Slice of Life: Injections 11/5

I am slowly, but surely learning about living with MS.  My most recent flare-up seems to have subsided for the most part.  I am glad to know that the ridiculous fatigue I sometimes feel has an explanation, and I have been glad to be able to read some blog posts from others who have these same symptoms.

Last week, I read Climbing Higher which is Montel Willams' memoir about dealing with MS.  I was amazed to read about the severe symptoms he experienced, and about how little they knew about the disease just 15 years ago.  It was eye-opening to read that book.  I hope I continue to have relatively mild relapses if I have any at all.

Last Saturday, the nurse came out to my house to train me for doing my daily injections of medication. My husband and I spent about an hour learning the proper technique for doing the injections and the proper ways to dispose of materials.  I now have a little red sharps container of my very own.

The good thing about this medication is that there really are not many side effects.  The most common side effects are injection site reactions.  Therefore, I need to rotate the different injection sites in order to avoid having bigger reactions.  There are seven spots where I do the injections.  So I basically feel like a giant pin cushion.  Each time I do an injection so far, I get a small reaction.  It feels like a bee sting for about 15-20 minutes and I need to put a cold compress on the spot.  It is a small price to pay for possibly not having to deal with bigger neurological symptoms, but it is uncomfortable.  

In the blog post in which I first spoke of my diagnosis, I wrote that my biggest challenge was that of crossing the line from healthy person to person with an auto-immune disease.  I think that this continues to be the biggest adjustment for me.  The daily injections just highlight this difference in my mind.  So I will continue to despise these daily shots at the same time that I love them for what they may do for me.