I am newly diagnosed this year through the pandemic and have received a letter talking about starting injectable Interferons or glatiramer acetate or ocrelizumab. Can anyone on any of these help me choose which one is best. I was in a state at first and now feel out of my depth.
Hello
Welcome to the forum, sorry you’ve had cause to find yourself here.
The choice of disease modifying drug (DMD) is rather confusing these days. Have a look at https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/ms-treatments/ms-decisions-aid
Beta interferons and Glatiramer Acetate (Copaxone or Brabio) are the old style injectable drugs. They’re very safe, well tolerated and established as treatment but their relapse reduction rate (by which DMDs are measured) is low at only about 30-35%.
Ocrelizumab, aka Ocrevus is a newer DMD. It’s a drug given by infusion every 6 months and has a relapse reduction rate of about 70%. Which I’m sure you’ll agree is a radically different picture.
There is a longer list of possible side effects for Ocrevus, but you’d expect that - it’s a stronger drug, and what you’ll need to do is to compare the risks (side effects) against the benefits (relapse reduction).
I suggest you talk it through with your MS nurse, assuming you have one. If you don’t yet have an MS nurse, why not phone your neurologists secretary and ask for the contact details for your MS nurse.
Being diagnosed with MS is a scary prospect. There are a whole load of things to learn and consider. No one would expect you to get your head round everything all at once. Being in the middle of a pandemic makes things even harder. I suggest you keep reading bits of information from reputable sites, such as this one (see the tag marked About MS) and the MS Trust (type what you want to know into your browser plus MS Trust and you’ll find links to their factsheets).
Obviously, you can also keep asking us, just remember, we are not (in the main) medically trained, our knowledge come from our own experience. So don’t rely on us as ‘experts’!
Good luck.
Sue