rebif and wine

[josieanna]

I've just started Rebif.  I'm taking it because I need to try to halt the progression of the disease.  I've been Dx'd for 23 years, and don't know whether it's remitting/progressive or secondary/progressive now. I do, however, love a glass or two of wine at night. I realize that ultimately Rebif has a problem with increasing the ensymes in your liver, but a little can't be that bad. Are there immediate bad side effects initially? after 15 to 18 years of MS problems that were primarily sensory. ( 2 children btw ), I'm currently having major problems with spasticity.  Of course Rebif won't help that. any comments before I run off the mouth!

[Mike_Shuswap]

You got some good advice here.

I too am on Rebif (over one year now). I had my liver checked every month for the first 6 months, and now once every 6 months, no problems so far.

I like my ice cold beer, and I figure ya gotta live. If you like a couple glasses of wine, by all means enjoy.

Mike

[doublevision1]

I was unable to continue on Rebif past the first month or so as it did cause an elevation in my liver enzymes.  I had them tested immediately prior to starting Rebif, then two weeks after commencing treatment.  They were high, so at that point my neuro instructed me to go off all meds and supplements, and no alcohol, stayed on Rebif and they remained high when test was repeated.  Went off Rebif, stayed off other meds and alcohol, they returned to normal, and remained so after I started other meds again and consumed alcohol again.  This is how we could be certain it was Rebif causing the prolem.  

I would recommend a similar approach; stay off alcohol and other meds especially acetaminophen, get your liver enzymes checked after a few weeks on Rebif, and go from there.  

I drink a glass of red wine most evenings (or sometimes more, like now, when I'm on vacation) and haven't had a problem with liver enzymes since switching to Copaxone.

[msisbs]

Maybe this will help, maybe not, but I worry about all of my meds (like the narcotics) harming my liver. So I started drinking a liver detox tea. It's made with dandelion root and a few other herbs, most grocery stores carry it with the other teas. I figured it couldn't hurt to get a little help from mama nature, I don't see that it could make things any worse and its way cheaper than any medication would be.
Now if it works, I don't know, but I can say my skin looks great, its supposed to be a sign of good liver function.
Good luck and have a glass for me :)

[sllowe]

Hi there,

I'm glad you are on meds now for this disease :)  You are spot on with your thinking of watching the liver - someone brought that up here in the past during a discussion and I had not thought of it. Good thing is doc should be running labs every few months during the 1st year at least for those elavations, and then you should have them run every 6 months for good measure.

Just because they can elavate -  doesn't mean it will. I'm hoping too I'm one of those lucky ones who doesn't have to worry about it. I've been on rebif now since 07 and have not run high yet. Glad too because I love a cold beer, especially in the hot summer.

Thanks for joining us,
-Shell

p.s. MsDurham - hello to you too! I know we've not met yet. Hope you faired well down there w/Irene!

[MSdurhamite]

I LOVE wine, and have found through tea-totaling for months between 6 month visits and being cleared to drink again that a few glasses a week had no impact one way or another.  I think the ibuprofen may be more suspect, so I try to be spare about using it.  Over 5 years on Rebif and the only constant on my liver panels is inconsistency.

I do find that a second glass makes my pins and needles come on something crazy.  So I keep it very light on wine drinking.  But a glass 2-3 times a week is about my pace.