My neuro wants me to try it because the Rebif was making me really ill, and I kept walking into walls and doorways...can you please tell me about your experiences with it, and if I should shy away from it or not? Thanks! And, it's good to be back...have been having my own issues with foot problems and surgery on it...am doing better again...ever since I stopped the Rebif and it got out of my system...I'm kind of gun shy at this point, but willing to try it if it will help keep me from walking into walls and tripping and dropping everything...I sound like an ad for MS right now...LOL...

My experience with Copaxone has been a good one. I've been on it over 5 years now. In the six months before it I had 2 flares in the 5 years since none. Although there are subtle signs of MS progression my MRIs remain stable and I have been able to continue working two jobs which is very important to me.

I have been lucky in that the only down side is localized site reactions, some painful but not a problem in the big picture. I do have some dents in my thighs but as 45 even though I'm still in decent shape no one deserves to be subjected to my upper thighs anyway.

Now plenty of people that are anti-medications will say that I have no way of knowing for sure if this is working or not and thats cool. I'm going to stick with it until my MRI/symptoms drastically change or something considerably better comes along. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Hi Jewels.

Copaxone was a breeze for me, no cite reactions and no heart attack-like, side effects. I stopped it, after10 mos, because it didn't seem to be helping me, but different strokes for different folks.

Good luck with it..

I took it for five years and will be going back. I really did a lot better on it than off...and we are hoping my sx will calm down once I start back. I didn't have any side effects, I took it in the morning. I was probably too busy to notice.lol

Or you could wait to try the new oral DMD that will be out in September. Give your body a rest till then.

I think Natalie said that in her thread on here:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread124723.html

I tried C for almost 2yrs. I had a ton of side effects.. No clue if it was working for me tho. I think I've had more exacerbations since quitting it, but I was having exacerbations a lot during the time I took it.

The side effects just were a bit too bothersome for me, and the fact that my neuro ruined any of the (little) faith that I had in the drug that I just quit right about this time last year.

I still have four boxes in my refrigerator. I wonder how long it's good? (I was always four boxes behind because of a lazy injection training nurse who didnt show for three months)

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.