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Starting Interferon Therapy: What to Expect

Summary & Participants

For people with MS, life is made difficult by symptoms of their disease, which can come and go over time. Interferon therapy however has been shown to be effective in controlling the frequency and severity of these symptoms. Two women who are on interferon therapy talk about what the therapy has meant in their lives.

Medically Reviewed On: June 06, 2003

Webcast Transcript

FAITH REILLY: I didn't know what was going to be coming ahead. I didn't know if at that point in my life I was feeling the best I was ever going to feel again and that from there, it was going to be downhill. So I was worried and afraid for what it was going to mean for me and my family.

ANNOUNCER: Faith Reilly, a nurse, had reason to be concerned. Seven and a half years ago she was diagnosed with MS, a chronic disease of the nervous system. Lisa Peck, a lawyer, also diagnosed with MS had her own fears.

LISA PECK: I knew since then, however, when I was diagnosed, that there had been progress made, that there were new medications, and although there wasn't a cure, there were things that could be done to at least arrest its development. And as frustrated and angry and concerned as I was, I was also motivated to do something about it as soon as I could.

ANNOUNCER: Both Lisa and Faith are currently using an interferon to help control their MS, a condition which attacks the myelin coating which surrounds the nerve cells.

FAITH REILLY: Interferon therapy is injectable therapy. There are three different kinds of interferon being sold to patients. And it alters the immune system, kind of turns it down so that your body is less likely to attack your myelin.

ANNOUNCER: Interferons can slow down disease progression, which makes all the difference for a person with MS.

FAITH REILLY: Interferon for me really seemed to change the direction my MS was heading in. The first year after my diagnosis my MS was quite active. I think I had five attacks in the first year. And within the first year of starting the interferon therapy, I had two attacks. And then since then, I maybe can count one or two total.

LISA PECK: I, for instance, noticed that my relapses were coming much less frequently, and when I was getting exacerbations or problems, they were less severe than they'd been in the prior three, four, five years. And so even though it wasn't something, you know, where you'd take a couple of aspirin and say, "My headache's gone," it does, over the course of a period of time, you start to notice that you're generally feeling better more frequently. So in my case, the real turning point was that I just really was starting to have more good days than bad days.

ANNOUNCER: Lisa is both a lawyer and professional cyclist and Faith, a nurse and mother. For each of them, interferon meant being more able to get on with their lives.

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