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  • Taking Drugs

    In 2010 after I was diagnosed my doctor started me on Copaxone and Baclofen. She thought I'd had MS for at least 15 years, and wanted to try and curtail troubling emerging symptoms before they got out of hand. I overcame the initial aversion to giving myself an injection everyday. In my mind, if the Copaxone worked it was worth it to take 5 or 10 minutes out of my day to inject. If poking myself with a needle meant fewer or no exacerbations (one of the the aforementioned troubling symptoms) then this was the right thing for me. The Baclofen though, was another story.

    I suppose I thought of muscle relaxers as "bad" drugs. I worried about becoming addicted to them. I thought, for the purpose they are intended for, I can do better than having to take a pill. I thought I could manage a bit of muscle tightness with stretching. So, I tapered off and stopped taking it.

    For a while I was fine. I figured a "natural" approach to this disease was certainly better than relying on pharmaceuticals. My doctor didn't complain. I remembered she said that it would take about two months for the Baclofen to really start to help. Well, after almost two months without the drug, the spasticity had become a real challenge. My joints and tendons were constantly painful and I was having trouble standing up from a seated position.

    One of my kids is diabetic. He has Type 1, juvenile diabetes and was diagnosed when he was in middle school. A few years later the novelty wore off, he stopped monitoring his blood sugar, skipped injections and ended up with a wake up call stay in the hospital.

    I have wanted to write something here about medication compliance. It has been a challenge to put my thoughts together in recent weeks because I am reeling from circumstances involving another close family member's decision to stop taking their medications. The predicament we are in because of it has been pretty stressful.

    No matter what the medical need, whether it is a 10-day course of antibiotics or a daily life-saving injection it is common to struggle with taking medication. The choice to have a good quality of life would seem the sensible way to go, but it often is not the initial response.

    From my experiences with medication and from seeing friends and family wrestle with their own regimens, I have come to believe if it works it's worth taking. I continue to make the healthy lifestyle choices that are beneficial and as needed, I will take medication. I will work with a doctor I can communicate well with and pay attention to what my body is telling me. It is small effort to make for my own well being and for the ones I love.

    It is important to me that my family knows that I am taking steps towards doing whatever I can to enjoy my life. Good self care gives back a little every day and is a wise investment in the future.


    ...\O/...
    Liv__Well
    ..../\.......

    My Two Numb Feet - An MS Diary

  • #2
    I just want to say I enjoyed reading this. It makes good sense.

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    • #3
      Betaseron

      I am newly diganosed In March 2012 we were in Spain on vacation and I fell a few times and overall was numb and feeling off. So when we got home I saw several doctors all told me I was depressed, it was sugar poision and my thyriod, I then was sent to a neuro Dr, where he is a brain scan, eeg and spinal tap. I have 3 lesions and shading and spinal tap prooved I had residue. So he put me on a 7 day iv treatment at theh hospital. That did not work well for me. So I was then put on Betaseron. I have been on it approx 1 and half months. Very hard in the beginning. I am still have side effects and still have days that are more difficult. It is a real eye opener, as you know you have MS but when every other day you have to inject your self in several locations, reality hits and hits hard. "Wow is this the rest of my life", injections, red blotches, pain, ect? But I do have MS having MS it does not define who I am, yes it is a part of me and now a part of our family. I just pray that the Betaseron in one year prooves to have worken for me. 1 or no new lesions. I can live with that. Better than the alternative. I do alot of research and wish we had a meeting or chapter close to my location. A goal of mine is to open a meeting group for MS familys and people living with MS and the caregivers. I am working on haveing books and phamplets donated, I have MS yoga and some other things in my mind as well. Betaseron is a hard drug to be on and stay on but I will be glad to report back in a year and let you know how it works for me.
      Kitty Burnett
      "I have mave MS, But MS does not define me"

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      • #4
        It's the Macarena!

        I took Copaxone for 5+ years ... And used "the macarena" as my way of remembering where to point and click! Hey, that 's what they tell our kids, right? For computers?

        Waiting for a huge headache to go away .l will be back when it does!
        Caitlin, dx w/PPMS in 2006

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