I previously posted this as a reply to another Thread. I thought that more people might benefit from the info. as a separate Thread. Hope this doesn't violate any forum protocol?

Betaseron & Avonex - my wife started with Beta in '94 when it came out. It seemed to work (less exacerbations); however, she had severe injection site reactions and switched to Avonex when it became available. Luckily not everyone gets the injection site reactions from Beta. Unfortunately my wife still has scars 12 years later.

AVONEX reactions - There is a "little secret" for those who are new to Avonex. Avonex originally came out "unmixed", two vials, one powered and one clear solution that you mixed at the time of the injection. The current version of Avonex is "premixed". Unfortunately, some patients, including my wife, get noticeable reactions (flu like symptoms etc.) from the premixed version but NOT from the unmixed. I doubt that you can get the mfg to confirm that some people react differently to the pre-mixed/unmixed versions; HOWEVER, your doctor can prescribe the unmixed version and it is still available!! My wife gets unmixed every month.

If your neurologist disputes this, I suggest you look for a new neurologist.

I hope this info. helps someone that may be having problems with the premixed Avonex.