extremely terrified of Humira and very sad :(

I haven't, but I am on Remicade. I know it seems scary, but honestly, the side effects are pretty rare. Yes, they happen, but they aren't any worse than many of the other medications that we take. Which means, the odds are it's not going to happen to you. It is much better than not taking it, too. In fact, prednisone is probably more dangerous than the biologics are.

Yeah, steroids will play with your moods! It really is probably contributing to how you're feeling about Humira. There are a ton of people on here who have done biologics for years without any negative side effects. I think you're going to be just fine on it. Obviously, I can't guarantee that, but you're much more likely to have a minor side effect of Humira (like a headache or something) than to get cancer from it.

There basically isn't any increased cancer risk with the anti-TNFs (of which Humira is one). This class of med has been available for about 15 years, so the longer-term evidence is building up: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/774649

Rationally, the only med to be scared of being on long-term is Prednisone: not Remicade, Humira, 6MP, etc. Bear in mind that even a completely healthy person not on any medication at all will have some future risk of getting cancer, pancreatitis, you name it. If you're alive, you have a chance of getting a disease. You can spend the present worrying about being the 1 in 10,000 (or whatever) statistic or not - it's your choice.

Personally the present (and, I suppose, bad memories of the past as well) is more than enough for me to worry about: I literally cannot be taking on board remote future risks, when we're all gonna die of something one day anyway.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 5/7/2014 5:36:44 AM (GMT-6)

Hi crohnssucks,
I'm probably about to either go on to biologics or have surgery...it depends on what my second opinion specialist says next week. I am extremely scared of Crohn's disease itself. Your name says it all...Crohn's sucks. The thing is, a micro perforated bowel causes you much more definite risk than the Humira which at this point is a point a theoretical risk. I don't think you have much choice. I'm so sorry, but we're all in this together with you, if that helps at all.

I haven't been on Humira, but have been on Remicade for 8 years now. Before that I was on Budesonide for a couple of years.

From the budesonide I have osteonecrosis of the shoulder, type II diabetes, osteoporosis with stress fractures and a cataract. It never got me into remission.

From Remicade I have no discernible side effects and have been in remission for 8 years.

I always look at it this way: steroids taken long enough (yes, even the "topical" ones) WILL eventually give you life-changing damage. Biologicals MAY cause serious side effects in a small number of people. Unfortunately there's no way to know in advance if you will be one of those, but the odds are highly on your side.

Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

I wanted to post a quick reply. I have been on Humira for almost 6 years now and have had no adverse effects from it. I know how difficult it is to make the decision to begin treatment with the biologics but as others have said the relative risk from them is very low.

^That is consistent with the data presented at a conference I went to last year. No increased risk of cancer from Humira, but small increased risk from 6mp or imuran.