Rewind to December 2019 before the world fell apart to COVID and you would find me in my neurologist’s office going over my latest MRI. This wasn’t done to confirm that yes, I do have a brain inside my skull. This was my annual/biannual / whatever MRI to check for medication efficacy or lack thereof. This MRI showed that my current medication at the time, Tecfidera, was no longer working. I had a pinpoint-sized lesion that had enlarged to the size of a quarter or so. I knew what this meant, unfortunately. This meant I had to change medications.
The Tecfidera worked for several years but was at the end of its line with me. It’s not fun to change medications when you have M.S., it comes with trial and error, new side effects, adjusting, and potentially a washout when life just sucks for the specified time frame while you’re on no medication.
Ocrevus seemed to be the drug of choice that neurologist offices are pushing, err, recommending for Multiple Sclerosis treatment. It’s just as scary as most treatment options but a decision must be made. I chose, after a lot of reading and asking questions, to start my treatment with this new medication.
I’ve now had 3 doses of Ocrevus and it seems to be working well. It’s relatively easy to take other than the long infusion time. Luckily, I have only had minor, common infusion reactions like itching and boredom, hehe.
Fortunately, MS symptoms seem to be under good control, and apparently, it becomes easier over time as more of the drug builds up in your system. My first full dose seemed to help my fatigue quite a bit but I was told this is abnormal. I was hoping for a multi-functional med for that. Oh well, such is life. We move onward.
Ultimately the hardest part about Ocrevus is the “sweet spot” where you feel great is short-lived. Nearing the time of the next infusion my fatigue intensifies and my walking gets strained and unsteady. This did become less bothersome as my total number of infusions increases.
All in all, Ocrevus does seem to be the hot new MS drug on the market and I can attest so far that it has been good.
