Happy Friday Eve! As y’all know I have been battling increased pain for about two weeks now! As you probably know from your own experience, dealing with pain is extremely frustrating! I was terrified to tell my doctor about it because I was thinking it was a flare up. I finally shared my issues with my doctor and of course she wanted to see me so she could determine what we needed to do. I scheduled an appointment with her Nurse Practitioner (NP) because she was of course booked. 

I was of course nervous about the appointment because I was thinking worse case scenario. I had my husband come with me to my appointment yesterday and was actually pleasantly surprised that I was not having a relapse from the Multiple Sclerosis! The NP told me I was experiencing a Pseudo Relapse. In the 16 years I have battled MS, I have never heard of such a thing. The way she explained it to us made a lot of sense and made me feel so much better about my situation. Pseudo Relapses can occur because of infection, heat and or stress but will go away without having to deal with steroids. It is common for Pseudo Relapses to have all old symptoms from previous relapses to come back at the same time and for it to feel like you are having a typical flare up when in fact you aren’t. When you have a relapse from MS you experience new symptoms and everything I was dealing with I had been through before. I was very relived by her diagnosis and obviously feel better about the situation and I am hopeful that my pain will get better sooner than later. 

During this appointment I also told the NP that I had discontinued the Gilenya about a week and a half ago. I explained to her that I felt that I had been on Gilenya for too long and my body needed a break. She told me I of course need to have a plan to what I am going to switch to. I made the decision to switch to Tecfidera. She explained that Tecfidera isn’t as strong as Gilenya and might not be as effective so I need to be prepared. I am going to try this new medication in conjunction with managing my stress better with hopes it will work. I will not be starting Tecfidera for a few more weeks as I have to wait for insurance to approve it and for my blood count to stabilize. 

These past few weeks have been very difficult and extremely frustrating as I could not figure out why I was in so much pain and why it would not let up. I have been sharing this struggle with all of you and received some really great advice. I am so happy to share this great news with all of you that it doesn’t appear that my MS is progressing but remaining fairly stable. I have known that heat and stress can cause issues for MS but never did I know anything about Pseudo Relapse. You know I always end my posts with a question because I really enjoy and appreciate your feedback. Have any of you heard of Pseudo Relapses before now?

I will of course keep you all updated on how this issue improves as I do believe it will. Plus, I will be waiting for the insurance to approve the new medication and my blood work to stabilize and will keep you updated through this process. Y’all know it takes insurance a while to approve medications, especially the expensive medications needed for MS. Time will tell and I will stay positive and strong!

Always, Alyssa