Drugs, Drugs, and MORE Drugs!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....


I have a decision to make.


Today was my check-up appointment with the M.S. Specialist, who mentioned to me about treatment. I don't know whether people who read this will know, but M.S. doesn't actually have a cure yet,basically all doctors and nurses can do is treat the symptoms of the disease, but you can't affect the disease itself.


Well, my specialist made an appointment with me to discuss treatment options for me, as I've had this (in terms of diagnosis anyway) for 19 months now. When I was first diagnosed, I didn't really know much about M.S. or possible treatments, so I agreed to go on a Clinical Trial. It was for a drug called 'Avandia', and I still don't know whether I had the actual drug or a placebo, but at least it helped them out in deciding whether it was useful for treatment of people with M.S....


Today, I was told of four different treatments that could be available to me as a person diagnosed with M.S. and it was left to me to decided whether I wanted to start on any of them. The problem is, at the moment, even though I've had three or four relapses in the past two years, I've been basically healthy, because my M.S. (relapsing-remitting) is in actual fact quite mild. The dilemma I have is, I've got no guarantees about whether it will get worse or not in the next ten years. Apparently, 1 in 10 people who have the relapsing-remitting form of M.S. will actually move on to the Secondary Progressive form, which can be quite debilitating.


My dilemma is, do I want to start on these treatments, which may or may not help me, because I may or may not get worse than I am now? Should I start taking this treatment which involves injecting myself every day or every other day? My illness doesn't seem that bad at the moment, but if I don't take it, will the results be worse long term??


I've asked for a week to think about it, I need to.


Grrrrrrr... these decisions are so hard.