Is it Rebif?

[sunnyinthesnow]

i don't know if it's the ms, the fact that i was recently diagnosed with ms, the rebif or just a bad few days, but i am NOT alright. lost my balance and fell yesterday... caught myself with my bad hand (the hand with the most discomfort and least motor function) on the spikes of a wrought iron fence. i bruised something pretty badly under the knuckle of my middle finger. i'm sure you can all imagine how happy i am to have added injury to an already insulting problem. funny enough, i was coming from an mri, so i can go see my doc in a few days and make him look at my hand.

here's the thing- i've been out of sorts for a few days now. this morning i was so upset it only took stubbing my toe to make me sob. and i've been crying on and off ever since. i've been pretty strong through all of this. kept my sense of humor. saw the bright side (it's NOT an inoperable tumor- yey!). but this week i want to bang heads together.

do i try new meds? i'm on 22 mcg of rebif (we haven't bumped up to the full dose) and 60 mg cymbalta currently. i wanted to get off the antidepressants, but that's obviously not happening yet. i have a history of depression (lasted about one year at 18, then bouts on and off since). do i change the dmd? change the antidepressant? i'm also dealing with serious fatigue... and most recently some insomnia, in case i wasn't having a hard enough time.

any/all advise is greatly appreciated. i'm not sure if i was clear.. i'm so confused because there are so many factors..

(and thank you in advance)

-sunny

[rendean]

Thanks for the update.  I can certainly relate to the muscle fatigue and trying to cook dinner. Lately, our dinners have been a course or two short as well. Heck they (family) can just eat the strawberries without the shortcake, etc.

Sorry about the muscle fatigue. It IS aggravating, probably more so for you being young.

As for the chocolate and french fries...sounds like good therapy to me:-). You DID say you're feeling better... maybe I should give it a whirl.

Sending feel better hugs,
Ren

[sunnyinthesnow]

wow, what a crazy few days.. literally! went to see doc, go over the mri and talk about the cymbalta problems. first, mri shows no real progression (yey!), so we're staying the course with the rebif. next, after much discussion, doc started to think that perhaps i should be on a mood stabilizer, not an antidepressant. i live most of my life in a hyperactive state, so maybe he's not too far off.. after three days of crying and eating my weight in chocolate and french fries (not constructive, i know), i'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

unfortunately, the ms symptoms are going strong.. and it looks like that's just gonna be the way it is for a while. hopefully, only a little while. what is with this muscle fatigue?! a trip to the bathroom (20 feet away at best) should NOT exhaust a 28 year old in good shape.

and there was a moment on friday where i thought i was only going to be eating the yam that i'd diced.. note to all with ms- NEVER cut the most difficult thing first. you DO NOT want to use all expendable energy on one ingredient of dinner. take it from me... bad idea.

anyway, just wanted to give you an update. thank you for the reference pages!!! google's been having a difficult time with my questions. : )

[Quixotic1]

I found with Provigil that a couple days at half dose got me used to the med and I didn't have the side effects.  You might try going down for a couple days and then trying it again.

Yes, we do hear of relapses so close together.  And they can be totally consistent with RRMS.

A good way to navigate your way around the Health Pages is to start with the MS Information Index.  It puts the various topics in an outline form.  I only have about half the topics linked in it, but it's a start.

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/MS-Information-and-Resources-Index/show/22?cid=36

Enjoy.

Quix

[sunnyinthesnow]

Goodness, thank you so much! I haven't checked out the Health Pages yet.. still learning how to navigate this site. But will do so, thank you. I also pulled a compilation of links you posted for someone else and will spend this evening doing some "light" reading. : )

I did a lot of thinking last night and am going to stay the course with the rebif for now. You're right, I do not want to start jumping from drug to drug. Also called my doctor yesterday and he's going to prescribe a new antidepressant. He mentioned Lexapro. Appears to still be in the ssri family.. we'll see how it goes.

I started nuvigil this morning. i've had problems with fatigue and cognitive function for years (funny to finally know why...i NEVER would have guessed ms!) and must say- the mood drastically improves when you're not too cloudy/tired to function! amazing revelation, i know. so we'll see what happens, but so far, so much better. one day at a time. good advise. i have to remember it when i'm starting to panic.

sidenote: for anyone thinking about the nuvigil, my personal immediate side effects list- increased frequency of urination (i can't stop going!) and a searing headache that lasted about 45 minutes. otherwise, i seem to be alright. and looking at this now, i can't believe i want to keep putting it in to my body. that's how awful fatigue and- what do y'all call it?- cog fog are.

i can't wait to see the mri. do you often hear of relapses being so close together, though? i finished the steroids in late february. if i'm looking at relapses this close together, are we no longer looking at rrms? oy..

anyway, today is a better day. i am going to work to maintain perspective, calm myself with meditation and spend a fair amount of time reading this forum. thanks, guys, for being here. : )

well, wish me luck. i'm off to see the doc!

-sunny

[Quixotic1]

Hey, Sunny, my thought is a new relapse.  It sounds like you are facing increased irritability, incoordination, and insomnia.   This also could be a worsening of the depression in the face of the newest phase of the new diagnosis.  But, it sounds to me like the MS acting up.  It will be interesting to see the results of the MRI.  BTW - not a bad idea to get the MRI BEFORE the new symptoms.  That's being really efficient.

Have you read the Health Page on emotions?

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/Emotions-and-MS/show/753?cid=36

As to whether this is an increase in depression because of Rebif - hard to say.  The loss of coordination - if it persists - argues against that.

I hope things straighten out.

Quix

[sllowe]

Hey!!!!!!!

So sorry to have missed your post. Belated welcome!

Adjusting to meds is so difficult, especially if you were dx'd quickly and MS is so new to you. I had some of these issues too. Stick with the dosing schedule if you can. Your still working your way up and it takes time to adjust.

Stay on your anti-depression meds, if you needed them before, you still need them now. It's probably just the chain of events that have you so tweaked and you are feeling like you need to change something to "fix" this!

Unfortunately, this MS is not so fixable. It's a management (upper ha/ha-kidding) issue, really. Mood and spirit wise, only thing you can do it address one thing at a time. Tell yourself before you get out of bed in the a.m. tomorrow that all you are going to do is be careful enough to not stub a toe or fall, that way when you make it to the end of the day, you'll have instant gratification!  

see you around!
-Shell

[MsmsinFl]

well, I've had no problems with Rebif, but Cymbalta made me crazy...  Might it be the Cymbalta?

[sunnyinthesnow]

bump..