After I was dx with MS in October of 1997 I opted to use no medication and take a wait and see approach to the MS. In a years time I had two exacerbations and so reluctantly, I began treatment with Copaxone in 1998. (It lasted about two months). It SUCKED. The shot everyday was annoying & the injection site issues I had were worse than the damn disease. Against everyone's advice, I stopped taking it.
In December 1999 I began Avonex. I did very well on it for the most part. The side effects were annoying but tolerable. My mom gave me the injection each week and that worked very well for me.
In September of 2000 I became pregnant and discontinued the Avonex. I did amazingly well while pregnant and for about six months post delivery. When it was time to resume a medication, I went back on Avonex for about three months.
My life was crazy...I was working full time....I had a baby now...no time to think let alone give myself a shot that made me feel like shit for two days out of the week. I had also developed post partum depression *lucky me*. To add to my sadness I was doing the injection every Friday, so my weekends were shot (no pun intended), the size of the needle SUCKED and I hated the side effects...So...
Once again, against my Neuros advice I discontinued the Avonex. I was happy to be shot/side effect free and enjoyed two months of that, until I had another exacerbation. Soon afterward I began to experience confusion, vertigo and my eye sight was fuzzy, and that freaked me out more than anything. Up until this point I had never had any eye problems. So I had my annual MRI and it showed no new lesions , however I was clearly having an exacerbation.
The bottom line...I was delusional in thinking that since I had done "so well" while pregnant, that overall good feeling would just continue for the rest of my life.... REALITY CHECK for Dawn...it was time to just accept that inorder to live a somewhat normal and happy life, I needed, I required, I HAD TO BE on some type of medication...that sucked, the reality of it hit me...I had a pity party for about a week and emerged with a new goal. I was going to start on the Copaxone again and this time I was going to make it work, because at that point the alternative was not a good one.
I was happy to learn that the Copaxone had changed since I last took it. Now the medication comes in pre filled syringes so it makes the entire process that much quicker. I also use an autoject at times.

It is awesome because it pretty much does the shot for me ~ in those hard to reach places. Having the autoject option is the closest to "liking" the shot that you will get out of me.
The side effects I experience with Copaxone are injection site itching and this nasty thing called Lipoatrophy. (Huge indentations in the injection site areas) UGH.

So all in all, despite the fact that my legs, arms and tummy look like the surface of the moon, Its going much better this time around. I seem to have a more positive outlook regarding the medication.