Treatment

My Treatment

Since my diagnosis, many of you have asked me about my treatment.  The day I was diagnosed, my neurologist prescribed an oral treatment that I took daily called Aubagio.  MS is an autoimmune disorder where your body attacks your central nervous system, so most treatments are some sort of immunosuppressant.  Within a few days, hives started to pop up on the palms of my hands.  It's the same reaction I have when I take NSAIDs.  I thought I'd give it a few more days before I told my doctorm but the next day I got really dizzy, nauseated, headache, fatigue, etc.  I wasn't sure if it was the medication or my MS, so I called my neurologist.  She asked me to come in, and they decided to take me off of the Aubagio immediately.  It was a few more days before I started to feel better.  Thankfully I work with amazing people who once again rearranged their schedules to allow me to take more time off as I recovered from my poor reaction to the medication.

My neurologist has prescribed me a new medication that is administered as an infusion.  It took over a month to get everything in order, but I have my first dose scheduled in about a week.  The first time they'll give me half a dose, and I'll go in again two weeks later for second half.  If all goes well, I'll go in every six months for treatment.  Each infusion takes about 5 hours, so I'm bringing a good book and my knitting.  Some people feel fine by the next day.  Others are sick for a week after.  We'll just have to wait and see.  Either way, I'm glad I don't have to worry about taking a pill at the same time every day anymore.

There is currently no cure for MS, so this treatment is designed to slow the progression of the disease.  My neurologist is also hoping that it will help with some of my current symptoms.  I'll have new MRIs done in a year to see if there are any new lesions on my brain.  If I don't, we'll continue the current treatment.  If I do have new lesions, we'll try something else.  I know people will be asking me if the medication is working, but there's no way to tell from day to day.  MS is so unpredictable that it's really hard to tell how effective a medication is.  That being said, I'm so grateful that I have medication as an option!  I'm excited to start fighting back.

Now it's time to make fun of the brochure!  This one actually isn't too bad.  It has lots of helpful information presented in concise and helpful ways.  But all of these brochures try to make taking medication seem like so much more fun than it really is.  When my mom started her first medication, the brochure showed pictures of people having fun but replaced everyday objects with nerves.  For example, there was a picture flying a "nerve kite" and a couple playing tennis using nerves as rackets.  But by far the best picture was a family in the fall raking up dead leaves.  Except they replaced the leaves with nerves....  Seriously?!?  A giant pile of dead nerves??  We laughed so hard at the ad guys who thought that was a good idea!

Here's the cover of my brochure:

The best part is that they never reference the picnic again... not once in the entire brochure!  I do have to bring a lunch to my infusion appointment because I'll be there for so long, but I don't think that's what they meant.  Plus a bouncy house in February just seems like a bad idea.  It may be weird, but my family loves to laugh about these!  They're almost always comically absurd.

Have a great day!