Ocrevus

So the last week of January was my first dose of Ocrevus. The week before, I spent hours packing my bag for my day at the IV clinic. I packed all of the snacks, a lunch, a water bottle, Nintendo switch, iPad with movies/shows, noise canceling headphones, a book, battery pack, phone charger....lo and behold, I didn't need 90% of the items in that bag.

So the day came, and when you show up they require some loading medication and it starts by giving me two Tylenol pills, an injection of a Benadryl and then an injection of 125 mg of solumedrol. These are to prevent any weird symptoms from happening or side effects. I noticed I was feeling a little off within 15 minutes, almost like I was high from the Benadryl. It also made me really sleepy right away. Half an hour after getting all of those pre meds, we started with my half bag of medication.

I arrived at 8:00 a.m. and left around 12:30. In that time I listened to one podcast, and watched two shows on Netflix that I had downloaded to my iPad. Going forward, I know I only need to bring my noise canceling headphones, the iPad, a warmer blanket, snacks, and a water bottle.

I definitely didn't feel as crappy as I did after my last medication, Mavenclad. I was mostly tired and had a crazy headache in the afternoon, but a Motrin was able to stave that away. I also took a Motrin just before bed to prevent any other weird side effects. I did have a bit of uncomfortable bloat and crash from the steroids a day or two later, bit it wasn't too bad.

Fast forward two weeks and we did this all again. Same pre meds, less packed bag, same headache and crash, but now I don't have to do this again for another 6 months.