MY COLUMN IS ON: AVONEX & SUICIDAL, REBIF, BETASERON, IVIG, PLUS COPAXONE'S CLOSING UP MY THROAT & BEING SAVED BY 911! 

I hope you enjoy my Column.  I've written  9 other Columns for you: Click on my photo on far left side of this Front Page to read them all....

Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis is scary enough, but when they start offering all these medicine options at you and the side effects, it can be somewhat

 overwhelming! 

What you have to keep in mind is everyone is different and your body chemistry is going to be different than “Susan’s” body chemistry. Your stage of MS may or may not be the same as “Phil’s” stage so obviously you are going to react differently to the drug. What you can rely on 100%, and its full proof is experience. Every MS’r has a treatment journey. If you listen to that journey cautiously and only take the experience from it, it may help you in deciding which direction you want to go in your own treatment. 

So I want to share my journey with you in
hopes you may or may not take something away from it. When I was diagnosed, I had no idea what MS was or what it could or would do to my body. Like any scared 44yr old, single, professional, “made it on my own” female, I Googled it...... 

BIG mistake! Holy crap! Talk about terrified. I needed to plan my funeral, update my will, and have a family meeting.  *Note to self- No more computer research! I saw every awful thing there was to see, every horrid image, every side effect from every medication, but what I didn’t see was a cure. Talk about scared! I went to Barnes & Noble and spent money I should’ve spent on new shoes on books about MS.

 My neuro decided to put me on Avonex and I reluctantly obeyed. I will never forget that first shot. I had my best friend with me for support and she had a bottle of Tequila for her support because she hated needles. She completely passed out when I took out the package of instructions.

What a champ. I would take the shot on Friday night around 6pm and the side effects would start sometime in the early morning hours around 1-2am. I literally laid in bed all day Saturday & Sunday feeling as if a truck had hit me.

I was single then and had zero support from family. I remember one of them asking “Why are you doing this to yourself?” Oh I don’t know, I like feeling like I’m about to die? I had literally no one!! I was in this fight all by myself....