Did my Humira jab work?

dreamdaisy

Hi everyone. My name is Dreamdaisy and I joined yesterday. I have PA and I'm on humira (and a plethora of other gear too). I did my injection on Tuesday. The thing is, I don't know if it worked or not. I've been taking it since July 2009 and this might be the first time I've had trouble. The pen fired as normal, but then clicked a few times, the yellow marker didn't appear for ages, sank below the little window/screen, and the stuff only hurt for about thirty minutes, instead of the usual few hours. I also feel more lousy. I'm on fortnightly doses and it's now reached the point that for the last four days before dosing I feel horrible. I suspect it's losing its effectiveness anyway, and may request weekly doses, so it can lose its effectiveness more quickly! Anyone else out there had a similar problem? Would appreciate any comments. Happy Friday night to all. Dreamdaisy.

tillytop

Hi dreamdaisy. I have had a couple of Humira Pen probs - one of which sounds like what happened to you. Once the pen didn't fire properly and I ended up spraying Humira everywhere except into me!!! Somewhere in the info which I got at the beginning it said that probs with the pen should be reported to Healthcare at Home so that they can feed back to the manufacturer. When I did that they wanted details of the batch number and then they explained that other people had reported the same problem.
I have never managed to fathom why the injection hurts more sometimes than others - even though I do exactly the same each time so it does make me wonder if it's the way the pen fires which is making the difference.
Sorry to hear that you think the Humira is stopping working for you. As per my other post I have just had to stop taking it because of an allergic reaction but I have noticed that, for me too, it has been less effective recently. Happy Friday night to you too!

dreamdaisy

Hello Tillytop, thanks for your reply. I rang Healthcare earlier but they kept me waiting too long to talk to their pharmacist - those phone calls are very expensive, but that's another gripe!
Re the hurting: I found that by taking the stuff out of the fridge at least 30 mins before injecting reduced the pain. My first Humira jab at the hospital left me in tears and crying for quite a while after - probably because the nurse who did it had the pen in one hand and the instructions on the other! And she wasn't wearing her reading specs. And it was straight out of their fridge. Having been taught to do it myself, it was much better. Pinch flesh hard and press hard with pen helps but I guess that's too late to help you. I'm sorry it doesn't work for you anymore, but all biologics seem to stop being effective after a while. See you tomorrow, maybe. Dreamdaisy

dorcas

Hello again dreamdaisy,

I was on Humira for five years without much of a problem until my body created antibodies that stopped it working! I'm now waiting to start Infliximab infusions but have to wait until after my next op in June.....

I did not have the pen but actual pre loaded syringes, so I cannot comment about the problem you've had with the trigger/ button. I also found that Humira did sting but only for a few minutes and yes it did help to take it out the fridge for a short time before injecting. It also stung less if I made sure none of the liquid had leaked out the top of the needle before injecting. (but I guess that doesn't apply to the pen)

I was on Enbrel to begin with, which I thought was a brilliant drug as it stopped arther in his tracks. Unfortunately after 4 injections I had an allergic reaction (bruising, redness, itching and drastic drop in white blood cell count) so was taken off it immedately.

hope you get the jab issue sorted out and that Humira continues to work well for you.

glad you are finding your way around the forum.

Iris x

polly24

dreamdaisy wrote:

Hello Tillytop, thanks for your reply. I rang Healthcare earlier but they kept me waiting too long to talk to their pharmacist - those phone calls are very expensive, but that's another gripe!
Re the hurting: I found that by taking the stuff out of the fridge at least 30 mins before injecting reduced the pain. My first Humira jab at the hospital left me in tears and crying for quite a while after - probably because the nurse who did it had the pen in one hand and the instructions on the other! And she wasn't wearing her reading specs. And it was straight out of their fridge. Having been taught to do it myself, it was much better. Pinch flesh hard and press hard with pen helps but I guess that's too late to help you. I'm sorry it doesn't work for you anymore, but all biologics seem to stop being effective after a while. See you tomorrow, maybe. Dreamdaisy

hi am on ebril have had same problems got hold of the healthcare team just said 2 try again but my re nurse said to leave it for a week just incase it had worked i take mine out of the fridge a hour before i inject so its not as painful so hope this helps have helped u a bit good luck polly

tillytop

Hello all - and happy Saturday!
I too found that taking Humira out of fridge for a while seemed to help. I used to take it out about an hour and a half before usiing it. I also found that, taking an over the counter anti-histamine (one a day, non drowsy) about an hour before the injection really reduced the injection site reaction.
tillytop

dreamdaisy

Hello all, and thanks for your replies. My hospital helpline is reasonably good but sometimes they take a while to get back to me, and sometimes they don't ever reply! I can tell by the way I'm feeling that I didn't get very much of the dose and, luckily, I have a spare pen in the fridge, so I may go again next Tuesday. I'll get bloods done first tho, to see if the imflammation levels have risen. They feel as tho they have but my knees are not hot or swollen - still very painful tho. Humira reduced my markers very significantly after the first dose, down from 75/54 to 1/5. They haven't risen by any huge amount, last reading 2/4, but I cannot walk without crutches and the pain is still horrible. I'm definitely flaring at the moment - in my innocence I thought the biologics would a)stop pain and b)stop flares. In my experience they do neither. Regards to all. Daisydream