Newly Diagniosed

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DawnL
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Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 3:50 am

Newly Diagniosed

Post by DawnL »

Hey! I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago and did 5 days of Solu-Medrol last week. I met with my neuro yesterday and I have to decide which long term treatment to try. I am really confused and would love any recommendations. The choices he gave me are Avonex, Copaxone, REbiff, Beta Seron, Gilenya, Tectidera. I don't want to do Tysabri. My main symptoms now are optic neuritis (which is better) and numbness from waist down and both arms. I have had the numbness for 10 months and he said it will probably never be better than it is. Any advice or recommendations anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thank you! :-D
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lyndacarol
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Re: Newly Diagniosed

Post by lyndacarol »

DawnL wrote:I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago and did 5 days of Solu-Medrol last week. I met with my neuro yesterday and I have to decide which long term treatment to try. I am really confused and would love any recommendations. The choices he gave me are Avonex, Copaxone, REbiff, Beta Seron, Gilenya, Tectidera. I don't want to do Tysabri. My main symptoms now are optic neuritis (which is better) and numbness from waist down and both arms. I have had the numbness for 10 months and he said it will probably never be better than it is. Any advice or recommendations anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to ThisIsMS, DawnL.

Currently, I have a special interest in vitamin D… Solu-Medrol, as steroids do (laxatives and antiseizure medications do, also), interferes with vitamin D – they cause your body to absorb less vitamin D.

And for optic neuritis… It may be worthwhile to maintain an optimal level of vitamin D in your blood:

Vitamin D status may relate to severity of acute optic neuritis in multiple sclerosis, new research says (2014)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitamin- ... ch-says-2/

If a vitamin D blood test (the "25-hydroxy D" test) was done recently, would you share the actual test result numbers with us? I was tested in January; my results were 24 ng/mL, which is frankly deficient.

If you have not had this vitamin D test, please request your GP (or neurologist) to order one for you. It is inexpensive ($50-$70 and is usually covered by insurance); the information from this test may be important to your situation.
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NHE
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Re: Newly Diagniosed

Post by NHE »

If your vitamin D3 level is low, then raising it can have about the same efficacy as several of the CRAB drugs.

Pierrot-Deseilligny et al. 2012 reported that every 10 nmol/L increase in 25-OH-D level, up to 110 nmol/L, was associated with a reduction in the relapse incidence rate of 13.7%.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22783368

A mere 30 nmol/L increase in 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 puts it in the efficacy range of interferon beta1a with a 41% reduction in relapses. The side effects are nonexistent and the cost is spit in a hurricane in comparison.

Note: 110 nmol/L = 44.1 ng/mL. Divide by 2.496 to convert nmol/L to ng/mL.
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