I Started Cimzia Today

Today, I started my first dose of Cimzia for my Crohn's disease. Cimzia is an injection that comes in a prefilled syringe. My eyes got wide when I saw the needle that I have to poke into my fat, but it really wasn't that bad. The needle is probably half and inch long.

Cimzia is a Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) blocker. This is the type of drug that it is. The Crohn's drugs I have been taking for the past year (Pentasa and Endocort) are pills called anti-inflammatory drugs.

Cimzia is supposed to lessen the symptoms of Crohn's disease in adults who have not been helped enough by usual treatments (www.cimzia.com). This drug is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

This is the box the two syringes came in. 

Above is the syringe. Once I am ready to inject, I take the white circular tab off and that is where the needle is. Not that scary looking!

To start Cimzia, a nurse who works for the company came to my apartment today to teach me all about the drug and how to inject myself. Injecting myself is a new thing for me! Eeek!

My nurse was so nice and helped me through the process. I practiced on a blob of fake skin with a needle just to see what is it like injecting. Then, I injected myself in the side of the belly for the first time. I had to pick a spot on my lower belly that was about an inch away from my belly button. I pinched the skin and real quick poked the syringe into my skin. Then, I slowly pushed down on top of the syringe injecting the medicine into my fat. It took about a minute. The medicine stung a little going into the injection site and it continued to sting a little for a couple of minutes afterwards. Not too bad!

Since I was nervous while injecting myself the first time, I forgot to breath. After the needle was out of my stomach, I got really light headed and almost passed out. I tend to hold my breath when I am tense and nervous. After I few minutes of laying down on the couch, I felt better and decided to go for the second injection! I felt more confident this time. :)

For weeks 0, 2 and 4, I have to inject myself with two Cimzia syringes. This is called the starter pack, and it gets the medicine into my system. On week 6, I only inject myself with one syringe every two weeks.

The only down side to this drug is that it lowers my immune system, which means I am now more susceptible to upper respiratory infections and UTIs (ugh!).  I just have to stay away from sick people and wash my hands a lot more! It will be totally worth it if it helps my Crohn's symptoms.

It may take up to 3 months for me to see any results and tell if the drug is working properly. I will keep you all updated these next few months on my progress!

In the meantime, I am still taking a low dosage of Prednisone (the steroid) for the next month, and I am still on my other anti-inflammatory drugs until I finish the starter kit. Then in about 4-6 weeks, I will start weening off these drugs if everything is going ok. That is good news!

If you ever start a drug like this, I would suggest having someone with you so help you listen to the nurse and learn how to inject it as well. Unfortunately, my husband could not be here with me today, because he had to work. But my mom came and sat with me while the nurse taught me everything I need to know. It was very nice to have the support and a second set of listening ears. :)