Ocrelizumab (Occrevus) or Alemtuzumab?
Has anyone has had a dilemma to choose between these two DMT’s ? I have had relapse remitting Ms since 2006 (with optic neuritis diagnosis) and generally have been good but I had a major relapse in February affecting my vision (bluriness) and now my neurologist has offered the idea of taking these third line treatments Ocrelizumab (Occrevus) or Alemtuzumab. I’ve never been on any DMT’s,... I have read lots about them in ms trust and ms society online and am aware of the high risk side effects of them, hence debating Which one to take or not take at all but the high slowing down progression is very appealing!!! At what cost, who knows!! Need more information on how those being on Ocrelizumab (Occrevus) or Alemtuzumab are coping with it and which side effects they have got and after how many years! Preparing myself for the worst,... since Thyroid problem affects many with Alemtuzumab, is dealing with under active thyroid very hard? How are people coping with it?
Thank you for those of you who have taken the time to read my loooong message! Any input greatly appreciated ;0)
Hey! I’m on Ocrevus and love it so far! I chose it because they said my MS was aggressive and it was an aggressive treatment with less side effects. I’ve only had my first two half doses so far, but within a month a lot of my symptoms have lessened tremendously or disappeared. I haven’t had to use my walker since a week after my infusions and my walking is great now. I’m also really fast now. Infusion reactions are really common, but they’re great at taking care of it. They give premeds to help prevent any and if there’s a reaction they stop the infusion and give more meds till it goes away. I had a minor reaction during the first infusion, an itchy scalp, but no reactions during the second half. I don’t know much about lemtrada so hopefully someone on it will post. Let me know if you have any questions. Best of luck!
Hi @milli and welcome. DMTs are powerful drugs, which do come with some potential side-effects. But, this does need to be weighed up against the side-effects of MS and how that can impact your quality of life. The proactive strategy of hitting MS hard and fast with the strongest DMTs is now becoming the norm. Starting on the lesser effective DMTs risks accumulating MS damage as you step up through the effectiveness of the available treatments. Ocrevus (Ocrelizumab) is the latest DMT to be approved, so there is less "real" information than there is for Lemtrada (Alemtuzumab). You can locate the previous conversations on these DMTs by selecting the relevant tags that have been automatically added to your original post above. <span style="color: #ff0000;">PS I removed your update on the "Feeling weird on lemtrada" post, to avoid duplication.</span>