What type of medicine are you taking for your Multiple Sclerosis?
September 14th, 2007 | by Michael |
Emeka N asked:
My brother who is now 24 years old has multiple sclerosis (ms). He went from jogging 2-3 times and weeks, playing basketball daily barely keep his car up. He can 't walk more than 5 feet without rely on someone or something. This kills him! She had symptoms of secondary ms in starting but once he started taking his medicine, got the lot worse I believe. I just wanted to ask that the medicine makes the patient has ms? My brother said the glove half Romney 's the wife of him and his having entered into remission after he started taking the "eastern" drug. I don 't know if that' s true or not. If someone who has ms can tell me that that kind of medicine than adjusting them using, and after the half was beginning to see results? Please only patients in need of ms response If you have a story about how you have surmounted or how a treatment made your ms in a sense, would depart your history. Your reply would be appreciated! Thank you!
My brother who is now 24 years old has multiple sclerosis (ms). He went from jogging 2-3 times and weeks, playing basketball daily barely keep his car up. He can 't walk more than 5 feet without rely on someone or something. This kills him! She had symptoms of secondary ms in starting but once he started taking his medicine, got the lot worse I believe. I just wanted to ask that the medicine makes the patient has ms? My brother said the glove half Romney 's the wife of him and his having entered into remission after he started taking the "eastern" drug. I don 't know if that' s true or not. If someone who has ms can tell me that that kind of medicine than adjusting them using, and after the half was beginning to see results? Please only patients in need of ms response If you have a story about how you have surmounted or how a treatment made your ms in a sense, would depart your history. Your reply would be appreciated! Thank you!
One Response to “What type of medicine are you taking for your Multiple Sclerosis?”
By CJ on Sep 16, 2007 | Reply
I’m very sorry to hear about your brother. What I can tell you is that MS affects everyone who has it differently. So does the medications to slow down its advancement. While I can’t speak directly to his MS (I don’t know what kind he has), I can tell you about mine (I have RRMS), and my successes.
I had one episode of Optic Neuritis, some tremors, and some right arm muscle weakness. That seems like no big deal, but if you were to see my MRIs, two within a six month period, my brain told a different story. It looked like Swiss cheese. And the second MRI showed significant advancement.
Time to start medication. The CRAB drugs (Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex, and Betaseron) essentially do the same thing. The differences between them are the frequency of dosings, the locations of shots, and the side effects. I chose Copaxone. It sports the least side effects, but the highest dosing frequency (every day).
While my symptoms slowly got better over the next year, they again didn’t tell the whole story. My MRI a year later showed that I had no new lesions, no active lesions, and the ones I had were shrinking. Guess I picked the right medicine.
But when do you know you are on the wrong medicine? The drugs usually take about six weeks to gain efficacy. After that, my doc would say that if you have two or more flare ups within a six month period, or if you have abnormal brain scans, it may be time to change the medication. Each one of the formulations works in a slightly different way, and everyone responds differently to them. In your brother’s case, when he started taking his meds, he was already that far along with his disease. The thing to remember about the meds is that they don’t cure MS. They simply slow its progression and make exacerbations less severe and last for a shorter duration.
Your brother’s neurologist will work with him and together, using the entire body of evidence (symptoms, neurological exam, MRIs, etc), they’ll decide if it’s time to try a new medicine.
Good luck, and I wish you both well.
cj