Hi
I’ve been on rebif for about 10 years but as a skinny minny my meagre fat deposits have had enough and I’m having to change to avonex.
Try not to hate me for being skinny it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be. To be honest I’m a bit of a coward and I’m dreading having to inject into muscle.
I know there will be lots of you on it and I was hoping you would share your experiences and give me a bit of courage because I could do with it.
Thanks
Dawn
Don’t worry. I think the big thing is sticking a needle into yourself at all, and you are an old hand at that already. I was on Avonex for many years. I’m as skinny as a whippet too, and so I think that Avonex was a good option (not that I had any choice in the matter, but still…) I found it an easy drug to get on with. I hope that you get into the new routine easily. Only once a week! That’s another really good thing about it. Alison
I’ve been on avonex for 11 weeks now, I have only recently been diagnosed however so I have no other treatments to compare it with.
Generally the injections (Using the self injector) have been easy and almost painless. I’ve had 2 ‘bad’ ones. One where I must of hit a blood vessel as I had a fair amount of blood and then brusing afterward. Then I also had one where for some reason the injection hurt from the moment it went in till I pulled out. I wasn’t able to keep it in the full 10 seconds.
However on the positive side, the other 9 injections have all gone smoothly.
I did also suffer from bad flu like symptoms the first 4-5 injections, but thankfully that seems to of calmed down also now.
The reason I choose it, as Alison said, its only once a week! Which was a huge plus for me when I was deciding. It means less planning around injections!
Good Luck and I’m sure it will all go better then you expect!
Gribs.
I’ve been using the injector pen for six weeks and I’m really impressed by it - I can barely feel the injection. I tell myself that the discomfort of having my eyebrows waxed is 100 times worse. I have been fairly lucky with side effects - mostly a bit tired and headachy for the following morning, though I forgot to take painkillers in advance last week and felt a lot worse, so won’t make that mistake again. Good luck with the switch xx
I was recently diagnosed and chose Avonex. I was scared at first because of the muscle thing but injecting hasn’t been a problem, I have since given myself 5 injections and only one hasn’t gone to plan - in that I am still feeling bruised from an injection 3 weeks ago. Believe me, the muscle thing is not a problem.