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Do you have depression/anxiety as well as autoimmune illness?
So for those of you with autoimmune illness and mood/anxiety issues, how do your doctors manage your care? How’s it been for you?
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My doctor is getting ready to start me on Humira. How did the med work for you and were the injections painful?
What biologic med are you on?
My depression/anxiety (once explained to me as two sides of the same coin) diagnosis and treatment started decades before I could pinpoint any autoimmune symptoms. I had previously had one big relapse of depression too over the years. So I kind of think, for me, my most recent terrible relapse went right on the list along with the physical symptoms I was having- it was pretty high on the list because mind and body are interconnected and fixing the physical without the mental seems silly. I went to my PCP with my list (crushingly awful relapse of depression right at the top) and asked for referrals- psych consult to adjust meds and therapy referrals got going right away. Med adjustments were really helpful along with getting back in therapy. Fixing my awful depression - lifting that fog - didn’t make my physical body feel much better, but my capacity to deal with the way I felt was so so so so so so much better!
Unrelated to your actual question, but interesting nonetheless. I feel like when I was early in my nursing/nurse practitioner education that the “serotonin imbalance” was the theory out there for what was physically happening in the body/brain with depression. That model has been thrown out the window! The shortest answer is that biomedical researchers are still searching for the physical changes that either cause- or are caused by- depression. Here are some interesting (albeit narrowly focused) findings I have come across in medical research reading: 1) low iron levels (as measured by ferritin) can worsen or trigger depression, even if the person does not have anemia (yet) 2) autoimmune disorders are pretty strongly associated with depression and 3) there seem to be some people who have an association between chronic inflammation and depression (does the inflammation make changes that lead to depression or do the physical changes of depression induce inflammation?? No one knows!).
It’s fascinating stuff and the only things I do know- down to my bones- is that you cannot think, or will, you’re way out of depression. You don’t have depression because you are “weak”. Depression is a complex and heterogenous disease - it can look and few different across different people. There are treatments and you can feel better.
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7 ReactionsHi, Blossomgirl (lovely name!),
Humira worked GREAT for me for about 2 or 3 years. But it's really odd and interesting how some meds work great for some people but not for others.
Right after I stopped taking Humira (2018 ?), the manufacturer reformulated it, using shorter needles and less of one chemical additive/preservative that made it sting. I clearly remember the TV ads about how Humira would hurt less, after I stopped taking it! Haha.
Since it has been reformulated since I took it, I'm not sure my experience with the actual shot will help you.
Have you ever given yourself a self-injectable before?
My biggest recommendation is to give yourself a really special treat right after you get the shot, like kiddies getting lollypops at the pediatrician's office. I gave myself a frozen Dove bar. I only ever ate one after the shot, never at any other time. I started to tell myself that Dove bar day was coming! instead of dreading the Humira shot day. Very silly, but it worked great for me! It also helped that the Humira worked so very well. I would remind myself that a few minutes of pain would get me weeks of pain relief; however, that grown-up way of thinking didn't help nearly as much as the Dove bar! I guess I'm still just a baby when it comes to shots!
Keep us posted on your progress : ) Good luck. Be not afraid : )
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5 ReactionsDid you ever get any infections, sode effects or got sick while taking Humira? Also, how long did the pain last at the injection site and which area is less painful? How long were you on it and did you go into remission?
Oh, by the way, ive3never given myself injectables before... and for the record, I have long had a situation with needle phobia since I was a child. So this will be interesting.
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2 ReactionsDoes the Humira come in a pen form or does it have to be a deeper injection? I'm not familiar with it at all. I've been on Actemra which is in a painless pen that just breaks the skin. Thanks💞
I can’t look at needles when they are coming for me.
Fortunately I married a nurse. The treat may be a cocktail
before dinner. 325 calories!
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3 ReactionsI NEVER EVER saw the needle with the humira pen. I don't know if I have a needle phobia... I never ever look! Haha (That's to make fun of me, not of you : ) )
infections- I was a high school teacher at the time, so I did catch colds, etc, but nothing serious. I had no other side effects-- except to feel better!
pain- As I mentioned before, humira has been reformulated and the needles are shorter, so my experience may not be typical anymore.
It usually hurt about as much as a flu shot. It usually only hurt for as long as the needle was in me ( 30 seconds or a couple of minutes?). The spot felt bruised for a few days- no big deal at all. When I did the shot in the abdomen, I was careful to aim at a spot that would not be under the waistband of my pants, where it would have been irritated.
Areas- The abdomen is supposed to be the most effective. I have stretch marks all over my abdomen from having children. It was virtually impossible for us to find a clear spot there, so we usually used the upper thigh. I never had one in the back of my upper arm.
No medicine has ever put me into remission, but humira and remicade helped me the most. I have been on at least 9 or 10 or more medications. But, as I mentioned before, these medications are magic for some patients and not-so- helpful for some other patients.
My husband trained with me at the doctor's office on how to give the shot. He usually gave it to me, mostly because my hands weren't agile and strong enough to hold the skin and hold the pen.
A few times, it was extremely painful (like hit-a-nerve blinding pain), but that was only a few times over the course of 2 or 3 years. And, maybe, my husband was squeezing my skin really hard-- God bless him.
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5 ReactionsSeniormed,
You are being a bad influence- haha! (tone=affection, not mean. It's hard to tell sometimes.)
You are lucky to have a nurse in the family! See my post to Blossom girl about my husband, not a nurse, giving me a humira shot (bless his heart).
Be sure to toast your nurse-wife with your next cocktail!
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