Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe

So, what in the world am I talking about with the title of this article? Well, let me clarify that. I’ve had a lot of people message me and ask me if they should be on medication to help manage their MS, which medication they should be on, and so on and so forth (you get the idea). So, I thought that this would be a good topic to write about. I’m sure it’s been written about in the past, but this is a topic that I am VERY passionate about, and I wanted to give my opinion on it.

Let me start off by saying first off that I’m NOT going to give you medical advice. I’m also not going to tell you what you should and should not do. But I can tell you what I would do, in your position. Or what I have done, in my case.

Deciding if treatment is right for you

I know there are many people out there who are not even taking disease-modifying treatments (known as DMTs or DMDs) to manage their MS, and that is completely their choice. That is just not the choice that I have made for myself. As we all know, each of our disease courses is different, and no two cases are the exact same. Not one medicine is going to work for every patient, and so on and so forth. So, for starters, if you do decide to be on a medication, you need to decide which one is right for you.

What factors should you consider?

There are many factors that will come in to play on how you should, or should I say how I would go about choosing a medication for myself.

(You can click here to view the available medications and read information about them.)

How the medication is administered

Let's start off with the obvious, right? What everyone is going to look at first: how it’s administered. Is it a daily shot, it is an oral pill, is it a so-many-times-a-week shot, a monthly infusion, etc. That seems to be the popular way most patients are choosing their medication these days.

Safety of the medication

Okay, so you have looked at how the medication is administered; next is the safety of the medication. This is looking at the side effects, any warnings that may come with the medication, etc. This is obviously a VERY IMPORTANT step that needs to be taken into account.

Medication interactions

Okay, so what’s next? You’ve looked at administration and safety/side effects? What else could there be? Well, I haven’t run into this problem, but it’s always good to check and make sure that there are no issues with the medication you are interested in taking interacting with any current medications you are taking for anything else.

Cost

Now, the dreaded COST of the medicine because, of course, there is going to be a cost associated with the treatment. It might take a bit to find out what it will be with your insurance, but you should be able to get an estimate. Also, each DMD/DMT company most likely offers a financial support program of some sort; your neurologist should be able to point you in the right direction, or of course, many of the MS resources out there like the MSAA or National MS Society.