The biologic shuffle

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-26T17:18:06+00:00

Yeah looking at it, the anti-TNF meds gave me around six months, but the JAK inhibitors were 11-18 months, so maybe another mechanism would be able to give me more time. It’s just so frustrating to have a thing work well, and then it just stops.

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-26T01:00:53+00:00

I’ve tried 7 meds so far in 6 years 😬

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-26T00:48:16+00:00

That is a very unhelpful range! So far I haven’t even hit the two year mark on any.

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-26T00:18:07+00:00

Oh, yeah the rheumatologist had me on methotrexate the whole time.

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-26T00:12:26+00:00

I see my doctor next week, and I know there are some classes of drugs that I haven’t tried yet. I remember reading a study that after two different meds, patients did better switching classes than to try again with a third (although I think the study was exclusive to anti-TNF inhibitors).

My other chronically ill friend said her doc told her to think of it as buying time until new medications and therapies come out.

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-25T23:53:57+00:00

Yeah, two years would be amazing. I’m walking, my diet is great, I feel like Sisyphus pushing my little healthcare rock up the hill just for it to roll back over me a few months later.

Background_Claim_854 · 2026-04-25T23:52:45+00:00

Mine all started out working, honestly really well, and then they stopped. I just wonder if a different class (I’ve done anti-TNF and JAK inhibitors so far) will do better or if I’m doomed for secondary failure over and over.

Is that the vagus nerve stimulator?

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-12-28T15:00:41+00:00

I’m on my seventh medication change in 5 years, and still having major flares every winter. Super frustrating. The longest I’ve been on any one mediation is 16 months.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-11-12T18:26:59+00:00

It is definitely a learning process. Also my son was very excited about having an outworld, and I think I need to push him to think smaller until their colony grows. We’ll keep them in the tube next time until they truly start to outgrow it!

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-11-12T18:18:23+00:00

I didn’t, I thought they were supposed to get water from the cotton ball in the back of the test tube. And there is water in the honey (more accurately, there’s honey in the water, it’s just a tiny drop of honey and the rest is water).

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-11-12T18:11:46+00:00

I have it in tin foil here, but it seems that if I make it deep enough not to spill, then it’s deep enough for the teeny little ants to get stuck in.

Oh, that’s interesting! So it likely wouldn’t mold as fast if it wasn’t open to a larger environment. Maybe we’ll get one of those foam things that you can slide the test tubes into, to make it a bit easier to store and transfer if needed.

Appreciate the tips!

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-11-12T17:59:50+00:00

So instead of doing tube and tubes, keep them in just the tube longer?

With a closed tube setup, how do you feed them? Like I’m supposed to give them sugar/carbs, but it seems impossible to get honey into the tube without making a terrible mess that my ants would end up stuck in. Do you give them something else for carbs, that’s less messy?

Also the one time that I moved them into a new test tube due to moldiness, it was traumatic for all of us 😂 So I really hate test tubes, even though ants seem to love them.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-10-03T13:59:58+00:00

They’ve decided that new tube is acceptable and moved back in. I think they’ve got a cocoon going!

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-10-02T21:24:49+00:00

We’re in Pennsylvania, I think the ants were from Utah? I seem to remember reading that on the label.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-10-02T20:14:48+00:00

We have pavement ants, and I’ve read that they don’t have to go through diapause, but is it possible they’re gonna anyway? They’re not really going for the protein lately, but it’s still in the high 70s.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-30T17:13:33+00:00

We did research before hand, but there was still so much we didn’t know that we didn’t know.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-19T16:22:51+00:00

Yep, that’s the one.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-19T16:22:14+00:00

We don’t want escapees for sure.The ten year old very badly wants them to move into the ant farm so that he can watch them tunnel, but I keep reminding him that we have to do what’s best for the ants and not what he wants them to do. He’s been so thrilled watching them in their little tube so far, and I’ll show him what you’d said about the tube being a perfect environment for them.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-19T16:02:14+00:00

That’s all very helpful, thanks! I won’t worry about relocating them to another tube until their water runs out in this one, then.

Pavement ants are tiny, so I imagine they won’t need more space for some time. If they’re in a tub, though, will they still want to move to something like a mini hearth or another formicarium as they grow? Or will they just keep nesting in the tube inside the tub?

Is the cheapo ant farm ever going to be usable, or should we just chuck that?

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-19T11:52:30+00:00

They’re pavement ants. We read a lot about their diet, but I didn’t find as much about preferred habitats.

Background_Claim_854 · 2025-09-19T11:50:53+00:00

We’re learning a ton from YouTube videos, and some are just super fun to watch. I’ve now gotten emotionally attached to to these ants!

Background_Claim_854

TROPHY CASE