MS services for children are standardised across much of the UK. Wherever you live, if you are prescribed a disease modifying drug, you will be given information about the drug and how to take it by your prescribing neurologist.
This page sets out the standard patient information for the drugs most commonly used in childhood MS. Your MS team may use these paragraphs in their letters to you, but adding your own name. If you or your family want to find out more about these drugs, you can look them up in our A-Z of MS.
As discussed, (patient name) is going to start taking a beta interferon. The other name for this is Avonex. The medicine calms down the immune response and thus reduces the chance of a relapse.
This is an injection and the family will be shown how to give this. It needs to be injected once a week into the muscles, usually of the thigh. It is important that a slightly different site is used each time to stop the area becoming sore. It may cause injection-site problems (swelling, redness, tenderness) and skin dimpling (lipoatrophy) at injection sites.
There is a chance of side effects. Commonly, people feel as though they've got 'flu for the 12-24 hours after the injection, i.e aching joints and feeling shivery. Therefore, we advise that the injections are given in the evening, along with a dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen. This will allow the symptoms to be slept off. Other possible side effects include headaches, diarrhoea and vomiting, difficulty sleeping and hair loss. Some people find that their mood changes too.
It is important that blood tests are done to look at liver function and blood counts. These will need to be done monthly for 3 months, and then every three months after that. We will arrange this.
6 months after starting the treatment, we will do another MR scan (MRI) to check for any new changes or to see if any old changes have resolved.
As discussed, (patient name) is going to start taking a beta interferon. The other name for this is Rebif. The medicine calms down the immune response and thus reduces the chance of a relapse.
This is an injection and the family will be shown how to give this. It needs to be injected three times a week just under the skin. It is important that a slightly different site is used each time to stop the area becoming sore. It may cause injection-site problems (swelling, redness, tenderness) and skin dimpling (lipoatrophy) at injection sites.
There is a chance of side effects. Commonly, people feel as though they've got 'flu for the 12-24 hours after the injection, i.e aching joints and feeling shivery. Therefore, we advise that the injections are given in the evening, along with a dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen. This will allow the symptoms to be slept off. Other possible side effects include headaches, diarrhoea and vomiting, difficulty sleeping and hair loss. Some people find that their mood changes too.
It is important that blood tests are done to look at liver function and blood counts. These will need to be done monthly for 3 months, and then every three months after that. We will arrange this.
6 months after starting the treatment, we will do another MR scan (MRI) to check for any new changes or to see if any old changes have resolved.
As discussed, (patient name) is going to start taking glatiramer acetate. The other name for this is Brabio. The medicine calms down the immune response and thus reduces the chance of a relapse.
This is an injection and the family will be shown how to give this. It needs to be injected every day just under the skin. It is important that a slightly different site is used each time to stop the area becoming sore. The injection site may become red, swollen and sore. If there is damage to the fatty layer under the skin, there may be a permanent skin indentation.
Potential side effects include headaches, tiredness, diarrhoea and feeling sick. The medicine could also cause loss of appetite, weight gain or sweating. Rarely, an immediate post-injection reaction may happen, but this usually resolves quickly within 15 minutes (flushing, chest pain, heart palpitations, anxiety and trouble breathing).
Regular blood tests are not needed. 6 months after starting the treatment, we will do another MR scan (MRI) to check for any new changes or to see if any old changes have resolved.
