Drugs

This week I thought I’d write about my experiences with medication and my MS.

When I was first diagnosed in 2008, I had no idea there was any type of medication that could help manage my symptoms so I was quite surprised when my MS Nurse told me there were a few that might be able to help me because of my type of MS. I went with ‘Beta Interferon’ which is sometimes called ‘Rebif’  because of the brand name.

Beta Interferon is a disease modifying drug which although it isn’t a cure for Multiple Sclerosis, slows down the rate and severity of relapses. Interferon can have about a 20-40% reduction in the rate of replaces so I was naturally very excited about the sound of this drug!

It’s taken as a ‘Subcutaneous’ (under the skin) injection usually on the stomach, leg or arm three times a week. The starting dose is 8.8mg and in the end I was taking 44mg three times a week. It comes in syringes which can be loaded into a'pen' makes injecting yourself A LOT easier to do and reduces the likelihood of not getting the full dose and site bad site reactions.

I had many bad side effects whilst I was taking Rebif mainly site reactions and Flu like symptoms, which might not sounds too bad but they got worse and worse. The site reactions became 5cmx5cm raised and inflamed bruises over my whole stomach and thighs meaning that to find a spot to inject that weren’t bruised and inflamed got more and more difficult the longer I took the medication. The flu like symptoms were manageable with Paracetamol to start with, but as the dose increased they turned from mild headaches to fever, hot and cold sweats, migraines and it became increasingly difficult to stay awake for 24-48 hours after the injection. The worst part of it was that once the flu like symptoms started to ease up, It was time for the next injection and this really started to frustrate me.

This was when I decided to talk to my MS Nurse about coming off Beta Interferon and to try and manage my MS without drugs.

I weighed up the pros and cons and for me, the benefits of taking the medication were not enough for me personally to put up with feeling ill every other day. I saw it as a 60% chance of no change to my illness rather than the 30% chance it will slow the rate and severity of my relapses down. I would ALWAYS recommend talking to your Doctor  or Nurse before making a decision about medication, and I know from talking to other people with MS that they found Rebif to work brilliantly so do plenty of research and talk to your specialist about all the options around.

Speak to you all again soon and don’t forget to send me comments and questions!

Claire