For those of you who have read my previous blogs either here or on a different blog host site, (the evil ones) you know that I have been dealing with Crohns Disease since the late 80's / early 90's. Over the years I have experienced just about everything that Crohns can throw at you; weight loss, bowel obstructions, fistulas, adhesions (also known as excessive scar tissue build-up) major flare-ups, dead bowel syndrome. The list of symptoms and extra conditions is long and believe me it's not fun (Crohns Disease is an auto-immune disease that can affect your alimentary canal (aka digestive tract) it can also affect your joints (similar to RA) and your skin. The dread part I despise is the waiting game or what I like to call when will it flare-up again. It seems that the Crohns I have is a cognizant entity and is fully aware! Let me give you an example, awhile back my wife and I had planned a nice trip out of state to visit family and friends, while my wife packed and got things ready, I begged and pleaded with my Crohns to please oh pretty please if you will hold off until we get back from our trip I will let you go nuts. I even offered to let it wreck a different trip to be announced later. Nothing like feeding a fever, starving a cold or bribing a disease! CD toyed with me, played me along and in the end wrecked the trip, wrecked the other trip, went totally nuts and as an after thought decided to wreck an entire month! But alas I have a new ally in my corner. My GI doc. (Richard Otero) suggested we try a new and different medication, (Cimzia) it is in a class of new medicines called TNF-Blockers and is really a biological drug. Cimzia is 2nd or 3rd generation TNF-Blocker (TNF = Tumor Necrosis Factor) with Humira, Enbrel, and Remicade being the first. The main difference is that the other ones have to be infused via an IV line and depending on the dosage can take up to 2-3 hours to complete and may require as many as 2 doses a week. Cimzia on the other hand is a sub-cutaneous injection you can give yourself! Woo-hoo. So yesterday dawned an overcast day, (it cleared up really quickly though), and I with Fasha's help injected the first two doses of this miracle. Now those who know me personally know I like to do research on almost anything, so long before the medicine even arrived from the specialty pharmacy, I had checked out well over 30 different sites, forums and support pages. So I thought I knew most of if not all of the possible side-effects, and for the most part yesterday went off without a hitch. Yeah I did visit the bathroom a bit, and kind of felt crampy and all, but it was anything I had not felt before. THAT WAS YESTERDAY and now THIS IS TODAY! Today is a slightly different story, I am sluggish and feel like I have been beaten like a bad rug then run over repeatedly by roving herd of semi-trucks. Remember I said I read everything I could about side-effects, how it works, what it is and everything, I forgot the part in which it says that you "COULD EXPERIENCE FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AND A GENERAL MALAISE LIKE FEELING FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS AFTER YOUR INJECTIONS!" Even though it is too soon to tell if it is working correctly, I am willing to deal with this and any other typical side-effects. What I am feeling now is nothing like what I have had to endure and feel in the past. So as I sit here quietly sobbing and feeling like I have the flu, and also feeling miserable about missing church this morning, I am grateful that I now have a way to combat and override CD's hold on me!
If you are looking for more info on this and other treatments or wondering just what Crohns Disease is and how it affects a person I have couple of links for you to checkout.
- This first link is a general wiki about TNF Blockers and what they do. Click here.
- This link is about Crohns Disease in general. Again it is from Wikipedia. Click here.
- This is official Cimzia website. Click here.
- And finally here is a link to the Crohns and Colitis Foundation web-site it has a lot of info and also lists all of the current treatments available. Click here
Until next time people, enjoy life while and as you can. Live each day to the fullest. And LAUGH OUT LOUD!
P.s. I might add that I have gotten a couple of questions that concern me, and after catching part of an infomercial I am even a bit more concerned. I am referring to the hack author Kevin Trudeau (I believe that's how it is spelled if I am wrong then sue me he-he). It seems that he has written a self-proclaimed best seller about Secret Disease Cures the government and the pharmaceutical giants don't want you know. At present there is NO CURE AVAILABLE for CROHNS DISESE. Neither is there one for HERPES. Yet his book claims that there is a cure. Remember if it seems too good to be true, then more than likely it is too good to be true.
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