I've been on Avonex since November 06. Side effects were bad at first and gradually went away until last spring, which was very stressful for me workwise. Then side effects got pretty nasty again. Once school got out for the summer, I went back to virtually no side effects. Wonderful. I can live with this, I thought. Then, boom. Back in school. Just started my fourth week of teaching (we start school way too early here) and just experienced my third really horrible/side effects of Avonex. The day after has been pretty bad--after injection last Saturday night I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't breathe. I have a rescue inhaler I rarely use and it did the trick. Then the aching all over, four times the fatigue that I usually feel, and headache that ibuprofen won't touch. These last three weekend's reactions to Avonex have caused me to lose an entire day due to side effects and I'm getting further and further behind in school work and home and...life! So....to make a long story short....do interferons get nasty when life gets a bit too stressful? Stress is all I can think of as when I'm not teaching--no side effects. Start teaching again--major side effects--just like last spring when teaching job got pretty stressful.
I emailed my neuro's nurse as I am out of Avonex and have NO DESIRE to ever take this again. I'd prefer nothing but I know he will probably want copaxone. I just about switched, but then summer hit and I didn't have any real side effects so he decided I should stay on Avonex. Does Copaxone react negatively to stress? I am pretty sure that he will put me on that. Injections every day? I really dread this thought. Oops. Putting the cart before the horse.
Your experiences with stress and MS drugs? Responses are encouraged and welcomed!