A couple of tips with the injections - ice the injection site beforehand.  Take the meds out of frig and allow to warm up a bit (about 15 - 20 minutes) before injecting.  Ice after.  The ice I really think is a distraction for them.  Anna is typically great with her injections - at one point she was up to 4 a week - no arguing no crying.  The humira is a different story unfortunately.  Hopefully dr warned you it may be a bit painful.  The meds have some preservative in it that causes pain/burning when injected.  Anna doesn't cry with the needle pinch - she cries however once I push the meds...it only last 10 - 20 seconds.  It was and is very difficult for us to give her this shot as I know that she will scream and cry and that it hurts her - particularly when previously she did not even peep...but if it works and she can be painfree - it will be worth it.  Our Rheum told us there would be some discomfort with the injection - discomfort is not a great description for Anna's reaction - I was not prepared for her reaction to it - so I want you to be prepared.  I have heard from adults on humira - some have no pain, others have some and others have severe pain - I really think it depends on pain tolerance and the individual...hopefully your child will have no reaction.

Good luck - and keep me posted - I am interested to hear from another parent of a child who is on humira - I was feeling a bit alone on this one...

Megan

also, we were so paranoid about her getting sick more often, and more severely, and while she certainly has gotten sick since being on the meds, our rheumy always advises us to just call our pediatrician.  the way our rheumy explained it, while our children are theoretically immunosuppressed, unless they (God forbid) acquire a major infection like TB, or the equivalent, they can pretty much handle the regular stuff.  in our experience brianna's fevers may run a bit higher when she gets a virus, but the treatment for her is the same as any other kid (unless the symptoms don't respond to good ole tylenol and motrin).  i think we generally want to avoid antibiotics unless there is an actual bacterial infection confirmed...i just remember being so terrified, and i called the rheumy a handful of times when she was sick, only to have them tell us to have the pediatrician check her out.  in other words, there was never really a concern about the regular viruses.  oh, and my 4 year old son is in school, so she's exposed to all kinds of stuff. 

you are doing great!  you hang in there, and take a deep breath, and you will see how things will change when your baby gets to feeling better.  i hope and pray that happens soon, soon, soon! in fact, i know it will.  thanks for your update...

We asked our rheum about the emla cream and the ethyl chloride spray - he indicated neither would really help with humira other than a slight distratction because the pain again is not the actuall needle, but the push of the meds...I know for my daughter eveytime I give her an injection she asks which one - and her mood reacts accordingly.  She is five and certainly doesn't like it all - but she also likes to run and play - so we reason with her a bit and tell her that without the "bad shot" she won't feel well enough to run around - that seems to swayher a bit.  But either way - she still screams and cries - it is heart wrenching - trust me I understand - but again it is for their best and it does not last - the long term effects are so much better.

Anna is in daycare - she starts kindergarten in the Fall.  She does get her share of illnesses etc, but we are very mindful of any posting at the school - depending upon what the illness is we may keep her home during an outbreak at school etc.  Also, we were told with the mtx and I assume with humira not to give the injections if she were running a fever - we have had to miss a few injections of mtx over the past few years because of that.

I honestly do not think that Anna gets sick more often than the other kids at school - although maybe it lasts a bit longer if she does get something.

We discussed taking her out of daycare and getting a nanny or one of us staying home, but decided that really Anna loved the daycare setting - she likes all the kids and activities - so we didn't want to take that away from her - we want her to feel like any other kid - she's just a normal kid with JRA.

Keep me posted on your daughter's progress and I will with Anna - she gets injection 5 this week of humira.  We are starting to see improvement again - which is good news!

Talk to you soon

Megan (Laura)

I'm not positive about this, but I think adults have to take a higher dosage than children which might account for your feeling run down and ill from the meds. 5 weeks might not be long enough for the meds to be fully working and your doctor may need to still make adjustments to your dosage. I know you have been dealing with the pain for a long time, but I wouldn't feel discouraged just yet... I think you need to give the meds a little more time to work and your body more time to get used to the meds. There is a website called stillsdisease.org. They are all talking about a different type of arthritis, but they do take the same meds and talk about that a lot on the board. It might be worth it to post there too.  

