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Showing posts with the label drug study

I Should Be Sleeping

Today is Christmas. But it hasn't "felt like Christmas". Cliché but true. I made candy, I did some shopping, I got my Starbucks in the red cup, and I even did 2 Holiday themed nail art pieces. I would post pics, but I have no pics. That will be explained later. I'm on week 5 of Cimzia. So far no negative side effects. The joint pain has been reduced drastically, and  stomach cramps are less frequent. However, I'm still experiencing some pain and intermittent nausea. The problem: I'm not sleeping. Here's the thing... I'm a sleeper. 10 hours a night and sometimes naps during the day. I can sleep like a pro. My body needs it to function. During the past two weeks I've been unable to sleep at night. I follow all the tips: No caffeine after 6 pm, only one caffeinated drink per day, no daytime naps, etc. I've even been getting up early when I can. When I wake up at 9 AM, I'm sometimes not going back to sleep until 5 AM. Sleep is sporadi...

Crohn's and Cimzia Study

I know that I said I would post more, but whatever, I'm a liar. I'll post when I feel like it. This may or may not be frequently. Since I started seeing Dr. Wolf I've gone through several medication changes. A few weeks ago I started prepping to participate in a drug study. The drug is Cimzia, and it's already FDA approved, but Dr. Wolf is doing research to optimize dosing of the drug. In order to qualify I had to go through a series of tests: Blood work, TB test, chest X-ray, C-Dif test, etc. Fortunately all of the tests results were what they were looking for, and I'm a prime candidate for the study. It seems the other medications have helped my symptoms, but I still have lingering issues with joint pain, stomach cramps, and nausea on a daily basis. The goal is to make these symptoms minimal. So, last Monday I had my first Cimzia injections. The nurse injected two 200 ml syringes into my stomach. I thought that it might hurt, but it was relatively painless. ...