What Is It Like to Take Humira for Crohn’s? It Becomes Part of Your Routine
Key takeaways:
Humira (adalimumab) is a biologic medication used to treat autoimmune disorders like Crohn’s disease.
People who take Humira tell GoodRx that the self-administered injections have improved their quality of life.
Humira is injected under the skin and works by reducing inflammation.
Humira (adalimumab) is the most-prescribed biologic medication for autoimmune disorders in adults and kids. It treats conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and hidradenitis suppurativa.
A protein called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is often found in higher amounts in people who live with these conditions. Humira, which is known as a TNF blocker, binds to TNF-alpha and prevents it from sending signals that cause inflammation.
Humira is an injection that people usually give themselves at home. Its common side effects include redness or swelling at the injection site, rashes, headaches, and upper respiratory infections (like the common cold).
Here’s how three people describe what it feels like to take Humira for Crohn’s disease — a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect a person’s quality of life and lead to ulcers in the digestive tract, among other symptoms.
A triathlete finds the right treatment
Brian Greenberg has lived with Crohn’s disease since he was a child. His Crohn’s disease was active when his doctor prescribed him Humira. And Brian says he felt excited and hopeful to start taking it.
“My quality of life was so low,” says Brian, a 40-year-old home renovation and design sales representative in Stamford, Connecticut.
“The other medications that I was on were no longer working. I had multiple conversations with my doctor and surgeon about what best steps were going to be next. And [that was] switching to a different biologic that would hopefully control my Crohn’s and keep my inflammation down — and even help some of my arthritis,” he adds.
Since the beginning, Brian’s experiences with Humira have been positive. He says he felt better within a few weeks of starting treatment and was back to his normal activities in about 3 months.
“Eight to 12 weeks later, I felt like something was very different. The inflammation in my entire body seemed to go down,” he says. “I was digesting better. I felt stronger — felt more energetic. Everything just felt more normal.”
Brian notes that he sometimes feels fatigued for the first day or so after an injection. He also tends to get injection site reactions, which cause the skin where the needle goes in to become red and swollen. For that reason, he prefers to inject the medication into his thigh, rather than his stomach. Brian also finds that icing the injection area after each dose helps cut down on the redness and swelling.
When he first started taking Humira, Brian used injector pens. He found, though, that it was mentally challenging to push the pens’ injector button. A few times, he pulled a pen away from his leg before the medication went into his body.
At first, he tried having someone else push the button. But after talking with his doctor, he changed to Humira prefilled syringes instead of pens.
“I also have found that since I switched to the syringe I don’t have as much swelling in the injection site,” he says. “I’m able to just slide the syringe in, and it’s much easier for me — not only mentally but physically.”
Since his Crohn’s has been stable, Brian has completed several triathlons, including a 2018 Ironman competition in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.
“I can’t believe how far I’ve come and how well the Humira has helped me,” Brian says.
Worries affect decision-making
Joey Daoud, a media producer from Los Angeles, was surprised when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. While in college, he had abdominal pain on and off. But it took a serious incident for him to get the proper diagnosis.
One day, the New Territory Media founder had abdominal pain that was severe enough to send him to the emergency room. “The pain just kept getting more and more intense,” Joey says.
He was admitted to the hospital, where doctors told him that Crohn’s disease was causing a blockage in his small intestine. He received treatment, but he still experienced abdominal pain from time to time. And a few years after going to the emergency room, the severe pain came back when his work as a filmmaker required him to shoot overnight.
"I had to switch sleeping schedules, and that really messed me up,” Joey says. “During that shoot, I started getting the intense stabbing pains again, which I hadn’t felt in years. And then, even after the shoot, it just wouldn’t let up."
Joey’s doctor recommended that he start taking Humira. Joey was ready to try something different, so he agreed. “I didn't want to let Crohn’s affect my life,” he says.
Joey noticed a change in his pain levels soon after starting the medication. “You’re just, sort of, so tired of dealing with the pain every day and thinking about it,” he says. “I remember the pain pretty much went away, right away.”
The ability to bring his Humira injector pens with him wherever he goes fits in well with his busy work and travel schedule. He self-injects the medication into his stomach every 2 weeks, and the side effects haven’t been bothersome.
A mother of three fits Humira into her routine
Natalie Sparacio Hayden from St. Louis decided to start taking Humira after she experienced a complication from her Crohn’s disease. Her condition caused an abscess. And the treatment she was trying wasn’t working. So her doctors offered her some choices about what to do next.
“I was 24 at the time, and just wanted to feel ‘normal,’” says Natalie, a 40-year-old former TV news anchor and reporter.
Her Crohn’s disease was quite active when she began taking Humira. So she needed a medication that worked. But privacy and convenience were also important to her. After 2 months of taking Humira, Natalie was back to her normal life and working full time as a morning anchor.
Now a mother of three, Natalie has taken Humira during her pregnancies, under the supervision of a maternal fetal medicine doctor. With her first child, she took Humira for the first 39 weeks of the pregnancy. And with her second and third, she took it for 37 weeks.
“I was in deep remission and felt fantastic, Crohn’s-wise, for all three of my kids. I felt like I didn’t even have IBD,” she says. "Once they were delivered, I felt a little abdominal pain, but no full-fledged flares.”
She was able to breastfeed her two younger children while taking Humira. And she credits the research that’s suggested the medication is safe to take during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Natalie continues to do well with biweekly doses of Humira. She says that she has not experienced any troublesome side effects. In fact, the most challenging part has been coping with insurance snafus.
“Dealing with specialty pharmacies every month for 15-plus years gets tedious and annoying. But, for the most part, it’s been a streamlined process,” she says. “I had an insurance situation last year that ended up being an error by my GI office. But it put me through a lot of stress."
Aside from the insurance issues, taking Humira hasn’t been a problem for Natalie. The injection only takes a few minutes each time and it helps manage her Crohn’s disease, she explains.
“I casually do my injection on the couch while my kids are running around me. And I smile while I do it, so they see that mama is strong,” she says. “My shot is very much a part of my life and routine.”
What does the pharmacist say?
Joshua Murdock, PharmD, BCBBS
Pharmacy Editor
Humira (adalimumab) is a biologic medication that is injected under the skin. It’s a common treatment for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease in adults and kids age 6 years and older. It can also help people manage autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, and more.
Humira manages these conditions by fighting inflammation. It reduces irritation and swelling in the gastrointestinal GI) tract by blocking an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha).
Thankfully, you don’t need to inject the medication every day to feel its effects. After you administer your first dose, Humira is injected once every other week. You may take it by itself or in combination with other Crohn’s disease medications, such as sulfasalazine (Azulfidine). The best places to inject Humira are your lower belly and the front of your thigh.
Many people benefit from Humira, but it's not without its risks. Its most common side effects are redness and irritation at the injection site. Headaches and skin rashes are possible, too. Humira also has boxed warnings, the FDA’s most stern type of warning, about potential risks of serious infection and cancer. While this may all sound intimidating, there are many ways to monitor and manage Humira’s side effects.
It’s also important to know that Humira is no longer one of a kind. In 2023, there are nine Humira biosimilars launching. These biosimilars are like generic versions of Humira: They can deliver highly comparable results at a potentially lower cost. Depending on your insurance coverage status, your plan may want you to take a biosimilar — such as, Amjevita (adalimumab-atto), Cyltezo (adalimumab-adbm), or Hyrimoz (adalimumab-adaz) — instead of Humira because of this.
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