What type of medicine are you taking for your Multiple Sclerosis?

Question

My brother who is now 24 yrs old has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He went from jogging 2-3 times and week, playing basketball everyday to barely holding his self up. He can't walk more than 5 feet without leaning on someone or something. This kills me! He had minor symptoms of MS in the beginning but as soon as he started taking his medicine, it got a lot worst I believe.

I just wanted to ask what medicine do you MS patients have? My brother said Mitt Romney's wife has it and hers have went into remission after she started taking "eastern" medication. I don't know if that's true or not. If someone that has MS can tell me what type of medicine there doctor has them using and after what time period did they start seeing results? Please ONLY MS patients need reply

If you have a story on how you overcame it or how a treatment effected your MS in a good way, please share your story. Your reply would be appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm very sorry to hear about your brother. What I can tell you is that MS affects everyone who has it differently. So does the medications to slow down its advancement. While I can't speak directly to his MS (I don't know what kind he has), I can tell you about mine (I have RRMS), and my successes.

I had one episode of Optic Neuritis, some tremors, and some right arm muscle weakness. That seems like no big deal, but if you were to see my MRIs, two within a six month period, my brain told a different story. It looked like Swiss cheese. And the second MRI showed significant advancement.

Time to start medication. The CRAB drugs (Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex, and Betaseron) essentially do the same thing. The differences between them are the frequency of dosings, the locations of shots, and the side effects. I chose Copaxone. It sports the least side effects, but the highest dosing frequency (every day).

While my symptoms slowly got better over the next year, they again didn't tell the whole story. My MRI a year later showed that I had no new lesions, no active lesions, and the ones I had were shrinking. Guess I picked the right medicine.

But when do you know you are on the wrong medicine? The drugs usually take about six weeks to gain efficacy. After that, my doc would say that if you have two or more flare ups within a six month period, or if you have abnormal brain scans, it may be time to change the medication. Each one of the formulations works in a slightly different way, and everyone responds differently to them. In your brother's case, when he started taking his meds, he was already that far along with his disease. The thing to remember about the meds is that they don't cure MS. They simply slow its progression and make exacerbations less severe and last for a shorter duration.

Your brother's neurologist will work with him and together, using the entire body of evidence (symptoms, neurological exam, MRIs, etc), they'll decide if it's time to try a new medicine.

Good luck, and I wish you both well.

cj

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

I don't have MS but a friend does and won't take any medicine for it. Ridiculous. I came on to see what the side effects are that are so terrible that she won't take it -since she won't tell me.