Experiences switching from Avonex to Copaxone

[Shebjo]

My daughter, age 12 has been on Avonex since Dec 2013.
Dr. Will be switching her to copaxone soon since daughter has developed antibodies against Avonex. Please - share your experiences switching from Avonex to copaxone (3x week ) . Note - I will also post this question on a couple of other MS World forums .

[lstrl]

Sorry, I have no info to pass on since Avonex is all I've taken, but your post has me wondering. How did you guys know that she developed antibodies?

[Shebjo]

Sorry, I have no info to pass on since Avonex is all I've taken, but your post has me wondering. How did you guys know that she developed antibodies?

Her dr did blood test specifically for this

[wookieland]

Hi I was taking avonex and switched to copaxone and had a lot of site reaction problems and had to stop and went back onto avonex the pen injector.

[BigA]

Is your neruo a specialist in pediatric MS? As far as I have learned, the neutralizing antibodies test is controversial and does not necessarily mean it's not working. The main question is, how is it working so far? With MS meds, you switch when it stops working. For this reason, most of the time when people switch, it is positive, but again, because the first med wasn't working anymore.

Did avonex stop working, or did your doctor give a test that may not be meaningful? If it stopped working, stats are good regarding switching to another med.

are you watching her vitamin D?

[Shebjo]

Is your neruo a specialist in pediatric MS? As far as I have learned, the neutralizing antibodies test is controversial and does not necessarily mean it's not working. The main question is, how is it working so far? With MS meds, you switch when it stops working. For this reason, most of the time when people switch, it is positive, but again, because the first med wasn't working anymore.

Did avonex stop working, or did your doctor give a test that may not be meaningful? If it stopped working, stats are good regarding switching to another med.

are you watching her vitamin D?

Dr is a pediatric neurologist who specializes in MS primarily in teens and children. I feel lucky to have found her. Daughter did get a new lesion but didnt have any smptoms (or perhaps it was caught before symtoms could arise and she was treated with steriods. The Dr didnt say that the avonex didnt work but feels copaxone may be better for her. She took her last copaxone this past friday and will start copaxone this week. She is taking vitamin D

[MrsChip]

Hi, I switched from Avonex to Copaxone years ago due to Avonex smashing my white cell count down to 2.8. Tried stopping and restarting it but same again. When I switched to Copaxone, it was only really the site reactions that were a problem. They do get better with time and her MS Nurse will advise of site rotation and skin care. Most positive effect of the change was no more feeling fluey after the shots like I did with Avonex.

Biggest advice point I can give with Copaxone is learn to inject manually. This reduces the skin reactions as the pen is a bit harsh and fires it in too fast.