Another side effect we noticed with the humira is that she complains of chest pains  and headaches within 24 - 48 hours of injection - but they don't last.  Dr also said he is not sure it is related to the meds.

I wish you all the best with this

Megan

To all those wonderful people that replied to me, THANK YOU.  For the first time in a long time I don't feel alone with this condition. Your comments were all helpful in one way or another. I've looked at all the sites recommended and all were very informative especially the RA connect one, which will take a long time to go through but full of great links to other sites.  I'm so glad I joined this forum and have always believed that a hand will guide you to where ever you need to go when things are tough, they did and it brought me to you all. So once again thank you.  I'm mentally feeling better today already and realise that one day at a time is all I can do and to stop being the control freak I am over this. I will just go with the flow for now and be patient and wait for the meds to kick in. I see my specialist again in a couple of weeks so we'll see what he has to say then.

 I will keep you all posted a problem shared is a problem halved and good thoughts go to you all along with good health and thank you for your prayers.

Margaret

I look forward to hearing from some of you in due course and hope that all your treatments are going well.

I'm on Remicade and have been since 2002 with very good success.  Mine is given in a doctor's office and usually takes about 3 hours.  My wife usually goes with me in case I don't feel like driving home but I tell her it is not necessary because I do fine.  Well, maybe for the first few infusions I did feel a little spacey after the infusion but now I have no after effects.  I've had almost 50 infusions over the years and three times they tried to infuse it too fast and I got nauseated or spacey.  When they slowed the infusion down there was no more problem and I never have had any side effects after leaving the infusion room.

Biologics like Remicade are proteins and if they go through the stomach the body treats them as food so they are digested, and nobody wants to spend a few thousand dollars for less than a gram of food that is not even a delicacy.  I hope it works well for you.  God bless.

Age 82, diagnosed RA 12/2001, married since 1952, 4 sons no daughters, 4 grandsons 1 granddaughter.  Doing well on Methotrexate and Remicade.

I've been giving my 7 year old injections since she had just turned 6.  Our doctor prescribes us Embla cream to put on the injection sight before we do the injection.  It helps to numb the area.  Emily can still feel some burning, but it's better.  When we first started injecting her she would scream and cry so badly!  We first gave her Methotrexate once a week.  It took a few weeks, but eventually she knew that it was helping and she screamed less.  Currently she gets Enbrel twice a week, and sometimes she'll even ask if she can have her shot. 

I can totally relate to being so nervous and worried about it all.  Let me tell ya' that our kids are very, very strong.  I used to see my little girl as very fragile (mentally).  She had very high anxieties, and many quirks and eccentricities.  Once we found out what was really happening and started treatments her entire personality changed.  She is still a very sweet, sensitive girl, but she's not so anxious, she's louder and more likely to speak her mind.  She's taking charge, because she knows that she can get through it all.  I know that your child is young, but one thing that we've done is be very honest.  I tell Emily everything that's going on that affects her.  I feel that she feels more in control knowing what's up instead of worrying about what may be coming.  And she's stronger than I sometimes remember to give her credit for.  When we left her at arthritis camp during the last week of June I cried... not her at all.  I was a wreck!  Sick kids are special in ways that I don't quite know that we can understand.  They just need extra love and understanding.  And you are allowed to be a wreck!  Just know that it doesn't really help much.  I kind of just expect the worst, or nothing.  Generally I'm pleasantly surprised.  It sucks and it's crazy, but at least it's not leukemia.

Last thing... before she started Enbrel she was sick all the time!  Not just sinus infections and stomach bugs, but she was getting these blisters and sometimes they would try to form into staph infections.  Since starting Enbrel she's been sick less often than my son or my other daughter, who is almost 15!  She started in in November- well away from the end of the school year.  She's got more range now than we thought possible.  She's tackling her brother on her good days!  Last year she didn't want anyone touching her.  Now she's running up to people to hug them.  These medicines are huge breakthroughs, and kids deserve to be kids.  Doing the injections is an act of love.  One that no parent should have to do, but definitely an act of love.  When she's a bit older she'll appreciate all that you have done.  I hope that this finds her (and you!) feeling much better