Re: betaseron....

godot wrote:

I know this topic has been already discussed but I've started betaseron
yesterday and I have to admit - I feel awfully!!! Is there anybody who
didn't experience flu-like side effects after this? I read some posts
and everybody seems to have all kinds of side effects and for quite a
long time.
I'm starting to wonder if I made a right choice (my MS was the mild
one...).
Thanks for any support,
Kasia

It gets easier ... and as Jen said, taking it late in the afternoon or at night makes it OK. I find that I'm feeling my worst about 6-8 hours after injection ... so I do it about supper time and then get to sleep before everything hits.

The first shot for me was so awful I didn't want to do it again ... I was up most of the night with chills, then sweats ... and aches. I was certain I wouldn't do it again.

My nurse asked me to give it one more try before making a decision .... and I did. The second time, I had a twinge in my back and I was sure I was going to experience all the symptoms again ... that night, I lost a lot of sleep waiting for the horrendous symptoms that never came.

It helps to start off slowly with 1/2 dose and progress over a couple of weeks. No one told me that ... but I was off for a month at one point, and starting off more slowly made it much better.

Good luck ... it's become routine for me now ... and while I had 2 major exacerbations in the 10 months before BS [my snarky name for Betaseron], I haven't had any exacerbations since I started in 2001 and only a few problems after a car accident last year.

Kathie
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