Tiny update

I finished the Prednisone. Yay.  But I'm still having little flare ups, moderate pain.  But I'm getting the "crohns bumps" some weird skin ulcers that I had the first time around.

So my GI is having me switch to Humira once a week, instead of every other week.  I'm not too thrilled, but it could be worst.

Plus I love Kaiser.  A month's worth of Humira (4 syringes) costs me $35.  The regular price (without insurance, I guess) is $3660 for the same amount.  Yikes.  Also, the Humira is cheaper than Asacol was (at $55 a month).

For some reason, Kaiser switched from the Humira pens to the syringes.  It's not much different, but it's a little more difficult.  The pens are one and done.  The syringes have a few steps.  And they make me shakier.  I'm not great with needles.

Humira

I plan on writing about all of the various drugs in detail, but since Humira is the most recent one, I'll start there.

My doctor offered me Humira maybe 6 months ago, but I wanted to try more "traditional" Crohns drugs first.  By traditional, I mean drugs that come in pill form.  Humira was originally developed as a drug for rheumatoid arthritis.  It's injected subcutaneously, because if taken orally, the digestive system would destroy it.

This is what it looks like.

I wasn't thrilled about giving myself shots.  I'm not great with needles (not terrible, but not great).  I've been known to have vasovagal reactions (aka, get close to passing out).  

I was concerned about the cost.  I have good insurance, but I know Humira can be ridiculously expensive.  But my cost was pretty good, $35 for a months supply (but my receipt said my drug plan saved me over $3000).  

After that, I had to go to the injection clinic to learn how to give myself shots.  This didn't go great.  I made my husband come with me.  He is worse with needles than I am.  But I wanted him to see how to do it, in case I really couldn't.  The directions suggested injecting in the tummy or thigh.  The first shot went ok, the second one really hurt for some reason.  And then I almost passed out.  

I've gotten better since then.  I've been using it for almost two months.  I've found that pinching my stomach fairly hard while giving the injection helps a lot.

 As far as side effects, I have a few.  I usually get run down for the next day or so.  Also I get a mild injection site reaction, it kind of looks and feels like a hive.

In terms of results, it's inconclusive so far.  But hopefully it will help me out.