Rigors? ADR? (Adverse Drug Reaction)
Saturday night, about an hour after I took my shot, I started to get really cold. I took my temperature, and it was 97.0. I got into some warmer P.J.’s, and by the time I got back to the kitchen table, i was shivering and shaking.
The shaking quickly turned into convulsions. The muscles behind my shoulders and up the sides of my neck cantracted, and the pain was excrutiating.
The soles of my feet and the palms of my hands got pins and needles and then went numb. Next was my face. I had trouble breathing, like my throat was being strangled.
After 15 minutes of this episode being severe, my husband called 911. I though I was having a seizure, though I know little about them. By the time EMS arrived, it was starting to subside. My pulse was 165, my blood pressure was 94/52. They stayed as I described the experience, and by the time I was through, I was fine. My pulse was 96, and blood pressure 104/67 - I am always 110/70.
I decided to opt out of an ER visit at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night.
After speaking to my I.C.U. nurese friend and my neuro, it was one of two things. Rigors or , I nicked a vein when I gave myself the shot.
Either way, it was what they call an Adverse Drug Reaction or ADR. It’s not an allergic reaction - apparently there’s a difference.
But that’s great news because it means I can stay on Copaxone!
My neuro is giving me an anti-hystemine to “pre-medicate” - take the pill before the shot, and hopefully it will prevent it from happening again!