Know Multiple Sclerosis

I have been taking one of the interferon-beta drugs to treat multiple sclerosis for seven years.  It is an injection I give myself in my leg.  I remember not liking needles when I first started taking it - that feeling went away with time.  The shot does not hurt.

With my first injection of the drug, I felt empowered.  For the first time, rather than worrying endlessly about things I couldn't control, I was taking control and doing something to help myself.  It was a very good feeling.

For the first few months, I got very bad chills a few hours after the injection.  I would shake and feel cold for several hours.  I also had flu-like symtoms (achiness, fatigue) for about 24 hours.  The chills side-effect improved every week and, after several months, completely disappeared.  I still get body aches for 24 hours after the injection, but that is easily remedied with ibuprofen.

I credit much of my success with multiple sclerosis to this drug.  I've had multiple follow-up MRIs done since diagnosis and they have shown no progression of the disease.

The drugs available today do appear to impact the progression of the disease.  That is something people with multiple sclerosis didn't have until the 1990's.  Think about that - what a fortunate time to get the disease if you're going to get it.  We live in an exciting and hopeful time.  Much of the research related to AIDS has advanced our knowledge about the immune system, and diseases such as multiple sclerosis (thought to be immune-related) have reaped the benefits.