Living for the Good Days

Meet Michelle.

Michelle was used to a life of travel and always being on the go. A trainer for an insurance company you could find her on her feet all day and in a different city each week. She always made it a priority to work out. She remembers she started to feel more fatigued and having aches and pains that wouldn’t go away. She chalked it up to getting older and living out of a suitcase. But when her pain wouldn’t subside after taking Aleve or Tylenol and even some days not having the energy to get out of bed she decided to get it checked out.

In 2011 she was diagnosed with Lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and pain in any part of your body. Lupus often affects your skin, joints and internal organs such as kidneys, heart or lungs.

Treating Lupus can be difficult. It can take months — or even years — to find the right combination of treatment options. Your treatment plan may depend on things like your age, your lifestyle, and any other health conditions you have.

Michelle was initially given anti-inflammatory pills to help with inflammation and pain and immunosuppressives to help keep your immune system from attacking your body. She also started home injections with Methotrexate but started having problems with her injection site and vessels and needed to have a port implanted.She eventually was prescribed Benlysta infusions to add to her treatment but after the first initial injections her body didn’t respond so was switched to Saphnelo in 2023.

Saphnelo is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who are receiving standard therapy. Saphnelo is the first and only SLE treatment to target type 1 interferon (IFN-1) activity. It is an IV infusion given 1 time every 4 weeks.

She started receiving her infusions in her doctor’s office then moved to another infusion center until she eventually arrived at Sage Infusion.

“Phenomenal, awesome. From day one Sage Infusion treats you like family. From beginning to end they are there to help you through your journey – finances, insurance, advice,” explained Michelle.

She has more good days than bad days since adding infusion therapy to manage her Lupus symptoms, and she will take a good day any day. Knowing and having the support from staff at Sage Infusion helps her on the bad days.