Skipping a dose

[showmesweets]

UPS delivered my prefilled meds a day late than I was expected. When I opened the package, the meds were room temp so I called my speciality pharmacy and spoke to a pharmacist. He said UPS would pick up the shipment and they would send me a new one. Well I got the new meds, but it was 2 days after I usually do my shot. For some reason UPS did not collect the first shipment. I don't know what to do with it either.

My question is should I have taken the good med soon as I received it? I decided to skip this week to stay on my regular schedule. Will this do me harm by skipping a dose? What would you have done?

[hunterd]

When I was taking Avonex I questioned my doctor about keeping a strict schedule. I was told that in cases where I could not keep to a weekly schedule, that it was okay to rearrange my schedule by a day or two (either early or late), then go back to a weekly schedule.

[BigA]

That's right. You can even read it in the large info they send with it. When I'm travelling or have a special event, like when I flew home for my mom's 80th, I decided to take my shot on Monday instead of Saturday.


I wonder who paid the $4k for the returned meds?

[TLC_31]

I don’t think skipping a dose on a one-time basis would do harm. With the shipment two days late, you really don’t need to skip. In two cases I’ve had shipments come late, I’ve taken shots the day they arrive, then six days later, then another six days later, until I’m back to the normal routine.

The old medicine is of no value; the costs we and insurance pay are mostly to cover R&D, and so the company doesn’t take much of a hit to write off a package of it. Dispose of it as you would expired medications, which is probably in the trash. But keep the needles or put them in the sharps container for disposal.

[Shellyrock]

Avonex - change injection day

I was on Avonex for ten years. I used to schedule my injection for a wednesday evening eack week. However, sometimes it was not able to be done on that night because i had something major to attend to the next day and i didn't want to be suffering the flu like symptoms and the lethargy that i used to get post injection, so my neurologist said that i could so this as long as i rescheduled it for sometime in that same week so that i didn't miss a weekly injection.

I did this several times during my good ten years on Avonex with no major episodes.

Unfortunately, that good ten years ceased when i had a major ms episode on October last year. I am now moving on with the new Gilenya tablet - early stages yet, and am suffering some side effects. Will let time tell.......

[showmesweets]

Forget it when sick?

Anyone ever skip a dose when they are sick? I have an upper respitory infection and the Avonex gives me flu like symptoms. I don't want to feel worse than I already do!

[BigA]

I've skipped a dose before, just because I wanted to see if I felt better. It was no big deal and it's the only one time.

I've always wondered what I would do if I were sick. So far, it hasn't happened, though I have felt a little sick and noticed that it was no difference. In other words, it didn't add. Feeling crappy made the shot no big deal, lol.

But I would ask your doctor. I suspect it's OK.

[MierryLea]

The nurse that trained me said it's fine to wait until you're feeling better to take your next dose.

If you normally inject on Sunday but you've been sick Thursday-Tuesday. You can inject when you're feeling better and then shift your injection day until you're back on schedule.

You can also call one of the on-call nurses and chat with them.