Hello all! I wanted to update everyone. I saw my rheumy last week and he switched me to Cimzia. I am still waiting for insurance to agree to pay, so I haven’t injected Enbrel for two weeks now. And guess what… I know have shingles! Yay!!
Let me tell you, the shingles pain is off the charts painful. It’s much worse then any PsA pain I have felt. It’s been two weeks with the shingles and I finally saw a doctor and got nerve pain meds. For the first week I though the rash was only an infection. I got antibiotics but they did nothing. That’s when I considered it to be shingles. I guess it didn’t cross my mind because of my age. I was so very wrong.
This is a warning for myself and everyone else, when something pops up go see a doctor as soon as you can! If I had seen someone soon I could have taken an antiviral. Now it’s too late.
Has anyone else had shingles? Any advice?
Who here is on Cimzia? How do you like it? What is the injection like, painful?
I’ve had shingles twice. Once when I was 8(!) and again about a year ago. Last year’s event wasn’t too bad because I went to the doc right away and got put on the antiviral stuff - I do remember the case I had when I was 8 was really really awful (my entire back was basically one big scab - then some bully shoved me up against a brick wall and slid me down it - which was very painful. Stay away from bullies!).
Sorry not to have any advice about it, but hopefully the stuff your doc gave you will help. Also know that you might be contagious to others if you have blisters.
As far as the Cimzia goes - I was on it for about 3 months. The shots aren’t terribly painful, but the medicine itself is quite thick, so inject slowly and take your time. I actually quite prefer the Cimzia syringes to the injection pens - also they come with fancy grips! (they’re pretty neat). I’d also advise watching their how-to video for the injection, because it’s so different from the others in how you give the injection having that extra visual is pretty helpful. (They have it up on their website).
I also had, like, zero side effects from it, which was fantastic. The only thing I got was a small bout of fatigue about 24 hours after the injection. Just went to bed a little early that night and I was doing pretty well. You also might “feel” the medicine under your skin for a bit right after the injection (kind of weird, but not really painful), and my skin got whiter where I injected (but didn’t stay that way - it looked almost like a scar from P after it heals but only stuck around for a couple hours to a day - does anyone else get scars from P? I dunno… lol). Overall, my favorite TNF-inhibitor I was on (I did Enbrel and Humira as well). I think I might have a post or two somewhere on it - and there are a few others who’ve had more side effects.
Thanks!
Sorry about the bully! That sounded horribly painful! My son gave me a big hug last time and I almost screamed.
I’m still waiting on the insurance for the Cimzia.
It was - but I think it must have been towards the tail end of things because I was at school, so not as bad as it could have been. And Poor you! Hugs should not be painful! I will be hoping you heal quickly!
I hope you get an answer from your insurance soon too - I always hate that waiting period, so my sympathies .
Oh, Amielynn so sorry go hear that. I can’ t remeber your age but one of the guys I work with also had shingles recently, beleive he’s 26-28? He has Chrones and uses remicade so knowing was on Humira he made sure to tell me as we were working closely at the time. Odd at such a young age but obviously not too crazy uncommon. I sure hope ot gets better soon for you since I know you have been struggling with PSA pain too. Hopeffully things will be on the up and up quickly and the new bio will be the winning ticket! Take care and cheering for you!!
Thank you Racheal and Sennie. I hope it heals quickly as well. The nerve pain meds along with my own pain meds is really helping. Though it makes me very sleepy. I rather be sleepy then feel this pain!
I hope Cimzia works as well. Going to call the insurance today to see what is taking so long.
Oh no! I am so sorry to hear this. I quit Enbrel about ~6 weeks and broke out in a weird rash as well! It looked like chicken pox, and I have also had shingles before, so I immediately went to urgent care to start antivirals. TIP: If you think you have shingles start antivirals asap within 72 hours! It’s the only hope!
We still have no idea whether it was actually shingles or not, but played it safe and eventually the red bumps went away. Can barely see them now. So weird. Shingles is miserable, I hope your skin starts healing soon.
I had three bouts of shingles in a row which is what the Doc thinks is what initially kicked of my PsA. I now get a shingles vaccine and it seems to be working. I was initially given antibiotics as they were waiting for test results, no joy and then a second bout hit me 4 weeks later. I was straight in to the docs and antiviral given there and then. My advice don’t wait as the pain is like nothing else.
Thanks everyone. The shingles is getting better. I now have a cold… Well I hope it’s a cold and not another round of shingles. Who knows any more. I’m in a “tired of all this medication” phase.
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