Progression Therapy - pros and cons

Debbi,

This is a hard one.  This such a personal thing to decide.  For me, I felt so great starting a progression therapy.  I felt like I was doing something that would slow down the beast that is MS.  It can be scary though; especially when you are on something then you have a big, fat, horrible flare.  You become sure that you are taking something that is NOT working.  There are side effects to all of the therapies, even copaxone.  You have the flu deal with the interferons.  Since they are all injectables, you can have site reactions and site infections. With copaxone, you can have the IPIR (immediate post injection reaction).  You can be allergic to the med, again, that seems to be more common with copaxone than with the interferons. 

I was so sick at diagnosis.  I had spent several days in the hospital two different times.  I had times when I was barely walking.  I had times where I was vomitting in bed with vertigo.  I felt like I needed to do something.  Others, however, choose to wait for while.  They want to see how their body's will react to MS.  Some have very benign courses and it can move extremely slowly even without therapy.  Your friend has expressed the regret of starting a therapy soon after diagnosis. 

So, as you can see, I can't help you with this decision.   This is a very serious decision.  This disease is different for everyone.  There is just no way to predict how you will respond to meds or how your progression will go.