longer?
Thank you.
Sybil said:
This is early days for sure. I'm assuming you're taking Humira fortnightly? I'd had huge knees forever, or at least it seemed like that, and Humira made them return to normal. I think it only took a couple of months. But generally I reckon you're looking at rather longer than that to see a real difference, 3 months at least. I would say that after 6 to 8 months most of my joints started to feel, well, normal. I hadn't had severe pain for years before starting the drug but I did have some which I'd kind of got used to. Humira has slowly but surely eliminated most pain, most of the time.