Avonex while sick?

NHE · Volunteer Moderator Joined: Nov 21, 2004 Posts: 698

I know that we have discussed the issue of taking Avonex while being sick in the past. At that time, I had only one prior experience in this area and that was that I had Avonex within roughly 24 hours of feeling a cold start to come on and the Avonex seemed to help such that I did not feel any of my cold symptoms the next day. However, I have recently had a very different experience which I found a little disturbing. I had a family member with a head cold/flu or whatever and I eventually caught it. It seemed to affect me mostly in my sinuses. I had been taking an antihistamine+decongestant for a few days. I really have to take both for if I just take a decongestant then I'll wind up getting nose bleeds. Anyways, I had my shot. I didn't take any ibuprofen since I was on the antihistamine and I've read of other's experience on the forums that they do well with an antihistamine to counteract Avonex's side effects. I woke up the next day and didn't feel too bad though I did wake up several hours earlier than normal. My problem was that I found it difficult to sit up. It took about 4 or 5 tries. I usually don't have this problem but that morning I would just keep falling backwards when I tried to sit up. After finally getting to a sitting position, I then found it difficult to stand. I discovered that my one leg which has neuropathic pain was working much worse than normal and I really had to put most of my weight on my other leg. In addition, my arm on the same side was a little slower than normal. My initial problems were with this arm but that was 8 years before I was actually diagnosed and I haven't had too many problems with it since then except that I sometimes notice that my grip is weaker with that hand. These problems slowly cleared up over the day and I was back to "normal" the following day and I've since recovered from my sinus problems. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with taking Avonex while they were sick where the stuff seemed to make MS symptoms much worse?

Thanks, NHE

PS - I've been on Avonex a little over 7½ years and this is the first time this has happened to me.

AllyB · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject:

Hi NHE

My experiences so far have been similar to your 'usual' experience - when I have been feeling like I was catching a cold, the Avonex seemed to beat it back, and I have not had a full blown cold or dose of flu since I have been on Avonex ( 1 yr next month). This is a double edged sword - you know the problems I have had with Avonex, however in the year preceding my commencing Avonex, I almost continually had flu - saw my GP every month! Big indication my immune system was busy elsewhere.
I will watch out for what you describe though - it sounds very scary - you must have wondered if you were having a relapse. So glad you are better & hope the sinuses clear up (weird how many ms'rs have sinus issues).

Take care
_________________
Ally

AllyB · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject: Avonex side effetc

Hi NHE

Just been flpping through my package insert on Avont and found something of interest in connection with your problem (above):
"Transient episodes of hypotonia and/or severe muscle weakness that prevent voluntary movements may occur at any time during treatment. Thes episodes are of limited duration, temporarily related to the injections and may recur after subsequent injections"

This might shed some light?

take care
_________________
Ally