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@AngeShiftMS 

Last reply

AngeShiftMS

Dear cold, chest infection, and MS, why can't you all play nicely?

Is anyone else suffering with nasty winter bugs at the moment? I feel dreadful. I'm not long back at work after being diagnosed with RRMS in November, and this is the last thing I need. I'm feeling lots of twitches. Is this normal when you have a cold/chest infection and MS? Am exhausted too... I start Copaxone on Monday. Hopefully I'll feel better once I'm started with that, safe in the knowledge that I'm doing something positive to hopefully keep the beast at bay.
10
@Stumbler
@Stumbler
 

Unfortunately, any infection invokes our immune system to take action. Now, MS is an auto-immune disease, where our immune system attacks ourselves. So, anything which invokes our auto-immune system can cause us a "pseudo-exacerbation". This is like a relapse, where our MS symptoms will be exaggerated, but only for the duration of the underlying infection. So, cure the cold/chest infection and everything should improve back to how they were before the infection. This is the reason that the flu-jab is recommended for MS-ers. So, if you haven't had one, ask your GP's practice about it. Hope this helps.

@AngeShiftMS
@AngeShiftMS
 

Thanks <a href='https://shift.ms/community/people/Stumbler/' rel='nofollow'>@Stumbler</a>. So, even if I've never felt twitches in that part of my body before, it's not a relapse? I think my neuro suggested flu vaccination, but mention that vaccinations may trigger a relapse. Is that right? I didn't really take everything in at the appointment where I was told thst I had MS, so I may well have picked him up wrong.