Hello everyone I haven’t been on here for ages. I had a baby three and a half months ago and in the past week my tingling, cramps, dizziness and memory problems have returned with extreme vengeance…is this the start of a relapse? 
Becca
It sounds relapsy. Are you in contact with your local ms nurse? Perhaps they could give you some advice.
I’m scared she’ll tell my neurologist who will then put me on copaxone…needles terrify me
Becca,
I’ll try to reassure you about needles, I’ve only been on Copaxone a week now and I use the auto injector so I can’t see the needle going in.
I hate needles, i am someone who fainted/nearly fainted everytime I had to have an injection so the thought of any of the DMDs filled me with dread. Funnily enough I chose copaxone because I didn’t want the flu symptoms even though it is injected everyday.
When the nurse came to show me how to inject she said that the needle going in didn’t hurt at all, I didn’t believe her but she is actually right, it doesn’t hurt when it goes in. There is some stinging while the contents are emptying and a little bit of itching and that goes away after a few minutes. There maybe a tiny bit of blood when you take the needle out.
I was totally terrified that first time and I nearly cried as I was so anxious. The important thing is to try and relax your whole body if you can and keep the autoinjector at a 90 degree angle to your body and when finished pull it out keeping it straight.
I’m not going to pretend that it’s been totally easy since, the second one had to be in my hip and my husband had to do it as I couldn’t reach. I started panicking and crying as I felt I wasn’t in control so I took a good few deep breaths and finally told him that I was ready for him to press the button.
I still get anxious before each injection but it is getting easier to manage. I try to remember what the nurse told me about getting in position for each injection area. She said I have to have mine at the full 10mm depth as I’m about 2 and a half stone overweight. This is fine for me except that I found it was painful for my legs so I’ve tried 8mm in that area and it’s much better.
I’ve been lucky so far with site injection reactions, they have been minimal to none at all.
I hope this makes you less scared and I’m sure if I can do it anyone can and also you’ve just had a BABY!!!..if you can cope with birth then I’m confident injections will be fine for you.
Anne-Marie
Catch it in its early stages. Last year when my little one was about 4 months old I started to get symptoms of relapse but put them down to stress (my now hubby and me were not living in the same county, I was trying to get ready to move, looking after 3 kids and generally trying to be supermum). When she got to 7 months the relapse was so bad that I fell down the stairs ending up hanging through the bannisters and broke my shoulder. By then steroids didn’t help, I didn’t really get a good day for months until i ended up on Tysabri, now finally getting through it and she is 17 months old today.
I do keep putting a lot of it down to having a six year old, two year old and baby to deal with, especially feeling exhausted a lot but it was Gareth who said to me that he thinks it may be a relapse especially as I feel as though I need sleep at the same times daily but I’m terrible for putting things off and terrified of knowing the truth a lot of the time.
Please call your neuro,if he does say copaxone then at least you will be giving the kids the best chance of keeping a fully functioning mom.
I started copaxone in May and as Ann Marie says its a piece of cake,and after childbirth its nothing. It will help cut relapses and ones that do sneek in wont be as severe,surely that has got to be a good thing.
Even if you dont go the dmd route its common I believe to relapse after childbirth so he will want to know anyway and possibly try steroids.
Please call and take it from there,and take it as easy as poss for now.Have you got friends/family to help?
Pip
yes, it does sound like a relapse and there’s no way of knowing how it’s going to develop.
Get yourself as organised as you possibly can with getting support re. looking after the children – take up the many offers I’m sure you have had for help from friends/relatives.
I wouldn’t go down the ‘drug’ route – I’d try to ride it out by interspercing periods of activity with periods of rest.
Thank you all so much for your kind words of support. I have got an appointment with my MS nurse next, I will tell her everything and see what she says about the neuro. I’m still scared but if copaxone is what he says I will go with it.
Thank you again
Becca