Betaseron to Tysabri

[Hlawman]

Hi! I was dx in August 2013 and put on Betaseron in September 2013, the last four months of my life have been some of the most difficult. The beta only made me feel extremely worse, I didn't have the flu like symptoms but instead all my ms symptoms seemed to be getting worse but I did not relapse. Today my doctor put me on Tysabri. I knew nothing about it before today and the process is a bit overwhelming. I'm 23, married, with a 20 month old little boy. At this point my husband and I still want to have more children, when the time is right and when my MS has stabilized. Is it an option for me to start Tysabri now and be able to stop when we are ready for more children? I knew it was with the Betaseron but Tysabri is completely new territory.

[22cyclist]

Hi Hlawman: I went from Rebif to Tysabri a couple of years ago. The major problem with stopping Tysabri, even for just a break is its rebound effect. There are some things written about it on our website. I will try to find it and post it here too. The rebound effect basically shows that there is a significant increase in lesions while off of the Ty, whereas on, there may be no new lesions. Along with this comes new symptoms that have been kept at bay while on Ty.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/multip...i-therapy.aspx

Here is the MS World link:
http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=116529

It is such an effective drug, but such a hard choice for so many. I wish you luck considering it. They can treat the rebound effect with steroids even before it happens just to protect you, once per month. If you consider Ty, I would definitely ask for that.

Let us know how it goes.
Lisa