Hello myboys,
It does appear that steroids may be used concurrently with Copaxone,
to treat flare-ups, meaning that is should be safe for a pinched
nerve, should your doctor prescribe it for such!
Probonopublico-ga, in his helpful comment below, is correct about
discussing this with your doctor. S/he knows your medical history and
which other medications you may be taking. If you have taken steroids
previously, you know that they must be taken carefully, and withdrawn
from gradually. If the case is that you have some leftover tablets
from a previous prescription, I would not take them. You do need to
see your health care provider for advice concerning taking steroids in
*your* individual case. By doing so, you can also obtain sufficient
medication to allow you some relief while effectively discontinuing
the medication by tapering the dose.
?And my approach is that in addition to the medication the person is
already taking, whether it's Avonex, Betaseron or Copaxone, to try and
subdue the relapses or attacks of disease and control the dragon, if
you will, by increasing the firepower, and that is by adding another
medication. There are several of these medications that can be used,
including the intravenous steroids. Some of the other ones in use are
generally in the category of chemotherapy medications used often in
cancers. [Editor's comment: These medicines tend to work by having an
immediate impact on the activity of the immune system, to interrupt
the immune damage that occurs in a relapse or attack of MS.] They can
be either oral or intravenous. For more slowly progressive people with
MS, we use oral; for more rapidly progressing ones, we use intravenous
ones.?
http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/022802/page02.cfm
More from the Health Talk site:
Patient:
How often can a patient use the steroids or kind of a combination therapy?
Doctor:
We look at MS as an illness that doesn't completely go away, and we
look at it as a chronic illness not unlike the way we look at cancers.
With cancers, you don't take one treatment and that's it, and if that
doesn't work, you stop. You tend to add to it. So, we often start with
the disease modifiers, and then if there are exacerbations or loss of
function, we think about what can we add next?
Most often what we use next is steroids. Now, we can use them in the
blasting dose, so three to five to seven, how many days your doctor
orders it, one time and then see how people do. But often we consider
a monthly booster treatment of the steroids or we may give them one IV
followed by a few days of pills for a period of time to see if we can
get some more of an effect out of the steroids, but always looking to
make sure that we're helping the patient, we're not hurting them, and
considering is there something else that we need to be looking at as
well?
You can sign up for a free newsletter on MS on this very page as well.
http://www.healthtalk.com/multiplesclerosis/programs/042403/page07.cfm
Additional information:
Copaxone works differently than other MS medications. Copaxone
(glatiramer acetate), acts like a myelin decoy, tricking your immune
system into believing it SI myelin.
http://www.ivillagehealth.com/library/nwh/content/0,,215912_227218,00.html
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Mar2001/MoreCopaxoneStudyResults.html
All about steroids:
http://www.steroids.com/default.asp
I hope this helps you, myboys! If any part of my answer is unclear,
please request an Answer Clarification, before rating. This will allow
me to assist you further, if possible.
Regards,
crabcakes
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