avonex injection

Flu-like symptoms are a fairly common side effect during the initial weeks of Avonex treatment. It is recommended that you take your Avonex injection before bedtime. Immediately before your injection, and for the 24 hours that follow the injection, patients have found that use of over the counter pain and fever reducing medications can help with this common side effect." You could also get on the Avonex website for further info. good luck. hope that you feel better soon.

Hi - I am starting on Avonex next week and of course am concerned about side effects but like the once a week part of the treatment. Those that are on Avonex how do you handle the side effects any tips you can give me?

DX on 2/14...started Avonex last week with nurse helping and did fine. This week I thought I did okay but noticed the plunger did not go completely down. It was the 1/2 dose. Since I am inclined to over analyze, trying not to panic. Figure I'll be taking more next week...but since you all seem like you know your stuff...thought I'd ask the experts. Thanks.

Last night I had my first Avonex injection. I had a lot of hesitation about going on any drug, but figured I need to fight MS. The injection did not hurt at all. After the medicine was in it stung just a little bit. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning with the chills and by 5 I had the full flu like symptoms. By 3 in the afternoon, I felt pretty good except for a headach, but I've been having frequent headaches lately anyway.

I would go back to your neurologist and discuss switching to the avonex injection pen or perhpas even consider Plegridy - the new form of interferon from Biogen Idec that is a version of Avoenx but it is given every 2 weeks instead of weekly and can be injected just under the skin.

Hi Isabel and welcome. You're so right to not focus on what may or may not happen in your future. We have too much living to do today. As for the avonex, I can't answer your questions because I have only been on copaxone. I know Q and others who have been on Avonex talk about taking NASID's a hour or so before the injection and then heading to bed to sleep it off. From what I understand, your body will grow accustomed to the drug and the flu-like symptoms decrease over time.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who has taken both Avonex and Rebif could give some input here. I have been taking Rebif since this past June, but have started to wonder about how Avonex would compare side-effect-wise. As they are both interferons, I would think they would be similar, but I'm not certain. The idea of once a week sounds nice in comparion though, so I would like some actual first-hand knowledge. Thanks!

Thanks for posting this. I am going to find out more about it.

I took my first Avonex injection today. I am pretty miserable tonight. I did all of the prep......lots of water, tylenol....... The shot part was very easy. Really no pain at all. The effects of the Avonex started to set in about two hours after the shot. I wanted to take it right before bed but the visiting nurse had to be here to watch me give myself the first shot. So I took it around 1pm. I HOPE these symptoms become less with every shot????? YES???? I only took 1/2 dose this time.

For OTC medication I use Tylenol, but others use Aleve, Advil, etc. I also take a dose an hour or two before injection when I take the Avonex out of the refrigerator. For your first couple of weeks you might even take a dose 4-6 hours before that. Hydration tends to help alleviate effects. Drink plenty of water in the day of and the day after injection. Of course, other non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic beverages also work to hydrate you.

Take some ibuprofin before injection. It helps alot! I still take it on injection night after a year and half or I get achy and chills. Good luck today!

If your legs hurt around the injection site it could be due to the injection/needle and how dense the legs muscles are. I have leg weakness and aching but that is due to spasticity.

Hi again Aroma! Glad to see you were able to post your question on a new thread. I decided to add my previous answer here to get things started. I'm not sure what a map card is but I'm guessing it is a medical assistance plan. Each plan is so different. We usually have to call our individual providers to see what they cover. There should be a number on your card. I am also guessing about the test injection you were given. It sounds like a TB skin test.

I just started on Avonex (had my 2nd injection a few days ago). I'm wondering if I will ever feel like I did prior to it. My side effects are not bad at all if I take Ibuprofen regularly. I stopped taking it b/c my stomach started hurting on & off everyday. Since I stopped it, my stomach doesn't hurt anymore, but I have headaches all the time. My head feels kind of spacey also. Will this go away? I am so new to all of this.

It seems the main differences are that it is a subcutaneous injection and thus not deep, and that it is used approximately half as often as Avonex. Will they drop Avonex? So now I'm wondering if anyone here has used Plegridy, and if so, how things are working. I'm now back on Tecfidera (another Biogen product) after a false start, hoping to avoid nasty digestive side effects by greatly increasing time between the 120 and 240 mg doses (per my neuro).

How do you determine whick injection therapy works best, by trial and error? My Neurologist gave me books on three of them: Rebif, Copaxone, and Avonex.

t inject daily so Copaxone was out. Then the needle with Avonex was too big, nor was there an auto inject so Avonex was out. Rebif has an auto injector & it is only 3x's a week, which is the medium of the other two. So far no major side affects. Two weeks ago I thought I was having a reaction to the meds so I skipped two injection days. I resumed the injections on Wednesday & so far no reaction. I've been on Rebif since April and am still getting use to sticking myself.....

Reading what others have said, you can feel like you have the flu for a day or so after your injection of Avonex. You should take your shot before bedtime and then try to sleep off some of the side effects. Be sure to talk to your doctor about all of this on Friday. You may want to start a list of questions to take with you so you remember everything that you want to ask your neuro about. I make a list for every doctor I see so I can remember too.

I'm just curious... Do Avonex injections hurt all that much? I do a subcutaneous Betaseron injection and I don't feel a thing, not even a pinch when I inject. I just wanted to keep an open mind about possibly switching DMDs but the thought of doing an intramuscular injection gives me the heebie jeebies.

With Copaxone I do not have any medication side effects, but do have injection site reactions. After 7 months of being on the daily injection, I notice that even my injection site reactions are getting less and less. This is MY experience. I really am sorry to hear that you have become frustrated wtih Rebif. Perhaps you would do better on a lose dosage and Avonex may be for you. Hope you feel better and decide which treatment to use in the near future.

I've been on Avonex for 2.5 years and it's suited me well but I have just had a 4 week break. I then took my injection on Tuesday night and was strangely fine on Wednesday and Thursday but on Friday, Saturday and today I have lost about 50% of my strength from my left arm and leg. Is this likely to be a side effect from restarting the Avonex (muscle weakness) or a relapse?

Any suggestion for decreasing the pain in the leg from the Avonex shot. I am still experiencing pain in my left leg 4 days after the shot. I do not experience any flu like symptoms after the shot. I experience tightening in the chest for 10 minutes (48 hours after the shot). I also experience tightness in my lower back under my shoulder 24 - 48 hours after the shot.

Avonex injection

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