Anything but Copaxone?

[Rosie Girl]

I am going to talk to my Dr. this week about changing from copaxone. I have all the possible listed injection site reactions. I am starting to skip my meds more often because it hurts and itches and leaves knots and bruises. I am hoping I could at least change so that I would not have to do a shot everyday.

Did anyone else change from copaxone? What did you change to and why?

[heliotrope]

yes, because the welts stopped going down (I had an injection site welt over a month after I stopped) and my last injection, the closest muscle spasmed for over a half-hour... It was clear I was reacting badly to something in the med and it was getting worse with each shot. End result, tried betaseron.

Hated the injections and the reactions kept getting worse.

Tested positive for Mannitol allergy (in most of the CRAB drugs) and it was messing with my sugar levels.

I switched to Betaseron and so far so good. Have a few spots that are worse than others but the shot does not sting. I wish I had started out on Betaseron.

Just my opinion.

[uarkgrad1996]

how long have you been on it?

How long have you been on copaxone? I ask because it took about a year before my body calmed down. I had all the horrible injection site reactions....red whelps, intense itching. Everyone kept telling me that eventually my body would calm down. I didn't believe them, but stayed copaxone anyway. I've been on copaxone now for 1 year and 2 months and this week I realized that I've not had the itching or red whelps for the last month. I guess I just got so used to them that when I stopped having them I didn't notice. So, basically, everyone was right....my body did eventually calm down. I will say that after a month of being on copaxone, I chose to not inject in my thighs anymore because I would get softball size red whelps that lasted for weeks and they were painful.

I don't know how long you have been on copaxone, but I say give it at least 6 months or a year (if you can stand it that long) and see if your body will calm down.

Good luck with whatever you decide!