PLEASE TREAT YOUR KID’S ARTHRITIS (or other illness)
Should kids be taking medications like Humira, Enbrel, and methotrexate? If you think the answer is no, let’s look at the opposite side of that question. Should kids be facing permanent pain and damage to their body? Because that’s what happens if Humira, Enbrel, and methotrexate are taken off the table. Childhood autoimmune diseases aren’t something to mess around with. There are a lot of reasons they may seem less serious. After all, kids can grow out of some of them. There can be periods of remission between flares, so it’s easy to think the next one will last forever. And from the outside, many kids with autoimmune diseases look…
Why I stopped using Enbrel Mini
A little while back I wrote a review of my first experiences with the Enbrel Mini injection system. I stand by that review. I think Amgen, the makers of Enbrel, were onto something good when they designed the Enbrel Mini and AutoTouch. However, my Enbrel Mini has failed several times at this point, and I’m going to switch to a different Enbrel delivery method. Right now, I’ve taken Enbrel for two months. That’s 8 doses—or it should be. At this point, though, I’ve used the AutoTouch 10 times for Enbrel injections, and 3 of them have failed. A 3/10 failure rate is pretty bad. Each injection failed in the exact…
Enbrel Mini review: Easy, customizable injections
Pros: Easy to use, adjustable injection speeds, optional sounds, one-handed injectionsCons: It’s still an injection After months of fighting with my insurance company, I finally got my medicine and was able to try Enbrel Mini! It’s a bit like something out of a sci-fi movie—maybe one day all injections will be as easy as this. (The biomedical engineer in me is already thinking about what to design to make that happen. Hmm…) Humira helped me a lot for a while, but last fall I started having a lot more pain and fatigue, and my doctor suggested moving to Enbrel. Even though I’d had a bad experience with the Humira Pen…
Biologics explained
Biological medicines, or biologics, get talked about a lot. The word is casually thrown around in the rheumatology world by doctors and patients alike. What can get skipped, though, is an explanation of what, exactly, makes a biologic a biologic, and why biologics are different from other drugs. What is a biologic? A biologic medication is a medication that comes from a living source. The drug is produced by living cells and then used as medicine. This is different from traditional medications, like aspirin, Tylenol, or ibuprofen, which can be made by carefully combining chemicals (I’ve even made aspirin myself in lab class). Because of how biologics are made, the…
Info checklist for flying with Humira or Enbrel
How to fly with Humira and Enbrel is my most popular post, but I know it can be a little long. Here are the most important points, summarized in a list. Packing info Humira, Enbrel, and x-ray scanners Going through security Documentation Safe travels! -Bri I love creating resources like this, but each one takes a lot of time and research. If this post helped you, consider supporting the site with a coffee! Thanks! <3
Humira, Enbrel, and cancer risk
There’s a scary warning when you read about biologics like Humira and Enbrel: these drugs may increase risk of cancer. Scarier, Humira has a warning that it may cause a rare, deadly type of cancer in young people. After spending many bored hours in doctor’s offices, I’d read the warnings many times on pamphlets and posters. Probably too many, because it made me question whether it was the right choice to start a biologic therapy when my doctor offered it as an option. Simply put, biologic medications are drugs that are made from living sources, instead of mixing chemicals. They include medicines like Humira and Enbrel for autoimmune diseases and even…
Biologics: Autoinjector or syringe?
When I started Humira, my doctor automatically put it in as an autoinjector prescription. That was a mistake. The first time I did the injection, it was okay. No big deal. Sure, it hurt, and it took awhile to get myself to press the button, but I could deal with it. The second time, though, it took a little longer, and definitely felt more painful. The third time took a little longer to do, and the fourth time… Well, I couldn’t do it. Each shot was like injecting burning venom into my body. It was so painful, I just couldn’t bring myself to press the button. It led to a breakdown… or…
Air travel with Humira or Enbrel
I’ll be visiting Arizona next week during the time when I’ll need to take Humira, so, of course, one of the first things I’ll have to think about when packing is how I’m transporting it. This will be the second time I’m taking Humira or Enbrel on a plane, so it doesn’t feel like that big of a deal (no bigger than the whole TSA fiasco normally is). The first time, though, I was very confused about what I would have to do bring my Humira through the airport (or my sister her Enbrel). This post contains everything you might want to know about flying with Humira or Enbrel. To find the key…
