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Old 04-03-2008, 12:14 PM
greta greta is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 713
15 yr Member
greta greta is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 713
15 yr Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msrozhou View Post
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I am just so overwhelmed with trying to find out information on MS. My neurologist gave me some pamphlets and an informational package on Rebif. I think that is what she wants me to start taking after the results of my spinal tap. I am a little concerned about giving myself the shots. I should have asked her but forgot, how long does a person stay on a medicine like Rebif?

Is it really easy to give yourself the shot? In the pamphlet it says that you should take the shots at night but can you also take them in the morning? In case I cannot bring myself to give my shot in the beginning, where I work we have firefighters and I am sure I can find one to give it to me.
I'm on Rebif. Just celebrating year #3 on it. It's not so bad. You stay on it until you have a reason to come off of it (eg. a cure!, a new treatment, you get pregnant, you can't tolerate it, etc.) It's meant to slow down your progression. It will only do that while you take it.

I was petrified of shots in the beginning. I started with Avonex. That's the intramuscular one (really long needle). It was hideous. Then one day I had to do it myself. It was hard but very empowering. After two years, I switched to Rebif. Not too bad. It comes with an autoinjector so you don't have to give the shot manually if you don't want to. I did it with the autoinjector for the first year but then switched to doing it manually because I can inject slower and I think that it hurts less. If you work with firefighters, you'll be sure to have someone who can inject you. Many have been trained as paramedics. Giving a shot is easy, once the nurse teaches you, if you don't think you can do it yourself, you'll at least be able to talk some brave soul into doing it for you. You can do this!

You can also take them any time of day you want. I choose evening because I can sleep though most of the flu-like side effects, but daytime works too.
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