Like you know, I started my Copaxone a little while ago. I was getting the hang of injecting every day and I was trying to think positive because I desperately want this to work. With the support of the nurse who trained me and Shared Solutions coaching me I was feeling confident about the injections. I was still having some tenderness and a little swelling but I guess that part was normal. My friend said when she first started Copaxone she felt like a “crack head” because she was itching so much. This is the perfect description of how I feel. Once you scratch one location the other 5 need to be scratched too.
I did everything that the nurses said. I iced my injections, I tried heat packs, I tried different needle settings, I tried rubbing the injection the day after, and any other techniques they were willing to share with me.
It wasn’t until last week sometime that my right arm hurt so bad that I could barley touch it to the bed. My back was aching and legs were sore. Again I thought nothing of it. It has to be one of the side effects right? Mark and I were driving home from Wal-Mart and I was scratching my right arm. I found a HUGE lump. So of course I turned to Mark and was like “Feel it!” *Cue the little girl voice* He thought I was over exaggerating of course and I really wish I was. Later I felt my other injection sites and all had lumps. To Mark’s credit he didn’t know about the other locations.
*This is where you need to ALWAYS listen to your body no matter what*
I haven’t used most of these injection sites in over a week, shouldn’t they be almost gone by now? So on Mark’s lunch we sat down with the dry erase body picture used to mark my injection sites and went over one by one.
Me- “This one I haven’t done in weeks.”
I pointed to the picture and grabbed Mark’s hand to follow along. He said nothing but his eyes said it all.
Me- “This one was done last Thursday.” “And, this one was Friday.”
I went over every injection site and all Mark could say was “Oh babe!” I hate calling the doctor when I think things are wrong and really aren’t. So I need validated before I called and that’s all I needed to know. So I called the Doctor. I tried to explain what this looked like:
This is the “fatty” part of my arm. It looks bad but it feels worse. Like I said before it hurts to set it down, brush up against things, it hurts to scratch it even though it itches so bad. The other locations look similar to this. After explaining the nurse/secretary talked to my Neuro and he said to try so Benadryl and the Benadryl crème to take the itch out. I went out that same day on a mission. I came home and took a Benadryl (of course I didn’t get the non-drowsy kind *Way to go Amber*) and I fell asleep. I took 2 before bed and rubbed down the injection sites with the crème.
I woke up the next day and the inject sites were bigger! WTF really?!? So again I showed Mark and he said to call the doctor right away. I called and explained once again that I took the Benadryl and the crème and they got bigger. She wanted me to come in the next day to take a look at them. Well we have since relocated to another state and I was keeping my doctors until I interviewed another one. She said she would talk to the Neuro and get back to me on what to do. An hour later she called back and said I am having an allergic reaction to the medicine, stop taking it, and start on Tylenol, Benadryl, and the crème. Do not take the injections until the lumps are gone. When the lumps are gone I am to call and we can reevaluate whether or not to stay on the medication or to switch.
So this is where I’m at. I am lumpy, itchy, painful, red blotched, and waiting. Hopefully they go away fast and I can start on medication soon. I will keep everyone in the loop as soon as I can. Thank you for staying by me! *And of course share the blog*
With Love,
Amber
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