My first post

My name is Manel , i´m a 28 years old guy from Portugal.

I´ve been diagnosed with Relapsing-remitting MS  last summer althought my first incident was 5 years ago.

Í´ve had 2 big ones and two lighter ones a short while after those and always with the same symptoms of the previous one.

It´s my first post on an MS forum ever . It took me a while to make the decision to take this step but now i can see it´s the thing to do.

This desease has been very hard to acept for me (as for everyone i guess ) , i used to be a professional athlete (rugby) and a very active person , always doing a thousand things and always open to some more.

That as changed now. I now am at the verge of taking that famous decision : To medicate or not to medicate - thats the question.

This are the facts:

I always recovered totally from everything and have no permanent sequels (that i know of) , one time my balance and right limbs where affected , and the other tme it was my vision.

I feel good and healthy although i notice that i get tired more easilly and have adapted my lifestyle and work to this.

My neuro has advised me start on Betaferon.I´ve now done the exams to get government sponsrship for that and it should be ok.

The problems is that i think that whitout noticing i am blocking that in mi mind , as i feel great and know the side effects that this drug has.

I have joined a local support group and seen all kinds of cases and i can´t seem to form a definite opinion about this. Off course all of this has been haunting me on a daily basis .(i dont sleep thinking about it , i dont wake up to go to work , i go late or call in sick , then i have problems ).Its really affecting my mind right now.

I need some advise. Have any of you guys been in this situation ??

I would love to hear your feedback.

P.S - Sorry if my english looks strange , its not my native language , although its my work one.

All the best for everyone here , we all deserve that.

Manel

Hello, Manel,

I'm sure it has to be a difficult decision for you -- feeling relatively well, not having visible symptoms in between bouts and seeming to recover.  All I can offer is this bit of information: MS continues to affect your nervous system, without you knowing it.  Not every new lesion, not every incident, affects you externally where you'd have symptoms you would see or notice.  Betaferon (known as Betaseron here in the US) is one of the drugs which promises to help slow that progression.

With MS, it's hard to know what to predict -- you could have no problems for a very long time, or you could wake up tomorrow with a severe incident which would leave you disabled.  I think you should follow your doctor's advice and start on the Betaferon.

Good luck to you!

I just wanted to share my Betaseron experience with you.  I am one of the lucky ones and really have no side effects except for bruises everytime.  I take my ibuprofen with my injection, and I've only had the flu-like side effects 3 times since starting on it last May, and it was not too bad.

In my case, the injections are no problem at all, and I hope it's the same for you.

Shar