Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Is it a cold? Is it a flare?

Well, I know the answer now, it was a flare, but not like they used to be.

I got my Humira shot end of February. A week later, I thought I was coming down with a head cold or the flu, as I was sleeping 9-10 hours a night. That went on for a week. Then I started to get a sore throat and that went on for a week, along with the need to sleep 9-10 hours every night...really couldn't stay awake past 9-10 pm at night.

At that point I was way past due for my Humira; I'm supposed to get it every 10 days and it was going on 3 weeks.

I figured if I was getting sick, it wouldn't take 3 weeks to get sick. So, at day 19, I got my Humira shot. And instead of making me worse, it made me feel much much better.

The moral of the story: at least some of the time, my flares can be just feeling tired and needing extra sleep. The sore throat was probably swollen lymph glands from the autoinflammatory process, not from an infection, or maybe from allergies.

Not to say all flares will be this mild, but after three years on Humira, things are improving.

My neck still yells at me if I sit where I can't. My SI still yells at me if I bend up and down too much or do anything that involves rotating the hips too much. But if I'm mindful of body mechanics, the joints are much better than they used to be, to the point that they didn't even flare up in the flare.

Used to be: at the beginning of a virus (head cold or flu) or at the beginning of a flare, I'd get really tired and really achy. Then if it was a virus, I'd get really congested, but if it was a flare, my neck or SI would get really bad. Now, its harder to tell, which is a good thing, but makes it more challenging to decide if I can take the humira or not.

Hi Sue- good to hear you are still noticing improvement on Humira. I deal with the same issue of not knowing to delay my biologic when I think I am ill. I usually end up taking it on time if not a high fever. Sometimes, I think I have a virus or infection and it is just flare up. I have developed allergies to a lot of the biologics in the past and that was a nightmare so I try to stay on schedule now with my shots to prevent becoming allergic.

Shari

Shari,

Good to hear from you.

I saw my rheumy last week and we talked about that.

I told him my caution in the humira not becoming ineffective and so wanting to make sure not to space the shots too far apart.

So though I'm approved for every 7 days and he thought 10 days was a good amount of time to shoot for most of the time, going down to 7 during flare months, 14 days is the norm for most people so a few days past that I figured was probably fine,

but yeh, I've read studies that showed that the more frequent the shots are taken, the less likely to develop a problem toward them.

So its a balancing act for sure, but very appreciative to have humira.