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In 1994, I began having pain in my left eye. After a few days, the vision in that eye became blurred. After many trips to an optometrist, who tried to treat the problem with eye drops, I was finally referred to an ophthalmologist. He did a slew of tests and told me I had optic neuritis - an inflammation of the optic nerve. He sent me to a neurologist, after casually mentioning that one of the possible reasons for the optic neuritis was multiple sclerosis. Well, guess what??? He was right. The MRI had several lesions consistent with MS. Thinking back, several years earlier, I had experienced this weird "electric shock" like feeling down my spine upon bending my neck. My neck, shoulders, and back were very tense. I went to my family doctor, who called the "electric shock" feelings Lhermitte's sign. She said this was often associated with multiple sclerosis, but that she didn't want to try to diagnose me with MS at that time, due to the possible impact on my life (insurance, jobs, etc.) Well, at that time, I was only 23 years old and I was sure that I was invincible. Nothing like that would happen to me, so I put it out of my mind.....UNTIL the day the ophthalmologist ever so casually mentioned MS.
After being diagnosed in 1994, I could not even say the words "multiple sclerosis" without starting to cry. Pretty wimpy, huh? Well, I was only 25, and it just didn't seem fair. I didn't even know that much about MS. I started to educate myself, got really scared, and went into absolute denial for three years. Then, in November, 1997, came my next exacerbation......reality check! I was numb from my neck down. It wasn't very severe, I was still able to get around. I don't think I could've run a marathon (well, I couldn't even walk around for long in Wal-Mart!). It kept getting worse though, and steps became a serious problem. (I knew we should've built a one-level home!) The neurologist called it transverse myelitis. After five days of IV steroids, I started improving.
So, I decided that if I really had to live with this disease, I might as well go ahead and accept it and do the best I could with it. I started taking Avonex in January 1998. I wanted to do anything I could to fight this. It wasn't too bad - I just felt tired the next day. The good thing about Avonex dosing is that it's only once a week! And that's a good thing - since it's an intramuscular injection! In October of 1999 my new neurologist switched me to Betaseron. She felt that it was best for my particular situation. I preferred the subcutaneous injections to the intramuscular Avonex injections - I was able to give these myself! Of course there's always a trade-off....the Betaseron injections have to be given every other day! I took these until I decided to get pregnant with my 2nd child and I am currently still off the medication since I am breastfeeding. I have read that breastfeeding may be somewhat protective against exacerbations. I hope so, because I really wanted to breastfeed my child. It's a gamble though, since the incidence of exacerbation is higher after delivery. I hope the breastfeeding really is protective! Update: February 11, 2006: Looks like I'm way behind here! These boys are keeping me busy! No problems after the pregnancy/breastfeeding, etc. I'm back on the Betaseron,no exacerbations.
 This picture illustrates what I hope the Avonex/Betaseron was doing for my MS - 'keeping the fires down' , keeping the exacerbations at bay!
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