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Multiple sclerosis treatments

There are no remedies for healing multiple sclerosis (MS), but there are some medicines which can help you in managing the disease. You need to work closely with your doctor in order to find out the treatment which is best for you and which can have fewer side effects.

Disease-Modifying Drugs

If the patient is having a type of multiple sclerosis which is called as relapsing-remitting MS and the condition is also acting up, the doctor will start treatment with a disease-modifying drug. These medicines will slow down the chances of increasing the disease further and prevent flare-ups.

The drugs work by curbing the immune system -- your body's main defense against germs -- so that it doesn't attack the protective coating called myelin that surrounds the nerves.

Drugs which can be used as disease-modifying in order to reduce the number of flare-ups: Glatiramer acetate (Copaxone, Glatopa) Interferon beta-1b (Betaseron, Extavia)

Medicines which both cut down the number of flare-ups and slow the advance of MS include: Daclizumab (Zinbryta) Dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) Fingolimod (Gilenya) Interferon beta-1a (Avonex, Rebif) Mitoxantrone (Novantrone) Natalizumab (Tysabri) Ocrelizumab (Corvus) Peginterferon beta-1a (Plegridy) Teriflunomide (Aubagio)

The interferon drugs and Copaxone are believed to be holding less risk. Most of the side effects are caused because of the injection itself, such as warmth, redness, itching, or dimpling of the skin where the doctor has injected the drug.

Interferon drugs can cause common flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, aches, fever and chills, but these symptoms should fade away within a few months. The medication can also little bit raise the risk of infections by lowering the number of white blood cells in the body which help the immune system in fighting with illnesses.