Alternatives to Steroids
By Cherie C. Binns, RN BS MSCN
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You are having what seems to be the umpteenth relapse since diagnosis and you know by now that treating that relapse with steroids is no longer working for you. What alternatives do you have?
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I initially tolerated IVSM (Intravenous Solumedrol) quite well and it seemed to improve my vision and my ability to walk and empty my bladder and it helped the knuckle- dragging fatigue I would experience with a relapse. But after a year on monthly pulse steroids, I began having more and more trouble with elevated blood pressure, heart rate, sleep, anxiety, irritability than I thought was acceptable for the little benefit I could see from the dosing at that time. My neurologist was very firm that he felt the monthly pulse was necessary with my Avonex to keep inflammation at bay enough to prevent more damage than had already been done and felt that I was on the best treatment at the time given what was available and proven and the condition of MS as I presented.
10 comments:
when I try to read Cherie's article on alternative to steroids, I am unable to read it due to the ads on the right side that block out the wording. can this be fixed? thanks.
Dear Anonymous,
The Banner Ads are NOT blocking any wording.Follow each sentence to the next line, like you would anywhere else.
The banners are not advertisements.. They are sponsors of our website, for whom then we let others know what they do.
write to me at : stuart@msviewsandnews.org for further explanation.
Best Regards,
Stuart
I, too, find the multi colored ads often distracting to what is in print. I have discovered if I go to the tool tab (upper right corner) and click on accessibility tab, there is a box to check that allows you to see the text in your preset font and size. It makes reading web pages like this much easier for me.
with regards to Cheries comment - I guess that this tab she writes about, has to do with if using Internet explorer, mozilla firefox or google chrome?
MS has been a part of my life since 1985 and IV steroids always broke my exacerbations until June 2009. Thank God for an incredible team at my MS Clinic in Waukesha, Wisconsin (ProHealth.) My exacerbation was broken by ATCH.
Thank you for bringing up the problem of breaking exacerbations when steroids no longer are effective!
Joe Jendusa
Saw my primary (he's managing the bloodwork and dosing) today and he is thrilled . Wants to see my white count stay between 2.1 and 2.5. It's finally down to 2.7 today . He said once we reach toe target count, we hold the dose every week to every other week then get it back to monthly. We may also drop in dose a few months from now. For now, my BP and Bloodsugars are well managed , vision, spastacity, pain, fatigue, endurance, cognition are all improved.
We had a three week break in infusions due to scheduling difficulties and needing new orders. In that time, WBC bounced back to normal and after two doses I'm back at 2.7 with labs due again in three days. Hopefully in another couple of weeks we can go to every other week.
In the meantime...No new MS symptoms and all residual symptoms from the last several months of relapse are continuing to improve. An no negative side effects!
Hi Cherie, it's Dao. Thanks you for posting this. I found steroids not as effective as in the past and changed to methotrexate. However, my symptoms got worst when I was on methotrexate. So I switched to azathioprine and mynocycline (50mg/day) as suggested by an Australia neuro. I've been on Azathioprine for nearly 2 years and stopped. I don't have new symptoms for the next 1.5 year, but now my condition seems to get worst gradually. Do you think I should start this drug again? Is it harmful if we take this kind of cancer drug for too long? Thank you. BTW, I will translate this article into Vietnamese and post on my site.
Dao,
I am not in a position to prescribe these medications but can tell you what has and has not worked for me and others I know. My neurologist has stated that in his opinion , methotrexate is ineffective in most people. You might ask your neurologist about immuran which also can be taken orally. And these drugs , at the doses given to people with MS, tend to be quite safe if regular blood count monitoring is done
I have taken myself off all MS medications. Haven't had a full blown exaserbation for 4 years. The meds made me sicker than the MS. My only deficits are cognative..lots of trouble with finding words, fatigue, and muscle spasms. But I stopped falling and getting dizzy. Am I playing Russian Roulet with my future health?
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