I haven’t posted since late June. One of those days I declared as thigh happiest day of my life. In a life spinning (physically) out of control, it surprises me that I felt that kind of Euphoria. Since then (began July 10) I started having problems walking. Not arthritis. Something wrong with left leg.
After two visits to Orthopaedist, with neg X-ray and MRI I was given a corticosteroid injection into the muscle at the source of the pain by the doctor. I was also sent to get a left hip arthogram with steroid injection at the hospital. That was done by a Radiology PA, on Aug 30.
On Aug 23 I had my 1st injection of Cosentyx. It is a biological antibody that works on IL-17A pathway to combat PsO (also used for AS). The first set of shots (it’s 2 at a time) were sent to doc office. They had that changed for this week.
But the UPS driver did not come to the house, instead dropping them at the UPS store. I waited all day, checking the tracking at the end of the delivery window given by UPS My Choice (2:15-6:15) and it said at UPS store. Luckily that didn’t close until 7, so I was able to get and take the second of 5 loading doses.
Before the first dose I had noticed some changes in my skin. For about 2 weeks before, the skin was shedding more than before (in Erythroderma). But about 3 days before the first Cosentyx dose, it had subsided greatly. There are even some areas that are no longer Erythrodermic. Weird, since I’ve been on the MTX the whole time. I guess I’ve been on the Prednisone for about 6 weeks at that point.
We’ll see what impact the Cosentyx has. In 2013 the Derm, Dr. Robins tried Stelara, which works on the IL-23 pathway. I had two doses and he put me back on the Humira, which Dr. John (Jackie) Cush was providing me for free at that time. About 6 weeks after that, Dr. Robins got me in with Dr. Fleisher at he Borland Groover clinic for Remicade. They were going to waive the co-pay (20% of $15,500). It didn’t work out that way. After he $2,024 I owe them from this January treatment, the balance is over $10K.
Both Humira and Remicade are TNFα inhibitors. Enbrel is same. For what ever reason, they worked with different levels of effectiveness for me, with Remicade doing great with clearing, Humira less so and Enbrel even worse than that.
That’s why it’ll be interesting to see what Cosentyx does. And the manufacturer, Novartis, is providing it for free (for now) under their compassionate care program. I’m under pre-approved state, have to get an application and proof of income plus medical coverage in.
oh, I'm hovering at 215 lbs rn. I might diet and try to go under 200 while waiting for this Erythroderma to subside. I'm supposed to go to rehab/PT for 6 weeks/2x a week. The co-pay is $40, so that's $480. We'll see. I want this doc to fix my shoulders, so I might be stuck. I might go to the Y or LA Fitness and start on the bike.
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