b'Medicine & ResearchA s k t h e M S Nu rs eA s k t h e M S Nu rs eCherie Binns is a MS-certied nurse living with MS. She is the patient healthcare liaison for MS Focus and a member of the MS Lived Experience Advisory panel for the Foundation. Her quarterly column addresses the issues of living with MS.Dear MS Nurse,Dear MS Nurse, When you start feeling extremely fatiguedHave you ever tried Amprya for the legs (to or just off, would you consider that to be ahelp us walk better)? It makes me feel super good time to take some steroids? Currentlydrunk and then hungover after it starts to wear on Ocrevus.Timothy G.off. I quit taking it. Dixie B. Binns: Steroids are not something you takeBinns: Ampyra, also known as dalfampridine when you start to feel down. They haveor 4AP, helps about 40 percent of those taking long-term side effects and should only be usedit to improve walking speed and strength. In to manage an aggressive relapse. Do you startthe remaining 60 percent, there does not to feel down in the month or so before yourappear to be any positive effect on walking. This next infusion? If so, that is a phenomenon wemedication works quickly, and most people are calling the crap gap where the medicationwill know within two to three weeks if they are feels like it is wearing off. As a result, thein that 40 percent. If there is no improvement company that markets Ocrevus has stated thatby the time your rst month of pills run out, for individuals experiencing this, infusions canthere is no need to rell the script. be given two weeks earlier than scheduled.Dear MS Nurse, Dear MS Nurse,Has anyone taken dimethyl fumarate? If I had a hysterectomy many years ago andso, how did it go? I was just changed to it after have been on HRT since. When I was diagnosedbeing on glatiramer acetate for almost two with MS, my neurologist told me I had to stopyears, and my lesions only got bigger. Just takingprogesterone,sayingitmakesMSnervous about starting a new medication.worse. But now, everything Im reading saysJessica S. progesterone should help with MS inammation,Binns: This medication, which is taken twice reduce the severity of any clinical symptoms,daily by mouth, is best tolerated if taken with and may help rebuild the myelin.Julie L.a meal. High fat content helps to prevent or Binns: Over the past few years, studies haveminimize any gastrointestinal upset and can shown the adverse effects of declining hormonealso reduce the flushing side effect some levels in women with MS symptoms. Not onlyindividuals may experience. If there are no does progesterone supplementation appearcontraindications to taking aspirin, you may to minimize the worsening of symptoms, but,ndthataddingbabyaspirin(81mg) with in some women, it has also been shown toyourdimethylfumaratemayalsohelpto improve sleep.minimize any ushing that may take place. msfocusmagazine.org 42'