@sritawk 

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sritawk

Deliver-MS Study and its Benefits (as interpreted by me)

I am a participant of Deliver-MS (Determining the Effectiveness of Early Intensive Versus Escalation Approaches for the Treatment of Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis), the observational branch as I had already chosen my DMT. I had a baseline MRI scan done the end of April for my actual diagnosis (and I wouldn't have got another until a year later to see if my DMT was working), but participating in Deliver-MS meant I got an additional contrast enhanced MRI scan end of May for the study baseline. The scan in May showed I had one new lesion (in the space of a month!) which was indicative of my MS being very active, but my neurologist said that this confirms that being on Ocrevus was the best choice I could have made. I have recently received a phone call as part of the study to check how I'm doing, how I'm feeling etc. and they've arranged an MRI in a couple of months time for my next visit. Come October, I will have had 3 MRIs since diagnosis. I will have one in 6 months after that as part of the study, and not long after that, I'll have the annual MRI for general disease progression. That's nearly an MRI every 6 months. So my point is this - participating in research where it is possible for you is a wonderful thing to do, and it helps the people behind us who will unfortunately be diagnosed with this illness. Whilst no neurologist will say this outright, as they can't use it as a 'selling point' to get people to participate in studies, but leave you to come to this conclusion yourself as I did - participating is also super beneficial for YOU, being in close contact with specialists and monitoring disease progression.
@SusieC

Great post.

1
@Cowan

I get an mri every year. I have dozens of lesions on my brain and my spine.