Criswell in da house!

[criswell]

Hi everbody,Criswell here. I used to be a regular poster on the old Shared Solutions message board. Posted on MS Survivors board too. I'm originally from Connecticut where I was DXed with RRMS in 1983 when I was 29(had symptoms 14 years before that). I had had an attack of optic neuritis a month before my DX and have only had on other exacerbation since then(double vision in 1993) At the time I was DX there were no treatments available so I just sorta shrugged it off. I got married to girl from Japan and we moved there in 89. Our son was born there in 91 and we moved to Minnesota in 92. Turns out it was a good decision to move here as it has allowed me the opportunity to become a patient at The Shapiro MS Clinic in 2001.Dr Shapiro retired from regular pratice in 2009(he still teaches) and now Dr Caukwood is now my Doctor.After being on Copaxone since 1999 I just had my 1st Tysabri in fusion yesterday and it was great(no side effects) I am JC- so hopefully I can stay on this therapy for a long time.

[Justsayyes]

Welcome!

Hi Criswell, you sure know how to tell a whole lot in a very brief way, and I like that! Curious as to why you switched to Ty if you haven't had any exacerbations? I've been on Avonex ten years, and wonder if I'll make a change down the road.

[criswell]

Hi Criswell, you sure know how to tell a whole lot in a very brief way, and I like that! Curious as to why you switched to Ty if you haven't had any exacerbations? I've been on Avonex ten years, and wonder if I'll make a change down the road.

Thanks for asking. Back in 2011 was the first time Dr Caukwood suggested that I change therapy's. I had an MRI which showed a new lesion. I don't remember any MRIs I have had since my first in 1996 which showed a new lesion. More troubling was that the position of this new lesion was in my brain stem. I had never had a lesion there before.Still,The lesion wasn't active and it didn't cause me any new symptoms so I put off the change until 2013.

That is when I noticed some of my symtoms getting worse even without having had an exacerbation or changes in my MRI's
One of my doctors told me that this is because as we grow older our brain loses it's plasticity and it is harder to route signals through areas of the CNS that have sustained damage in the past.

Also,I have read recently that many MS researchers now believe that the disease should be treated more aggressively earlier. In the past they used to prefer giving milder treatments early and save the stronger ones for when you have a greater burden of disease.Now they want to prevent as much damage as possible before it occurs.

My doctors told me about the new oral medications but Doctor Caukwood said that Tysbari is pretty much the gold standard if you can tolerate the infusions.So finally after mulling it over for 2 years I finally had the tests done and found out that I am JC- which makes me a good candidate for Tysbari.

The first infusion was easy. I had zero side effects.The nurse at the infusion center told me Tysabri is a very good medicine and it it pretty much stops MS. Of course with this therapy there can be a lot of significant problems too but only time will tell.Right now I am very happy That I decided to change.

No more daily injections,yeah!

[l0velee]

Criswell, I LOVED TYSABRI!!!!!

[Justsayyes]

Thanks for explaining why the change. I had a brainstem lesion show up about 8 years ago, we were concerned and discussed changing therapy. Sounds like a good choice for you.