Hi All,
I would like some advice on stopping any treatment for my MS. I am currently on Aubagio-Teriflunomide which is causing so much side effects and making me feel worser. I want instead to try something more holistic such as herbal treatment, oxygen, and intermittent fasting.
My concern is with my neurologist who is adamant I am on some form of medication. Will they discharge me from their care if I don’t follow their advice on taking the medication? I don’t want to lie and say I’m taking them when I’m not and wasting precious NHS resources that could benefit someone else but I really want to try something different to see maybe if that works better for me. Please advise me in your experience if it’s smart for me to stop the medication I’m on now?
Thanks.
I am sorry that the medication is making you feel so unwell. Have you discussed alternative DMDs with your neurologist? Another might suit you better.
My personal view on DMDs, having been on one or another since 2000, is that they are a blessing and have kept me as well as I am. The most permanent damage that MS did to me was in the couple of years after the Avonex had finally stopped working but I hadn’t yet started Tysabri. The last decade on Tysabri has been relapse-free. Considering how things were going before I started it, I hate to think what shape I would be in now if it had not been available to me.
By the way, I am very keen on lifestyle as a contributor to good health. Plenty of fresh air and exercise, good sleep, lots of nutritious whole foods and no processed rubbish, meditation, breathing exercises, Pilates, all that. But I regard those essential things are a complement to the conventional drugs I’m on, not an alternative to them.
It’s a personal choice, and the final decision will be yours. But your neurologist would not be doing his or her job if he or she did not try hard to persuade to you to protect yourself as well as you can against the ravages of uncontrolled RRMS.