I Had to Go to the Hospital Because of Cimzia

In my last article, Finally, My Cimzmia Migraine Stopped, I speak about how it made me feel for three months and what lead me to end up in hospital. Like I said in my last article, everybody is different. Yes, I had very bad side effects on Cimzia. But, I know many people who use Cimzia and it works amazingly for them and they have no side effects! This is just my experience.

The emergency room

My parents drove me to the hospital, my mam walked me up to the ER door. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to come any further with me.

At this point my AS was not under control, I could barely walk. I was in so much pain all the time. It felt like my hip was stuck, and I was constantly limping. Looking back now I should have been using a mobility aid such as a walking stick.

I hobbled to the ER desk and told them my problem. They said a doctor would be with me soon and to take a seat. About 5 hours past and no one had come to see me yet. I felt a million times worse. The loud noises, the bright lights, and the terribly uncomfortable chair did not help how I was feeling. Eventually, a nurse walked past, asked if I was ok and said I didn’t look too well. I started crying and told her how horrible I felt. She apologized for how long I was waiting and explained that they were incredibly busy.

I told her about my AS, but she didn't know much about my condition. She set me up on an IV drip of I don’t know what, but it didn’t help.

I sat on a hard, uncomfortable chair for 15 hours

Another few hours passed, I was now in the triage room lying on a hard reclining chair. I needed a bed, but they didn’t have any. The nurse was lovely and very apologetic, at this point I had four bags of fluids. The nurse gave me tramadol and another tablet I can't remember the name of. At this point, I was still on the drip. The doctor told me she was admitting me but waiting for a bed. My migraine was getting worse and worse. The pain in my back and neck was also getting worse as I was sitting on a hard reclining chair. I didn’t have the energy to stand.

The doctor told me she didn’t understand why I wasn’t reacting to the medicine and said it was very strange that I was getting worse. This made me extremely nervous. She told me that I needed a brain scan. This terrified me, I thought something was wrong with my brain.

I was sent for a CT of my brain. I felt nervous but the radiologist reassured me that we had to do this to rule out anything.  I think at this point I was in the hospital for about 10 hours, it was 4 am when I got my CT.

I was wheeled back to my hard uncomfortable reclining chair, there was still no bed available for me. The doctor came back and said if the CT is clear then I will get to go home, even though my headache hadn't subsided at all.

I was allowed to go home!

It was 5 am, the doctor came to me and said my CT was clear and that I was allowed to go home. I was happy that my scan was clear. But, I was confused that they were leaving me to go home in pain. I rang my mam, woke her up, and said I was being discharged.

Oh wait, not yet

As soon as I hung up the doctor came back and said "I’m so sorry, but you need to stay. We are not sure about your scan and we must wait for the consultant's shift to start." I rang my mam back again and told her not to collect me.

At this point I was terrified, and I had my parents worried. I tried going to sleep but I couldn’t, it was too bright, too loud, and ouch my head really hurt.

Keep your eye out for my next article, I explain what happened at the end of my hospital visit.