Hi! I have been diagnosed with MS since 2004 now…I have been taking solu medrol IV over 3 days, tapering off with decreasing dosage of medrol… My question Is it safe to try natural therapies instead of the solu medrol IV treatment? Lips & face are partially burning for 1 month now but there are no visible signs at the mo… Thanks & Regards
Hi Bryan,
There’s no evidence steroids affect long-term outcomes in MS at all, so it’s completely safe never to have them, if you don’t want to. If you choose not to have them, you may have to be patient and live with the effects of a relapse for longer, but there’s no evidence you end up in a worse state at the end, so there’s not really an argument that it’s “unsafe” to reject them. It depends entirely on how severe your relapse is, and how desperate you are to speed up recovery. If you don’t mind gritting your teeth and just putting up with it, that’s an entirely reasonable course of action, and not dangerous at all - just personal choice.
However, once you’ve already started a course of medication, including steroids, I strongly suggest you complete it to the end, or wean off as directed, as it can be dangerous to stop drugs suddenly, even if they were non-essential in the first place. Once your body has adjusted to them, taking them away suddenly could cause problems.
But certainly, next time - if there is a next time - feel free to say you want to try without steroids. Then you’ll be able to compare whether your experience was better with or without.
I’m a bit concerned that you are on them without anyone explaining that it wouldn’t have been dangerous to refuse.
Tina
x
Hi Tina!
Thanks for your comments…
FYI, I have already been on steroids before but I was not sure if they were the right thing to do… I am still working full time and I wish to have more control on the problem… I would like to eliminate all drugs in the long run but I am glad you said its OK… Thanks & Regards