Avonex side affects

[patycak]

I've been taking Avonex injections for about 4 weeks now, and wondering if anyone else has experienced irritability and bowel changes? It seems everything and everybody is irritating to me, and my normal gas output has changed to being totally rancid, not to mention minute size and shape of my bowel movements......Anyone experience this??

Thanks for your help!!

[Justsayyes]

Avonex dehydrates me, that might be part of your bowel problems. Drink more hydrating fluids on shot day and particularly the day after. I like to add a few vitamin waters to my daily intake.

Not sure about the irritability.....

[chibi_polis]

If everything is irritating you, you may want to consult about mood changes.

i did my first shot this past friday. i did not have any side effects at all.

[BigA]

I felt terrible after my shot for a whole year. I'd take it Saturday and lose Saturday in pain and Sunday in depression. It got better slowly. Now I get a bit of a headache, but it's otherwise tolerable.

I'm assuming you're new, so there's still a lot going on in your body. It's always hard to know what's causing it.

[Imagine]

Hi- sorry you're having a rough time.
One of the most common side effects ot the interferons is depression, which is often manifested by irritability. There tends to be the assumption that depression = low energy, extreme sadness, feelings of worthlessness... and it can, and does.

However, exteme irritability is one of the major flags for depression. I took rebif but had to stop due to pxs with my liver. I was well versed in, and prepared for, sxs secondary to interferons; my physician increased my antidepressant prior to 1st injection. The mood pxs were easier for me to deal with, b/c I knew why it was occuring. My understanding is that this side effect improves with time... who knows? Perhaps we just get better at coping with it

I Hope this helps. Please be sure and let your prescribing Neuro and your contact person with the company know about any emotions that you're experiencing, that were not present pre interferon

[patycak]

Change

Thanks so much for your responses!

I'm sure it's a combination of everything.....including every little thing in my life has changed in the last 2 months...it's overwhelming.

I soooo appreciate the genuine support I get on the MS World message boards!!!

THANK YOU!

[BigA]

Patty,

I want to tell you a few things I wish someone had told me 2 months in.

1) What you're feeling is not MS - it is the damage from MS and Inflammation

2) When you have an attack, immune cells get into your brain and attack a small piece of your brain/spine. Your body reacts something like when you get a tiny insect bite, but a large welt. The welt is inflammation.

Here's the important part: What you're feeling may be 10% damage and 90% inflammation or some other amount. If that's the case, the 90% will clear over the next months, even up to a year and the 10% will heal to a certain extent. What isn't healed, can be re-wired through neuro-plasticity.

What to do now? Get started on the Avonex, and see if you can get used to it. Continue to do what you are able. If you had difficulty walking, start walking gradually more and more. You need to rebuild/recreate/maintain the circuits and muscles. If it's your hands, practice picking up things. You will get ALL KINDS of funny feelings during this time.

My best advice?

1) GRADUALLY build up to vigorous exercise 5x weekly. If you can get physiotherapy, take advantage of it. Exercise may be the best thing we can do to keep/build function.

2) Get on an MS diet. They're not "proven" in double-blind studies, but there is still evidence. Exercise and diet help the body to heal itself. Don't bother asking your Neuro about this or how to fix your car. You can do what they say, i.e. take the Avonex weekly and after that, you can do things that you believe will help and certainly won't hurt.

Here's info about exercise and diet.

http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...gram/Exercise/

[Pazer]

I took my first Avonex shot this past Friday. I took a couple Advil 30 minutes before. Took the med out to warm to room temp 30 minutes before. I had the nurse and husband there for support. I did it, thought I was going to faint afterwards, but did not. I did wake up in the middle of the night with chills, nothing an extra blanket on the bed didn't cure. So yes, did have a side effect. Hope once my body get used to it the side effects go away or lessen. Hope it does for you too. I wish you luck and stay positive. And keep logging in to this site I've learned so much here! Thanks to all!

[BigA]

Pazer,


if you took the shot and slept through the night, then you're doing well. My shot was not so easy.

You will get used to it more than you thought you ever could. Humans are very adaptable.

Good luck!

BigA