Hey all,

I was just diagnosed with Crohn's Disease about a month ago. I'm so depressed all the time now. I'm about to get started on Humira. What can I expect? Does everyone have side effects? I still don't know a lot about Crohn's and i'm so uncomfortable at school. I don't know how to talk about the disease with my friends, I feel so lost with my life. Hopefully someone can help me through this. I'm so happy there is a site like this out there.

Hey James,

I know what you are going through. This is the toughest part about having a fairly unknown disease. You might cycle through a bunch of medications. I hope Humira works for you right away. I'm not sure how much you have clicked around this site. But if you read the about Josh Golder section and then go to the True Guts website, you can find a lot of information about Crohn's. Definitely watch the trailer. I bought the movie once seeing the trailer it seems like a very motivational movie. Hang in there. Keep me updated


- talia

James,

I was diagnosed with Crohn's a little over a year ago (1 week before moving from Miami to go to school in Boston). I've been on Humira for 5 months. It's great. I haven't had any side effects from the medicine and absolutely no side affect from Crohn's. I saw my gastro today and he was very happy that since starting Hurmia I haven't had any flare-ups or stomach pains. I don't like giving myself an injections but it only take 10 seconds and I try to watch tv while doing it so I don't think too much about it. I'm really happy with it because before I was taking 8 pills a day and I hated that. Please let me know if you have any questions about it.

-Alyssa

You're lucky you're starting Humira so quickly. I tried almost every other medication out there over a period of two years before I tried Humira. Nothing worked until Humira did and now I can't even tell I have Crohns. A tip for the injection, I find it fun to do it in front of friends or family. Watching them cringe makes it a lot easier and you can get some pretty good reactions sometimes which definitely takes your mind off of it.

P.S. I have no side effects from Humira

How did you come about starting Humira? Because I take alot of pills everyday and I'm tired of the pills, they don't work most of the time and I'm sick to my stomach everyday. Did you bring it up with your doctor or did your doctor tell you about it?

After my previous doctor spent the entire summer repeating to me that Prednisone would work (and after the entire summer it didn't and my symptoms were worse than ever resulting in two consecutive weekend trips to the ER) I went and found a new doctor. He was hesitant to give me anything right away because I had already had some side effects with Azathioprine and he was pretty sure I would have them with 6mercaptopurine as well (and besides these all that was left was Humira and Remicade). He told me to research all four of them and tell him what I wanted to do after a few weeks. I picked Humira because the closest place to my school where I could get a Remicade infusion was a 45 minute bus ride and hour and fifteen minute walk away - no thanks.

I am assuming your symptoms must have been pretty bad to have you start Humira within a month of diagnosis. This is a last line of defense drug. Your physicians should run through a few other drugs first to see if they can be effective, however, if your symptoms are bad, then you may need Humira right away. I also noticed you mention school. How old are you? and if you are still growing maybe use of this drug should be delayed. I am 34 years old and have been on Humira for 8 months and it began to work right away and I have very minor side effects so far. I went through 5 different drugs before taking Humira and no of them worked. This seems to be working.