@pebbles19 

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pebbles19

Tysabri or Gilenya??

Hi!! I was told last week at my annual appointment that after a year and a half on Avonex, that it is not working and I have to move to stage two treatment. The two options I have been given are Tysabri and Gilenya and there seems to be so many side effects to both of these that I am overwhelmed by the news!! Does anyone have any advice as to help with my decision??
@Stumbler

Unfortunately, anything we take these days may cause side-effects. From what I've seen both Tysabri and Gilenya seem to both be effective. So it could be a case of do you fancy a monthly infusion or a daily pill. You'd be monitored on both medications to mitigate any serious side-effects. I'm sure others will be along to comment soon, who have personal experience of both medications.

@CaptainKristoff

I'm on Tysabri and have been for 22 months. So far I've had no relapses (touch wood) and am doing really well on it. The infusion takes 1 hour then, depending where you go for treatment, they may like you to wait behind for an hour. It's done every 28 days and doesn't require you to do anything else in between. All people I've spoken to whilst having my infusions all say how much better they're doing and how they wouldn't want to be without it. Do you know your JC virus status? As I understand it, the JC virus is only an issue for people on Tysabri. I was negative, but at some point in the last 6 months (the time since I was last tested for it) I've become positive. This means that there's now a risk involved with my treatment but most people on Ty are positive as around 65% of the population are positive. It's definitely something to factor in to your treatment choice.