16th January 2008
I agree with both Bearygood and Snoopy and wanted to add that the doctor who told your friend this, is being irresponsible; however, are you 100% sure that your friend isnt just hearing what she wants to hear?
I have been on Rebif (one of the disease modifying drugs) for 15 months now. Ive had 3 MRIs during this time and no new lesions have presented..keeping in mind that I had over 50 of them when I was diagnosed. My initial symtoms which brought me to the ER hysterical (and a very quick diagnosis) were tingling (severe) in my left hand and a small amount of foot drop. Looking back, I can add extreme fatigue as well as dizziness, balance problems to the mix but at the time didnt equate it with having had MS....at this time, not ONE of my symptoms has gone away, however no new ones have developed....and when I do have a very stessful day or suffer extreme fatigue they do appear to be worse than usual, only to get back to what I consider their normal state after a good nights sleep...so, is that remission? I dont know. I woud like to think it is, in the sense that nothing new is really going on. I stil go to work each day and take care of my familiy- cook, clean and run errands like a nut. Im in sales, and my job is very demanding...I manage, even with the bad days...but remission? I dont know if once you have MS you ever truly feel 100%...you just really are grateful for the good days.
Side note: disease modifying drugs are a very personal choice. I have the type of MS Specialist who is brutally honest, telling me that there is no absolute certainty that they are going to keep my disease from progressing; however he was also adamant that if I was positive I didnt want to get worse, there was no harm in trying them. I decided to be extremely proactive with my meds and I only take Rebif, which is one of the stronger ones out there...all I can say is after the intial getting used to giving myself injections, and getting past the intial side effects of geting used to the drugs- I dont mind being on the Rebif at all as long as my MRIs keep showing up with no changes!!!
The oral drugs you are talking about arent available yet..there are many trials going on right now and we ALL hope that they release these drugs sooner than later; however in the meantime, if you really research the drugs your doctor have mentioned (there are only 5 on the market: Avonex, Copaxone, Rebif, Betaseron and Tysabri) youll make up your own mind about whehter this is something you want to do now or not....feel free to post questions about any of them..we have members who are taking or have taken them all!
best of the best to you..
Nikki
I have been on Rebif (one of the disease modifying drugs) for 15 months now. Ive had 3 MRIs during this time and no new lesions have presented..keeping in mind that I had over 50 of them when I was diagnosed. My initial symtoms which brought me to the ER hysterical (and a very quick diagnosis) were tingling (severe) in my left hand and a small amount of foot drop. Looking back, I can add extreme fatigue as well as dizziness, balance problems to the mix but at the time didnt equate it with having had MS....at this time, not ONE of my symptoms has gone away, however no new ones have developed....and when I do have a very stessful day or suffer extreme fatigue they do appear to be worse than usual, only to get back to what I consider their normal state after a good nights sleep...so, is that remission? I dont know. I woud like to think it is, in the sense that nothing new is really going on. I stil go to work each day and take care of my familiy- cook, clean and run errands like a nut. Im in sales, and my job is very demanding...I manage, even with the bad days...but remission? I dont know if once you have MS you ever truly feel 100%...you just really are grateful for the good days.
Side note: disease modifying drugs are a very personal choice. I have the type of MS Specialist who is brutally honest, telling me that there is no absolute certainty that they are going to keep my disease from progressing; however he was also adamant that if I was positive I didnt want to get worse, there was no harm in trying them. I decided to be extremely proactive with my meds and I only take Rebif, which is one of the stronger ones out there...all I can say is after the intial getting used to giving myself injections, and getting past the intial side effects of geting used to the drugs- I dont mind being on the Rebif at all as long as my MRIs keep showing up with no changes!!!
The oral drugs you are talking about arent available yet..there are many trials going on right now and we ALL hope that they release these drugs sooner than later; however in the meantime, if you really research the drugs your doctor have mentioned (there are only 5 on the market: Avonex, Copaxone, Rebif, Betaseron and Tysabri) youll make up your own mind about whehter this is something you want to do now or not....feel free to post questions about any of them..we have members who are taking or have taken them all!
best of the best to you..
Nikki