Got some devastating news yesterday - I have Multiple Sclerosis

[blindersoff]

84. IM injection

I have been on Avonex once a week for the whole 5 years. At first it was a regular IM injection (which my husband, the nurse, did for me because I just couldn't bring myself to do it) and then they offerred an injectable pen, which I've been doing for the past 3 years -- easy peasy. Avonex can be associated with flu like symptoms at first, fever and body aches and chills, but that only lasted (for me)for the first few months for about 12 hours the day of the injection.

Choosing the right DMD for you is a very individual thing. You can choose injectables that are daily, twice a week or once a week; also monthly infusions and of course the oral ones. You really have to look at all the charts and reading materials for the different ones (did your neuro give you handouts from all the available DMDs?) and then choose according to which side effects you are most willing to endure (possibly), the schedule of adminstration and the effectiveness. I was lucky because my husband is a nurse and he had a very logical way of looking at all of them together and helping me to determine which one was best for me.

Avonex is expensive (as are the other injectables - don't know about the orals), (Avonex full cost is over $5000/mo) depending on your insurance coverage and usually is sent monthly via a specialty pharmacy. My copay went from $40 to $150 when I changed insurance at work; I called the drug company and they put me on their copay assistance program -- I now have a $0 copay (at least till Medicare starts and then who knows). Just shows you how big the markups are on these drugs... but that's a different issue.