My Experience With Cimzia

Before I tell you about my experience on Cimzia, I want you to know that everybody is different, we will all react differently to medicine. What works for me, might not work for you and visa versa. For some people it takes time to find the right biologic, and others may find that their first biologic works for them. Some people experience side effects, and other's won't.

My first biologics experience

I started taking Cimzia on the 29th of July. 3 days after my birthday. I felt nervous and excited all at the same time. This was my first biologic.

The nurse called to my house, explained everything about Cimzia, injected me and showed me how to inject. She told me the side effects I might experience and explained that everyone was different. She said that the only time I should be worried about the side effects is if they cause me to be hospitalised.

My loading dose for Cimzia was two injections every two weeks, and then one injection every two weeks.

I always get quite nervous about medication and the side effects.

How I felt after injecting

A few hours after the first two injections I started to feel sick, I thought this has to be normal. My body is reacting to a new, foreign substance. I felt tired, weak and I had a headache. But the strangest feeling for me was I felt like my whole body was shaking on the inside. I felt dizzy, and just generally horrible. This feeling lasted for about 10 days.

I was annoyed as I only had four days where I felt ok and then it was injection day again. I thought that this might just be a once off. I was wrong, it happened after every single time that I injected over the three months. I would feel so sick for about a week to 10 days.

Cimza was not for me

I constantly looked ill. As the months went by, I did not start to feel better. It didn’t help with my pain or fatigue. The side effects got worse, I had a constant headache for months. I was constantly breaking out in hives. For the three months that I was on Cimzia I never felt well.

I remember, it was a Wednesday and the headache that I have had for months got increasingly worse. I took strong painkillers, and it didn’t help at all. As time went by the headache got more intense. My vision was blurry, I could barely see. I felt so nauseous that I couldn’t eat. I kept taking painkillers every four hours but there was no ease in my headache. As the days went by, my headache got worse each day. My pharmacist advised me to go to the hospital. I rang South Doc (an emergency clinic) and they told me to come up immediately.

I needed medical help

This was my first time leaving the house in over a week. The car journey made me feel even more sick, I was crying because of the intense pain in my head. I didn’t have the energy to lift myself out of the car and walk. My mam helped me to the door. Because of Covid, I would have to go in alone. But at this point I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t hold myself up. My mom was allowed in with me. The doctor saw me straight away, he gave me an injection and I fainted. he told me that I had a migraine. He was in shock when I told him that I have been like this for five days. He told me that if the headache didn’t ease, I would need to go to the hospital.

I went home and slept, my head was still sore but at least I had my vision back.  The next day I woke up and I felt even worse. This is the worst I had ever felt. I didn’t think it was possible for my head to be in so much pain.  I really didn’t want to go to hospital, especially during a global pandemic. I kept drinking water, taking painkillers, and staying in the dark.

That night I knew I had to go to the hospital, I was so afraid, but I needed this pain to go away.

Continue reading about Ali's experience here.