Hi, yes. Lynne posted a very good article on the treatment section. ( top bar).

Go check it out!!

Alma

I heard about it. I wonder about a quick shot and whether it will hurt. i give mine slow and alleviate the pain that way. Am considering going back to Rebif.

I never used the autoinject, however, one thing I did learn when I was using Avonex, was that you can ask for a smaller needle! When I was able to do that, it was just a little easier. The side effects were still the same, but, at least the needle was smaller! Just thought I'd mention this.

I used to be an Avonex patient and recently switched to Copaxone. The autoject is great for the Copaxone but I would be a little concerned about using it with Avonex. Since the Avonex is injected into the muscle, it can be more painful than the Copaxone which is just under the skin. When I used to use the Avonex, I found that pushing it in slow and steady was the most comfortable. If I were you, try it without the autoject.

I am on Avonex. I use the smaller needle. I have not heard this. It is good news. I will have to check it out. But I notice if it goes in slow, it does not hurt as bad.

I have been on Avonex since Nov 2010. Just got dx in Oct. So I havent been on any other med, but I was "warned" to ask for the mix it yourself one, the premixed, prefilled ones seem to have worse side effects, from what others have said. I am doing well and highly recommend taking advil and tylenol before injection, I forgot to last week and I was in horrible pain all night, Now I know that the advil and tylenol are working and helping

You need to be careful with any form of Avonex, it varys for everyone.
I had TERRIABLE side effects from the powder mix when I tried that for 6 weeks. The side effects of going COMPLETELY numb from the waist down for 11 hours and me freezing to death 7 hours after the shot. Those never got easier so I do the shots myself now with the prefilled.
For me, the side effects of the prefilled syringes are totally better; they are just lilke a bad flu, I do NOT get totally numb from my waist down on it anymore.


The AutoInject actually sounds spooky to me, I always do the injection slowly so there is less pain involved. Not saying it's not painful at all this way; but it is what life is like for me. MS is tough to fight against.

Best of luck with it all!

Thanks for all the info. I really don't want to take Avonex & the more I read the worse it is. If the side effects are to bad, I'll just stop & take nothing for a while & see how I do.

I dealt with the side effects of Avonex for almost 6 years. At the beginning there were some interesting nights but I got through it. My recommendations would be:

1- Take advil/alieve/etc about an hour before you inject (My Dr prescribed 10mg of prednisone which helped)
2- Inject right before bed, this way you can sleep through most/all of the symptoms
3- Inject when you don't have anything the next day...this way you can sleep as much as you may need

I also recommend the pre-filled syringes. You should stick with it for at least a few months, it does take sometime for the side effects to subside. It is only once a week and I didn't have issues every week.

Good luck! You can do it!