I avoid some public places and large crowds, especially in winter. I take extra care to wash my hands and use sanitizer. I also ask my husband to please wash well when he comes home from work bc he works with the public and is around so many ppl.
Yes, taking a biologic can lower your ability to fight off illness.
But I am healthier on the biologic.
I no longer teach in a public school. I teach online and I think that helps me a lot. I am no longer around a lot of people every day.

Just take precautions. Some ppl wear masks. I never have but I would if I had to be around a very sick person. The only time I did wear a mask was when I was around my father when he was in the hospital and I visited. We were all advised to wear masks. He did pass bc he was gravely ill.

Take care of yourself.

G.

Yes, but is it more of a risk in the immediate weeks after getting the shot? Prior to this, i was on Humira, every two weeks, and figured the amount in my system was probably pretty consistent. With the Stelara every three months, it's seemed, so far, that I pick up something about two weeks after each shot.

...I hit 'send' too soon, Gingergirl - I'm sorry about your dad.

When i taught in schools, I would always get some awful cold / sinus / throat sort of thing a few weeks into the year. And any time I changed buildings, the same thing would happen. That was long before my diagnosis, though!

When I first started Rituxan, which is generally 2 infusions every 6 months, I had a lag before the drug seem to help my joints. It was a 2 month lag for the first set, then a 6 week lag after the 2nd. However, since then, I only get mild joint aches, mostly in my hands, but never redness or swelling.

That's the joints side of the picture. I'm not sure what's going on internally. I've had 3 or 4 colds in the 11 years I've been getting Rituxan. I've had a number of surgeries since then, scheduled at the end of a cycle and allowing 6-8 months for wound healing prior to a next infusion.

I would think that since your immune system is a little more it's usual self (not normal, but not suppressed by drugs) at the end points, particularly the last period after the drug has cleared your system. What's the half-life for Stelara? I forget what it is for Rituxan, but it's long enough such that it remains in one's system for close to 5 months.

Buddhacat, thanks for your input, I'll research the half-life. i'm wondering, too, if my Stelara dose can be tweaked. The rheumatologist suggested that the extra achy joints and extra joint 'clicking' in my fingers in three weeks before my recent appointment might simply be because I was due for an injection, and now that a week has passed since the shot, i'm noticing some improvement. I wonder if a slightly higher dose would carry me from one appointment to the next. I wonder if the fairly slight increase in achiness etc is worth adding more drugs into my body. Otherwise, things are going fairly well - either because of the Stelara or some other factor, my overall fatigue has improved markedly.

I don't know about Stelara, but my doctor increased the nterval for Orencia from every 7 days, to every 5 days. It's supposed to make up for not taking mthx. Except, it hasn't helped at all, when I am off mthx. On mthx, I am feeling the best in years.

I got back really high enzymes on Friday, the catch was that I held my mthx needle for 2 weeks. I didn't take anything OTC, I have cut out all my supplements, and I am not eating any fat, especially meat. No idea what is up with the liver. I left a message at the liver specialist. Last time I did that, it took her 2 years to get back to me, and she told me I was good to go. That was in July! So, I am not holding my breath, waiting for her return call.,

What do you have that you use Stelara for? I've never been offered it for RA, but it could be we don't have it in approved in Canada.

Marlene, I'm officially diagnosed as 'undifferentiated'. I have some symptoms that point to psoriatic arthritis and some that look more like RA. Something about the specific joints that are affected in my fingers is making this hard to narrow down; it's inconsistent with either metric, I guess. After a year on Humira produced middling results, my rheumatologist suggested Stelara, which is approved in the US for PSA.

Interesting. I have some PsA symptoms, especially my nails. Also, the way my disease started is typical of PsA. I think a lot of us are on the continuum, with a bit of this and a bit of that. I guess having it work is what matters. I should suggest to my rheumatologist Stelara as an option, in case Orencia fails.