What medication do you recommend?
Hello everyone, I have recently been diagnosed with MS, and I saw my neurologist and she gave me a list of medications with side effects. It’s super overwhelming and I’m just trying to get a feel for what other people are doing and how they feel about their medication. I have 2 weeks to decide what medication to start. Some of the side effects are kind of scary. I just want to get as many opinions as possible. I don’t know anyone who had MS and I’m feeling very overwhelmed.
Hi ald2829! When it comes to treatment (and I do recommend one of the disease modifying medications, because they've been studied, there's data showing efficacy on all of them, for every one person who tries to treat with diet and alternative medicine alone, there are many who end up progressing. It's called alternative "medicine" because it isn't medicine at all. It's snake oil, and it's a massive industry raking in enormous amounts of money these days, all with no proven independent successes. It's all anecdotal, actual studies have been done on many of these, and they have not been proven effective. Anecdotal evidence is hard to put stake in with a disease that is so individualistic between people. I've seen the long term results of people who do not take a medication, and it's horrible. That said, a good diet and exercise is still important along side a disease modifying treatment). The real key is to try one, and realize that you may need to try several before you find one that works. Many doctors these days are skipping right to the infusions, like Tysabri and Ocrevus, forgoing the inflatables, but when you are getting started, it really is a matter preference. For example, some people can't handle injections, some are forgetful and can't handle the pill, and some can't bear an IV, you have to just try them and find out what works for you. Having many options is such a good thing, and one that many of us have fought decades for. Remember, you may have side effects, but you may not too, it's all about finding the one that you can tolerate the best.
The scariest part of all the immunosuppressants is the risk of PML. Is this something that I should be so concerned with? I also have two young children and one of them is in school. With the immunosuppressant do people find that they get sick more often?
