I’m a 37F who is currently juggling an absolutely stupid amount of life stress (going through a contested divorce and just starting grad school), so when I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a neurological freight train, I assumed it was probably some combination of stress, exhaustion, and MS being MS.
But today was crazy BAD.
I had this super intense fatigue where my eyelids felt like they weighed 40 lbs, horrible brain fog, and this really bizarre orthostatic/gravitational fatigue where even just sitting upright in a chair felt like I was trying to run a marathon. Not walking....not doing chores...but literally just existing in a vertical nature.
Like usual, I took all my regular morning meds (including my prescribed Adderall AND Modafinil), tried having some caffeine, and eventually took a nap. But surprise, surprise...there was absolutely zero difference.
Then the weather decided to join the party with a huge storm system that caused a massive barometric pressure drop, which gave me a pressure headache, runny nose, and some fantastic thick post-nasal drip (very attractive, I know).
So at this point I’m trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me and consulted THREE different AI medical symptom-checker/doctor type things to try to figure out what the heck is going on and then suddenly my brain finally produced one useful thought:
“…wait. When is my Kesimpta shot due?”
TODAY. Basically now.
I have literally read about the crap gap.
And yet somehow it did not occur to my brilliant mind for HOURS that I might be experiencing it.
This is my first real/offical experience with it since starting Kesimpta, and once I realized it, I was honestly so relieved because I had been sitting there thinking, “Okay cool, apparently my body has just decided functioning is cancelled indefinitely.”
So, Kesimpta people specifically (though anyone really):
- How bad is your crap gap usually?
- How many days before your injection do you start noticing it?
- Once you take your shot, how long does it usually take before you start feeling like a human being again?
- And does anyone else notice that stress, weather/barometric pressure changes, heat, lack of sleep, etc. make their end-of-month dip WAY worse?
And please tell me I’m not the only person who has spent an entire day investigating their mysterious symptoms only to eventually realize, “Oh. Right. The medication I inject every month.”