Disease Modifying Therapy for MS: When to Dump Your MS Drug

Disease Modifying Therapy for MS: When to Dump Your MS Drug
In this video, I teach you WHEN to dump your MS drug! To learn all 5 reasons for when it’s time to break up with your Multiple Sclerosis therapy, start watching right now!

Do you agree? Which reason is most important to you? Please share you experiences, opinions, questions and comments below!

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LEARN about MS with me, Aaron Boster MD! I started this channel to help my own MS patients learn between clinic visits. I use easy-to-understand language to provide accurate and approachable Multiple Sclerosis education. So, if you’re impacted by MS and want to up your game, make sure to SUBSCRIBE to my channel right now!

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NOTE: Make sure to talk to your provider before ANY treatment decision. We hope to educate, empower and energize those impacted by Multiple Sclerosis. This channel consists of a collection of formal lectures and informal video clips about MS to help education others. These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational/educational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any of our videos. They are just to help educate you about the condition guys!

[AaronBosterMD]

Which of these 5 reasons to dump your drug is most impactful to you? Please sound off in the comments below!

[daintylivinglarge]

I have to say I love the down to earth approach you have when you chat with us.Keep us these talk please I find them personally helpful.

[MsPerulo]

Yes I considered all of your reasons a few weeks ago and I am dropping my dmd. The side effects were not tolerable... Very true and timely post for me.

[doctorkenk]

I agree. I wish my former neurologistswere great as you.

[popcorn]

Great job! I love my DMT, but if it stops working, then it’s pointless to keep taking it. This is especially true if there is a relapse while on it, because that means that my brain is being damaged. If I’m not willing to let another person do physical damage to me, why would I allow a drug to do the same? Oftentimes, people in my support group will report that they’ve had a relapse on their DMT, but they’re still going to take it. These are the same people that don’t realize that it’s causing them damage. I encourage them to start a discussion with their doctor in regards to why they would remain on a drug when they’ve had breakthrough disease activity.

[Venger]

I wholeheartedly agree with you Dr. Boster. About a year and a half ago I was on Copaxone as my DMD therapy and severely unaware of the benefits of switching to a more comprehensive med. Given that this was my first DMD, I was hesitant to change. Which was probably to my disadvantage because I began to notice a slowing of my conversation skills and other physical skills. When I started Ocrevus it was like a fog had lifted. Though I am still secondary progressive I think the change was for the better and helped a great deal.

[donnamoore]

I liked this one and agree. The one that I experienced was that my platelet count went way above normal. There were no new lesions but gradual progression. Very slow. Lab results for me were key to stopping dmt.

[andreawheatley]

Hi Dr. Boster, I hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving. I am on my 5th DMT, Ocrevus, and I'm very hopeful, it will last with me, longer than the other 4. First drug was Rebif, stayed on for 3 years, developed spots. Second drug, Tecfidera, worked well, although I did have 3 attacks, without new spots. I was on this drug for 2 years, almost 3. Developed allergic type reactions to it, so Dr. pulled me off. 3rd drug, Aubagio, terrible stomach pain, could not eat, without excruciating pain, lasted 7 weeks. Fourth drug, Glatoma, only lasted 4 injections, until extreme reaction to this drug, almost killed me. So, here I am, finished my second half dose of Ocrevus, last week. Only side effect so far, is sleepiness, but it's improving each day.

[catswalkjpgr]

I was taking Gilenya. I was getting worse and progressing. No new lesions. The doctor said I didn’t have anywhere to put a new one. I was covered and then some.

The big thing was it made my blood pressure high. Real high. I never had hbp in my life.

[mollyquinn]

My last MRI was over two years ago & I have developed a horrible fear of the MRI process including the sit up method. I want to know the lesion count since I have some new symptoms. What can I do?

[DamianRobin]

I was feeling like that a few months ago regarding my Ms shots I won't say the name but it starts with a R shots, while I was ready to stop using them at the same time I noticed I was worse not taking my shots as far as tolerance, patience, and I wanted to constantly sleep with not much drive to do things

[cesaredo]

Tolerability force me to drop interferon inyections but I had to use them for many years as there wasn't many more options

[harrahporter]

Thank you you are so right I've been on copaxone for years and so my neurologist is going to put me on an infusion now I've progressed in ataxia.

[maggiemae]

At my recent check up with neurologist, we couldn't decide if I was progressing or just having some issues due to stress. Little things like being more off balance, headaches and dropping things. I have a special needs child and life has been over the top stressful since he started school. So, we decided I could switch from Aubagio to tysabri in case it was the med not working anymore. But I tested positive for the jc virus! So, going to wait until next check up before I break up with Aubagio, just in case its just the stress causing me to be a little off. I tried three other meds in the past and Aubagio is the only one that hasn't caused crazy side effects . just like relationships, sometimes you think you just can't do any better so you stay in the safe, boring relationship. Haha. All of these were great, but definitely if I think I'm progressing it's time to move on!

[ichabod]

Thanks for this! I am not happy with my current drug and generally don't feel confidant it's doing much since worsening over the past year on it. Thanks for the vids!

[melindaanne]

I am taking a break from my DMT. I've been sick for over 5 weeks. Sinus infection, an ear infection that was so bad it popped my eardrum and a cough that won't go away and is so forceful that I burst blood vessels in my eyes and cheeks. I was not informed that my DMT would lower my immune system. I feel like my body can't fight off anything. At this time I just want to feel healthy again. I had a relapse in Feb of 2018 and was just finally feeling better when I got this horrible cold/infection in late November. I was diagnosed in 2012 and relapsed for the first time in 2018. I was not put on any meds until march 2018 when I almost burnt my house down because I didn't remember that I was making chicken stock and went to bed. My husband woke up to thick black smoke filling our whole main floor. Shortly after that I again destroyed a vegetable steamer because I forgot to add water to the pot. I had a hard time remembering words even though I knew exactly what i was thinking I couldn't find the words to explain what I was trying to say. I also have bladder issues and had optic neuritis for about 12 weeks. One time in June I couldn't find my car in a large 2 story parking garage because I couldn't remember that I parked on the second floor. My husband had to pick me up and drive around until he found my car. I feel like I am in remission again except for the bladder issues, which wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't coughing so hard. And the cycle

[theflossi]

I had to break up with Copaxone due to the serious side effects. I felt like my chest was tightening after each injection. I really do not like the feeling of not being able to breath even though I knew I could. It was brutal

[davidwise]

Good advice. Bottomline, my neurologist is usually driving the treatment. He's going to steer the direction of the therapy. I'm looking forward to seeing my upcoming MRI. I think he'll have no choice but to change my treatment.

[franciir]

Great video, as always. Wish I'd seen it earlier!
Also, Dr B, does a drug like rituximab take a while to show improvement?

[megd]

I agree on all 5! Do you only do routine MRI’s on the brain to monitor for new lesions? In the past, my spinal chord itself has shown much more evidence of lesions than my brain. Do you think brain only is sufficient as long as my clinical exam remains unchanged since switching to Tysabri? Thanks for your time. Excellent video, as always!