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Hello :)

Posted: Sun May 05, 2013 7:46 pm
by keshina90
Hi everyone,

My name is Keshina I am 22 and I was diagnosed with MS in February this year (2013). It came as a really big shock for me as I didn't know much about it but was told I already had 2 attacks. My first one was March 2012, I had numbness and tingling from my neck to my tummy and arms (this lasted 2weeks). I went for an MRI and a bunch of other tests and they couldn't tell me what was wrong. In October 2012 I had my second attack. This time I had blurred vision in my left eye. I was going back and forth to my eye specialists and all they kept saying for the next 2 months was "your eye looks healthy and we cant find anything wrong". as this was the second time Doctors and specialist couldn't tell me what was wrong and I went to another one who sent me for a MRI on my optical nerve and brain. This all happened in December. Just before Christmas I had a phone call from my eye specialist saying he had to refer me off to another specialist as they found something on my brain and he was unable to help anymore. The earliest he could get me into a Neurologists was the 1st of Feb. And this was all that I was told I started to get some crazy thoughts going through my head, is there something there I need to have an operation on or maybe it is something they cant operate on- will I die. So may thoughts going through at once. I have been pretty luck to have a very special man to stand by me with all of this. I remember when my Neurologists said it was MS I broke down and was all confusion she was trying to give me all of this information and I just couldn't take it in. My partner held my hand and listened to everything she had to say. When we got home and I had gotten over the first shock and filled me in on all of the details.

then it came to the point I have to decide on what medication I wanted to try. I am not a fan of needles at all but knew I had to suck it up and decide. I decided on Rebief as it is only 3 times a week compared to everyday. I have been having injections now for the past 3months and still find it really hard to do it myself. I have doen about 4 and my partner has had to help me with the rest. I have found that the side affects are not great at all, the headaches, cold chills feeling like you have been hit by a bus the day after. I have tried many things to try and reduce the side affects but not much has help. I am finally starting to come around thank god. I have my injects at night around 6pm and still feel like death at 2pm the next day. I have read on a lot of sites that maybe I should try having it in the morning instead but not to sure it is a good idea at this point as I get a massive headache about 6-8hours after having it. And the only way I have been able to get over it is takes some strong pain killers and go back to sleep.

Anyway that has been my journey so far. I am looking forward to talking to you all and to hear all of your journeys.

fingers crossed they find a cure soon :-D

Re: Hello :)

Posted: Sun May 05, 2013 8:56 pm
by NHE
keshina90 wrote:then it came to the point I have to decide on what medication I wanted to try. I am not a fan of needles at all but knew I had to suck it up and decide. I decided on Rebief as it is only 3 times a week compared to everyday. I have been having injections now for the past 3months and still find it really hard to do it myself. I have doen about 4 and my partner has had to help me with the rest. I have found that the side affects are not great at all, the headaches, cold chills feeling like you have been hit by a bus the day after. I have tried many things to try and reduce the side affects but not much has help. I am finally starting to come around thank god. I have my injects at night around 6pm and still feel like death at 2pm the next day. I have read on a lot of sites that maybe I should try having it in the morning instead but not to sure it is a good idea at this point as I get a massive headache about 6-8hours after having it. And the only way I have been able to get over it is takes some strong pain killers and go back to sleep.
Welcome to ThisIsMS. The interferon-beta side effects can be pretty rough. Have you tried ibuprofen? I would recommend 400 mg at the time of your shot and then another 400 mg about 4 or 5 hours later. The next morning, 200 mg can help take the edge off. With regards to the time of day for your shots, I was on Avonex and found that injecting around noon was best as I was better able to manage the side effects. It seems that my body did not thermoregulate well if I tried to sleep on Avonex and I would get fevers, chills and the shakes. Injecting earlier in the day was better.

NHE

Re: Hello :)

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 9:18 am
by daverestonvirginia
You might want to consider Copaxone. I know that means you have to have a dose everyday, but there are almost no side effects. I have been on it for about eight years now and I and doing very well. I do not know what it would be like if I had flu like symptoms three days a week. Anyway just something to think about.