Betaferon Side Effects

[jlserak]

Hello everyone,

I was here about 2 months ago, just after being diagnosed. I've been on Betaferon (I think it is called Betaseron in the US) for a little over a month now. I have all of the classic flu like symptoms that I anticipated, as well as some really nasty looking red spots at the injection sites. Sometimes they bruise and form knots under the skin. Anyway, my Neuro said that is all normal and should subside within the next 2 months. However, I was speaking with my sister in law who is an RN. She said that they often have their patients take an antihistamine such as Claritin with their injections to lessen the sypmptoms (both flu-like and injection site.) I'm wondering if any of you have heard of this, or do take the antihistamine. Right now I take Panadol and do my injection right before bed to try and sleep through it. Thanks :)

[coyotemom]

When i would take this * last year * i would use tyleno or motrin to ward off the flue like systoms that never did appear , as i would take the motin about an hour befor and this i guess worked great for  me, but sad to say i had major seisures with this and copaxon made my throat swell so i am in th 1 % that the ms drugs do not work for... but also try ice if the injection site bothers you,, that too helped helped alot , hold the ice pack to your skin with towel between you and the ice pack for say 2- 3 mintues and this does help with that site injection , as to itching i had that one too but i chose to use ice even after the the injection and this went away soon after

[jlserak]

Thanks for the information. I usually do sleep through the flu-like symptoms and rarely notice those effects. For me, the more annoying side effect is the injection sites. They itch!! It's like having a million mosquito bites! And the swelling and redness are rather unsightly as well. I was just wondering if an antihistamine would help. Thanks :)

[Lulu54]

You might want to do a bit more research on the timing of taking this injection  It takes a few hours for the side effects to hit and by doing your injection just before bedtime the timing is you are feeling flu-like as you are waking in the morning.

As I understand it, if you adjust the timing and do it several hours before bed, the flu-like symptoms occur more while you are asleep.  

There is good information on the page for Rebif, which is another interferon like betaseron -
http://www.rebif.com/rebif-side-effects

I hope it settles for you when you find what works best for you.