Copaxone Heart Attack Symptom!

[anon07072023]

Alright everyone, tonight for the 1st time I just had the dreaded Copaxone heart attack thing. OMG!!!!  I have NEVER felt like this in my life!!!! So scary!!! I injected in the top left of my left leg. Immediately afterwards I started to get a burning in my chest and up my neck and face. Then my entire body became tingly and my throat felt like it was closing off. I started feeling like I was going to hyper-ventilate.  Thank goodness I had already read about this happening before. I yelled to my partner who was sitting right there next to me on the couch. I said, "It's happening!!" She looked at me confused. I said I feel like I'm having a heart attack!!!   Still right now I'm shaking all over. At first my face was bright red, now I'm really pale.

I called Shared Solutions and they're gone for the rest of the night and until MONDAY morning. Ahhh!! That's great, I hope this shakiness goes away soon.

-Kelly

[anon07072023]

Hi Jen and everyone, I just wanted to say that my first reaction was to lay down, too. However, according to Shared Solutions, you should never lay down during it. I think it's supposedly better for your breathing if you sit-up in an upright position.
This is just in case someone reads this, and ends up having an IPIR of their own....

Thanks,
Kelly  

[jensequitur]

Hey, Lulu!

Yes, I had six IPIRs before I quit Copaxone completely.  I'm pretty sure it was Copaxone that was causing the problem.  Every time it happened, it was right after an injection.  The last one was an injection into my stomach, which is a little scarred already from lipoatrophy.  The injection went very slowly, and as the autoject finally went all the way in, I could feel my chest tightening up.  Hard to explain, but I knew immediately that something was wrong.  I yelled to my husband that I was having a reaction, and laid down on the couch and tried to relax.  The weird part was the extreme itching all over my body - that had never happened before with an IPIR.  

I really do think that injection in anything but subcutaneous fat will cause a problem.  Or maybe I'm just one of the susceptible ones.

One of the reasons I continued with the injections is that my neuro said it would be okay, and so did SS.  But that neuro has made several wrong choices in the course of my treatment.  The one thing I like about his office is that they've worked very hard to make sure I have a DMD and that I have financial assistance for it.  I've learned that I have to be proactive with those guys - do my own research and ask for what I want.  Right now I'm seeing an MS specialist, and she's much more on top of things.  It's nice to know that your neuro is smarter than you are!

[anon07072023]

Thanks Raz. I hope it will stay like that, too...

[RazCarver]

Glad you haven't had any more problems Kelly. that sounded bad and scary.  -Raz

[anon07072023]

You can knock me down, but I'll just get back up again. :-)
I'm still taking my injections. I never skipped a day.

The 1st day after it happened I was just really nervous and making myself sick to my stomach thinking about injecting again.

After I injected that next night after the IPIR, without a mishap, I'm not nervous anymore.

Thanks everyone for your input, I really do appreciate it.
-Kelly

[essdipity]

I'm really pragmatic. Whatever works, and what works for you won't necessarily be helpful to me.

However, I would not continue any med that had me crying every day. Life is way too short. I was on Copaxone a couple of months, and ultimately realized I was allergic to it and getting worse. Horrible itching, hives, lumps, welts, rashes. The neuro said this would not improve. So I said this would not continue! Just couldn't stand it another second.

I had never had an IPIR reaction to Copaxone. One might have been enough--two certainly would have been. Especially since the nurse had said that these happened very randomly. Because I hadn't had one in X amount of time said nothing about whether I'd get one, or more.

So I switched to Avonex. Almost no flu-like probs when I did the shot at bedtime, accompanied by 2 Aleve. Having liver function tests a few times a year isn't a big deal. I have to have other blood tests anyway.

So, as the saying goes, I'm Jus' Sayin. Find what works for you. It's out there.

ess