This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hello

my neuro is taking me off of copaxone and I need to pick a new abc..I'm thining rebif-- what do you fine folks that take rebif think about their meds?
thanks
Andie

Its a no from me although I feel i was past the point of no return when i started on Rebif. I was told I would feel lousy initally but after a day or two I would feel better.

I felt sickly for a whole year and told them to stop prescribing me it after I felt I could'nt go on with it. I was then diagnosed as spms and told the Rebif was not doing me any good. I could have told them after 2 months but was persuaded to stick with it.

I am now drug free for 3 years. Dont feel sick anymore but my condition has proggresed.

Some people do thrive on Rebif, this only my experience.

good luck with your choice.

Hi Andie,
Rebif seems to be working for me. I've been on it since first diagnosed in 2004. I like the little bit of flexibility that the 3x a week regime provides. I can shift from Sun-Tuesday-Friday to Mon-Wed-Friday, for example. For the first couple months, I remember having some flu-like symptoms (mildly feverish) but no longer. I don't know how the injections compare with Copaxone, but if you read posts here, you'll get some tips on how to minimize any discomfort.

I chose Rebif over Avonex because of the clinical trials that compared effectiveness, and because I could not imagine that big IM needle. I suspect that it's pretty much the same effectiveness as Betaseron, just 3x a week instead of every other day.

Good luck with your decision making.
carolsue

No relapses yet and no side effects yet..... Thank God. almost 2 yrs. I like it alot.

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w/m 44
The problem comes with the decision of weighing the unknown with the unknown.

Starting rebif tomorrow! Wish me luck. Looks like a mixed bag. If I get sick, I will quit. I already am doing other things, but there's no way to tell if it helps. MS is such a game of wait and see, that I quit waiting and seeing and went in for a MRI for the first time just a few weeks ago. I had 20+ lesions, 2 active, and one in the spine. Major bummer, considering that I thought I was doing well. Really, I am doing well considering that I can walk and talk and look otherwise healthy. I only have trouble with names and numbers. It got worse, then my face went numb. That is when I thought it was time to go get the MRI.

UPS delivery tomorrow for a bunch of needles. That is very exciting for me, considering that I got the prescription 4 weeks ago. I guess that the holes in my head weren't enough for "pre-approval" from my insurance. (Medco if anyone is wondering)

I think that I would rather Medco pay me half the price to not take rebif. I could probably retire off of that and live pretty comfortably. I haven't died yet. What really is a median of 30% reduction of new lesions on a trial of 290 people? Is it really worth $6,000+ per month? I have a natural tendency to draw the information to a personal level and say, "30% less lesions! Whoopeee!" Then I think about medians in statistics. Then I think about how getting the flu stimulates remyelination. Then I think of the flu like symptoms. Really what I need to do is go hang out with people with the flu and get paid from Medco to not take rebif. Then I would be fine.

Going on rebif tomorrow. I will be rebijaculating 3 times a week.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Not looking for a response. Just looking to get out some thoughts about rebif, as per the post.

Cheers!

Did you know, Rebif is made with the ovaries of chinese red hamsters? That was what sold me on it. It is so bizarre. I have to shoot it into my veins just to say I shot up chinese red hamster ovaries.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR514-cJFPrsWWvkyvs9jyLIQbOFpwlekv1NFs3zV4E53RrIIjc

It just says shoot me up.

I woke up in a daze this morning after taking Rebif yesterday. I couldn't remember anything that happened following about an hour maybe after the shot. I was sitting in bed trying to remember what happened the day before, and then went out to the living room...

My place was trashed! There were gnaw marks on all of the floor boards and furniture. The couch cushions were all tore up and it looks as though... could it be!? A giant rat's nest!

I went to the restroom to shake the fog out of my head and splashed some cold water on my face. I looked in the mirror... The transformation was complete:

It sure beats MS!

Injection sites are uncomfortable. Livable, but uncomfortable.

I don't mean to offended any Rebif fans. Believe me, I am making fun of the drug companies and myself, not you.

I've been on Rebif for over a year and seem to have adjusted to it well. I did have the dreaded flu-like symptoms at first, but they went away after about a month or so. I do my injection at night prior to bedtime, which seems to help. As far as injection sites, I no longer include my thighs in the rotation. I have a large number of surface veins and I was getting reflux and bleeding almost every time. It was also very painful, which doesn't help matters. Since I skip them now, I've had no problems. I was on Copaxone for nine months and had hives at the injection sites, which were awful. The good news is my latest MRI showed no new activity and my neurologist said I was stable! Whoo hoo!

"Did you know, Rebif is made with the ovaries of chinese (sic) red hamsters?"

Yes MSBOB I did know that. In fact that is part of the reason why the stuff is so damn expensive. Every couple of years they charter the QE II, sail it to China and round up all the female hamsters they can find. Let me tell you with hamsters, its not easy telling the girls from the boys. Once they round them up and get them on board, they take them on a luxury around-the-world cruise before heading to the lab for the ovarectomies.

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Carpe Diem