At first I was not going to respond because reading the scary stories about copaxone almost stopped me from trying it. But I am glad that I have tried beteaseron, copaxone, and tysabri even if I could not tolerate them. I just feel like you have to try. I most likely will try the new oral med once it is approved although my neuro is not so sure I should. he changes his mind from appointment to appointment.

That being said, in the 4 1/2 months that I was on copaxone I also experienced bad site reactions. But the reason I stopped it was that I also had 6 IPIRs in that time period. Following each IPIR, my temperature would spike and I would spend several hours shaking which was not a "normal" side effect. Like Joelle, I tried to go back on it a year later and on the very first day, my temperature shot up 103 a few hours after the injection.

However, a lot of people have been on it for years with very few problems.

Stopped my progression dead in its tracks for almost 3 years. I got strength back where I didnt have nerve damage. Stopped being effective. Wanted estriol + copaxone but idiot neuro said no to estriol and put me on Tysabri! No longer my neuro. Go for it.

I agree with Barb. You dont know how YOU are going to react until YOU try it. Same for any DMD. Some folks take Avonex and dont blink, others lay in bed for 4 days with fever, shakes, chills, and bone pain. Same for Copaxone. Some folks never notice any change other than feeling better, and others have dented skin, and those dreaded reactions after taking the shot.

Its worth a shot (pun intended) and perhaps you will be so pleased, and happy with the drug that you cant believe you waited. If you are not happy, and full of side effects, your MD will pull you off. NONE of the DMDs are forced on us if we are miserable taking them.

I wish you the best of luck. The majority of folks who take it say its almost side effect free for them.

Site reactions are the most common side effects to C, but they often go down with time.

I miss C, and I was on it for two years. It was really good to my MS, but I had some rare issues with the immediate post injection reaction that caused them to yank me off of it. So I guess you could say I had a love/hate relationship with it, LOL! But I'm a med sensitive person, so I get a ton of wacky reactions to things.

We all react to the meds differently, so being nervous about switching to a new drug is understandable. But as Dej said, it's often worth a shot. Best of luck!

I've been on Copax for 9+ years and have been stable. Actually I've improved. After being on SS disability for 5 years, for the last 4 years I've been back working full time as a carpenter.

Ptwo that's great congrats!

I was prescribed Copaxone for 2 years, when all of the sudden I had two severe allergic reactions, to it, requiring visits to the E.R.

My allergic reaction consisted of hives all over my body that itched so bad that I could hardly sit still. I also had shortness of breath that became worse on the second episode. The two separate episodes came at about 2 months apart and the Doctors (including my Neuro) had no idea why these happened, so I stopped taking it.

The shots also have caused my upper arms to sink in, which makes it look like I have lost muscle tone in both arms. Not pretty. My upper legs are somewhat that way, too, which is very upsetting.

Other than that, I felt that Copaxone was doing a good job at keeping my R/R in check.

I'm now considered Secondary Progressive since I was diagnosed in 1997.

I hope this helps and I don't want to scare anyone into not taking Copaxone, although I would like you to be aware of the risks.

Hi Kars10,
Welcome to NT. We appreciate your input. That was very nice of you to post your side effects and reactions to Copaxone, and yet not be against it. We are truly all different. The way our bodies handle medication or injectables, even aspirin.

No two people are the same. Each on of us has different symptoms and reactions to lots of drugs besides MS ones. Some have more than one disease.

We hope you continues to post on this forum, we love to hear new people. We learn from each other.
Nice to meet you.

Jewels, I don't want to scare you off Copaxone either, and so please remember that I'm not really an ideal candidate for Copaxone because I have SPMS and because I'm so old and have had MS for so long (30+ years). They just don't know much about what Copaxone does to people like me, and there's been no evidence that it helps someone with SPMS.

But, like others, I wanted at least to give it a try. I took it without missing a shot for nearly 3 years.

Some of the side-effects began to get bad. "Bowel urgency" was the one that ended Copaxone for me. Spending a large part of nearly every day in the bathroom isn't my idea of "quality of life," though I might have put up with it if I believed Copaxone was helping me.

Now after a month without Copaxone I'm gradually feeling better--and my arms are starting to look like arms again.

The usual site reactions do subside for most people after a few months. They did for me, except for the arms to some extent.

And I never had even a hint of an IPIR.

I don't know if I mentioned, but I've taken it for over two years total time now and never had the reaction. They warned me that it was possible but it just never happened. Most people are not going to report that they never had the reaction because if it works fine for you, you don't even think about it.