Simponi..the first 48 hours

This is the injector for the Simponi!  Talk about paging Dr. McCoy from Star Trek.  Waide and I agree it looks like a hypospray!

Anyway, I picked up the Simponi and Wednesday and my pharmicist at Walmart went over the directions, drug reactions, and possible side effects because I am the first person at that Walmart store's pharmacy to get Simponi.

Prior to injecting the medication you have to let it sit out for 30 minutes to room temperature.  For me, that happened on the drive home.  Anyway, I stopped in at my mom's house to give myself the first injection.  Honestly, I was quite nervous about the whole thing because I equated it to when I gave myself insulin shots with regular syringes.  But as I learned there is NO COMPARISON!

Anyway, there are 3 different places that you can inject yourself- the thighs, upper arms, and 2 inches below the belly button.  I chose below the belly button because that is scar tissue from my 1st c-section.  Then I went and santized the area with alcohol and placed the injector at a straight angle and I tried to press the button. ONE TOUGH BUTTON!!  Then I re-positioned it and POP!!  3 seconds later the medication was floating into the blood stream.  WHAT??  That was it?  Amazing so easy and I didn't feel a thing because it went so darn fast.

Then I went home feeling fine.  But that evening was a completely different story.  It started out fine but then my heart started to race and then I felt like someone turned me into a pile of goo.  I just couldn't move and then I started to act like I was drunk- slurred speech, glazed over look and generally looking like hell.  THEN the nausea hit.  It was small but enough to chalk it up to side effect.  We called my mom to come and help get me propped up on the couch because I was laying down and Waide was nervous that I wasn't getting enough oxygen.  It took 2 hours for me to finally come around enough to go to bed. 

I woke up the next morning, kinda feeling crappy and I noticed one thing- my hands were just achy not crabby like they are every morning.  The wrists were completely feeling fine.  It was a good feeling.  I was able to take Waide to Colorado Springs for him to go through his final interview and accept a new job.  I got home and started to feel super tired and had to cancel another trip to Colorado Springs planned for the evening.

So, we decided to celebrate Waide's new job with mom and John by taking them out to dinner.  Everything went fine until the end of the meal- my heart started racing and I went flush.  I also experienced the same weakness but not as bad.  We were able to get me outside to throw up and mom drove me home.  This about of side effects lasted about 45 minutes.  I immediately went to bed.

Now today, I am planning on taking it easy.  A trip to Walmart for some groceries and baking a batch of brownies for tomorrow's SCA event.  I plan on doing a lot of sitting at that event and taking it super easy. 

Note on my medications-  Dr. Sean hasn't changed the medications.  But I only have 3 more doses of Prednisone and that will be finished.  Now that we will have insurance through Waide's new job, I am going to get the referral to a rheumatologist and start a whole new baseline with them.  Dr. Sean is my PCP and does a DAMN GOOD JOB!!

I think that the side effects will be gone here shortly and then I can concentrate on getting my health back on track.

Simponi is a VERY expensive drug and there are many of you that can't afford something like this, but I want to tell you that there is hope.  My medication is paid for by Johnson & Johnson because I met their guidlelines for assistance.  If you need more information, please go to the website- http://www.simponi.com/ and there is a link with further information on getting assistance.  Here is the direct link- http://www.access2wellness.com/a2w/index.html This is where you can apply directly for Simponi and several other drugs that you may be taking.

I will continue to report on how things are going with the Simponi.  But like all of our other medications that we take for RA, time is Simponi's best friend, too.