02/28/2025
Managing a chronic condition is never easy, but finding the right treatment can make all the difference. We're grateful to provide a comfortable space for those on their journey to better health. Wishing Lindsay all the best as she moves forward with her infusions! 💙
Tepezza infusion #1
As I’ve shared here before, I suffer from an autoimmune condition called Graves Disease. My immune system attacks my thyroid which causes it to produce too much thyroid hormone. During this process, autoantibodies are created. These autoantibodies can then attach themselves to the tissues surrounding the eyes which results in a condition called Thyroid Eye Disease.
Thyroid Eye Disease causes eyelid retraction (for which I’ve already had two surgeries over the past four years), eyelid lag, swelling and edema around the eyes and on the eyelids, chemosis (blisters on the eyeballs), eye pain (both dull and sharp), double vision, blurry spots in vision, and bugling eyes as your eyeballs are slowly pushed out of your eye sockets. Fun, eh?
Since December, I have suffered from all these symptoms. Truly, the blisters and eye pain have been the worst. At times, the blisters on my eyeballs have been so bad that the fluid enclosed in the blisters actually started covering my iris and pupil. It’s been a fun couple months. 🤪
Shortly after Christmas, I met with one of the leading doctors in Utah that specializes in TED. He suggested a fairly new treatment that has only been FDA approved for about 10 years now called Tepezza. It’s a series of eight infusions given once every three weeks. For 95% of patients, after the eight infusions, they no longer suffer from TED symptoms again! The other 5% have to do another round of eight infusions in order to receive relief. It really seems to be a miracle drug! Before Tepezza, my doctor called TED a hammer and chisel disease because you’d just have to let the disease ravage your eye sockets for 2-3 years and then, when the disease finally goes into remission, he would go in with his hammer and chisel and try to make you look the way you did before the disease destoyed your face. 😢 So this drug I’m receiving is a godsend! The only problem is that these eight infusions cost $600,000! 💀 YIKES!! I’m so grateful that after many rounds of bloodwork and other tests, as well as CT scans, my insurance company agreed to cover the cost.
So today, I’m receiving round one! I’m so excited to hopefully get some relief from everything I’ve been suffering with recently. Please pray for me that it works!
Oh also, this medication comes with some side effects. Most people feel like they have a bad flu with horrible body aches the following day, so I won’t be at work tomorrow as I’ll likely be laid up in bed. So when you don’t see me on your TV in the morning, you’ll know what’s going on.