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March 2003
**IMPORTANT**
Beadopotamus will be closed from
December 6th - December 28th for the holidays.
Orders placed during this time will be processed December 29th.
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March 2003 |
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March 2003Wednesday March 12, 2003 - Review of the MRI showed two new lesions - one affecting my vision center (obviously). My neurologist suggested I think about starting disease modifying therapy, which I wasn't ready to hear at the time. To me thinking about therapy was like finally admitting I "really" have MS. Not that anyone has ever really doubted it, but somehow I keep hoping they were wrong or it was going to be silent from here on out. No such luck. He sent me home with 3 patient information packet on 3 different injection treatments and I spent the weekend looking into all three of them and reading about the research. In 1991, things weren't very positive about the therapies available. They didn't work on all types of MS and they hadn't tested them for very long. They pretty much were saying unless you aren't doing well, you don't need to consider therapy. I basically tuned out a few years after that - stopped keeping up with the research and the recommendations. Now they have a few different options (all still injections) with 2 (Betaseron & Rebif) that have a very good rate of reducing future exacerbations. Currently they say that people with relapsing / remitting MS (like me) should start on therapy soon so as to try and stave off progression and damage for as long as possible. The drugs aren't very effective once the disease becomes progressive. So I narrowed it down to one (of the two my neurologist feels have a higher efficacy) mainly due to the fact that Rebif (the one I've chosen) has 4-5 fewer injections a month and it's .5 cc instead of 1 cc. I made an appointment this past Monday and told the neurologist I was ready to start Rebif. I filled out some paperwork and am waiting for the drug company to contact me about training me how to inject myself. I'm feeling better but still broken. Double vision is almost completely gone (except when I get hot, stressed or very tired), balance is much better but I'm still fatigued a lot. Should be starting therapy sometime next week. Monday March 24, 2003 - Today will be injection number three. Right now I'm taking 8.8micrograms (about .2 ml). Four days ago, MsLifelines sent a nurse to my home to teach me how to use the Rebiject - Rebif's autoinjector. I was nervous but it was easy to use and barely hurt at all. The second injection (two days later) stung a bit more, but I think it was just the location that I chose, just luck of the draw. I iced both sites after the injection to get into the habit and have had no problems with either injection site - no redness or swelling. In another week, the dose is increased to 22 micrograms (.5 ml). I will post with updates. |
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