I am ending my usage of Humira for the treatment of ulcerative colitis because my doctor has determined that it is ineffective. While I am sad that the treatment didn't work, I am happy to be ending such a costly medication. How costly you may ask? While I had my first dose of Humira on May 16th. This was a quadruple dose (160 mg) to build up the drug in my system. Two weeks later I had a double dose (80 mg). Two weeks after that I started a single dose treatment (40 mg) that continued every two weeks. Counting the two remaining doses that I have in my possession, I have have received 24 doses of Humira. A quick web search tells me that a single dose will cost about $2500. That means my eight months of medication totaled $30,000!

While this is an astronomical number, let's consider the costs of my previous medication Lialda. I took four 1.2 gram tablets each morning (4.8 g / day). The Lialda cost was roughly $1,000 per 120 tablets. I took about 120 tablets a month so the cost was $1,000 / month or $12,000 / year. Since I was on the drug for 2.5 years that drug incurred a total cost of $30,000!

I have also tried using targeted steroids for a short timespan to treat the inflammation. One month of Uceris cost about $1400 and one month of Entocort cost about $700. On the other end of the cost spectrum I have also used the steroid Prednisone to help get me out of flares. My prednisone bill at the pharmacist rarely exceeded one dollar.

So there you have it. Nearly three years of UC medications have cost about $62,000! A smooth $20,000 a year, not counting doctors visits or colonoscopies. This is a big bill that comes out of my pocket or the general public's pocket via insurance. Pennies-per-pill Prednisone has been the only treatment to show improvements to my immediate health. Unfortunately due to the side effects of Prednisone it is not a long term solution to the symptoms.

Currently I remain hopeful that I can cure my symptoms while avoided these astronomical costs with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. One month in and I feel better than I have on any drug. My medication costs are down to zero since I have not been prescribed anything new yet by my doctor, but my grocery bill is up. It is tough to quickly quantify my spending on food though. While I spend more at the grocery store, I spend nothing at restaurants or my work cafeteria. Perhaps I can breakdown those costs in detail another day. Be happy knowing that I am putting my best foot forward to keep my medical costs down while keeping my health up.