Stopping Humira for Elective Surgery-Antibodies??

Hi everybody,

Long story short, I'm 27, started Humira 1.5 years ago and have been doing great! I've had lipodystrophy of the arms since a teen, and I've never worn sleeveless shirts---last time, I was 9 years old lol. ANYWHO, I decided to get it taken care of now while I can, so I'm undergoing an arm lift to correct this (my self esteem has been in the negative, it's physically uncomfortable too), but my question is...have any of you stopped and started Humira without developing antibodies?! I'm really worried about that. I'm on 6MP as well, which my doc said I can keep taking, but they suggest 4 weeks off Humira (scary thought! Not so much as flaring, but for antibody development). The day I have scheduled, would be 3 full weeks off Humira-hoping that slides!

Thank you!:dusty:

Ds was off humira twice
Once for tonsils and adenoids removed
Second for mastoiditis
No antibodies formed per tests
That said he needed to go "up" in dose
Assume that from stopping it twice
He is now at the maximum dose of every five days for shots

Good luck

my little penguin said:

Ds was off humira twice
Once for tonsils and adenoids removed
Second for mastoiditis
No antibodies formed per tests
That said he needed to go "up" in dose
Assume that from stopping it twice
He is now at the maximum dose of every five days for shots

Good luck

Click to expand...

thanks for responding! If you don't mind me asking, do you remember how long they were off Humira each of those times?

My girls have both been off Humira for wisdom teeth surgeries. Both girls were taken off it for two-three weeks (I honestly can't remember how long it was now!). Both girls did flare, which was not fun, but they had no surgical complications - they healed well and didn't get infections.

My older daughter has had Humira antibody tests and has no antibodies. The younger one was not tested.

My younger daughter has also had several surgeries since then for which she was allowed to remain on biologics. Now her doctors say that she would only have to stop her biologic for a major surgery. She had an open abdominal surgery in the fall and recovered well - no infections - even on her biologic.

Obviously, it depends on your doctor's preference and what kind of surgery it is.

Second time was 4-5 weeks
He flared and required 4-5 months of pred in addition to een (for 8 weeks ) and humira
And had to be moved to every week after wards

First time was only 3 weeks but he was only getting it every two weeks at the time
And had to be moved to every 10 days
Afterwards