Tag Archives: rebif

Four years worth of rebif

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Almost a $100,000 thousand worth I have pumped into my body in defense against my ms. I have to say it seems to have stopped any reoccurrence of major symptoms. But maybe they wouldn’t have happened again anyway. Or maybe diet and exercise was the difference? I wish I had security in my medication, but I really don’t. I have more hope being a vegetarian runner. And pushing myself hard. Taking advantage of opportunities, or at least enjoying them. That’s the better medicine.

The choice to switch to the oral meds – fingolimod – has been an interesting one. I’d love to ditch the shots and the excess shipping (almost 50 giant styrofoam coolers) but I think (and so does the nuero) that if treatment is showing success why change? I suppose someday I’ll be on it so why not get started now? I am pretty sure it would be effective for me, but would the change of medication, the actual transition have any worsening effect? Would the pills only come in non-vegetarian gelatin based capsules? Would some aspect of the pills require some gigantic shipping method that dwarfs the rebif styrofoam?

I have had some skin reactions recently, more than just the bruising. Itchy area, general soreness in the shot places and what looked like a small needle infection on my back right side. I moved the spots I normally inject in the area and skipped a cycle. Seemed to clear up. Today I did it in the back of my left arm, a painful one but quick. The backs of my arms seem to be the most painful of all the recommended spots. I have thought about skipping the arms but I want to make sure the other areas don’t get over used.

I didn’t run again today. I’m having some issues with consistency lately. I’ll get better I know it. I am really tired of running in the cold I am ready for some warmer weather.

Longest run of the year

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Yesterday I did a 12+ mile run. It started out to be a base run of around 6.5 and ended up quite a bit longer. The sun was out yesterday and I think that inspired me. Plus I had a break from work and considering that I probably won’t have another significant break coming up work-wise I though I had better take advantage of the time. Not to mention I am trying to increase my mileage in prep for another shot at a full marathon this summer. Oh and I had my water bottle with me in an effort to get used to wearing the belt again, so there was another reason to keep going.

When I was psyching myself up for a run yesterday I was a little concerned about just having taken my rebif. I wondered what sort of effect that might have on me and my running. Once I started I immediately forgot that was even a consideration. So I would have to say as far as the run itself went it was not a factor. I noticed nothing different. The tylenol and advil I took for the shot may have helped any soreness but I noticed nothing (result of completely forgetting about the shot?). After the run I was really tired but I don’t think that had anything to do with the rebif and more to do with the effort (considering my current fitness level) I exerted to run that far. Today I am somewhat sore and really, really tired. I also didn’t sleep so well last night (actually several nights in a row now). So could easily be a combination of the factors rather than having anything to do with the injection. No site reaction to speak of before or after the run.

So the run itself was really interesting. I felt really good for the first 8 miles or so and then after that I still maintained a pretty good energy level. At about that point I started heading into a stiff wind and really slowed down, 11+ min mile. Creeping! I had one somewhat scary moment toward the end of the run when I made a sudden turn and felt a twinge in my left knee, but it seems fine today so I don’t think it was serious at all. I managed to keep my heart rate pretty low throughout. I was aiming for my 70% threshold (144 BPM) and I did a good job for the first 6-7 miles, then it got a bit out control. I ended up averaging 150 for the run, considering how tough the run was I thought that was pretty good. I also think the low HR initially kept me going throughout. I employed a breathing pattern of 2-3 in and 4-5 out. It was hard to maintain at times, but it really helped both to lower my HR if I had just exerted myself and to maintain a slow steady HR. The most typical pattern was 2 in and 5 out. When I breathed out I would restrict my breath in order to slow down my exhale, almost like whistling, but without the sound.

So my plans are to slowly increase my weekly miles and to start up with the quality runs (LSDs, speed work at the track and hills) as well as incorporating less junk runs and more recovery runs under 70%. I’d like to start developing some good training habits before I dive in to the marathon prep. I am going to try to get a recovery run in today after a meeting I have this morning, but I might just blow it off and take it easy today, we’ll see. It feels really good to have done a long run. Makes me feel like I can get going again with the training. Whoo hoo!

Killer hills

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I didn’t run yesterday as I used the excuse of not having any gels to power through a hill repeat run. Well the gel came that afternoon, so no excuses remained. Actually I was fine with that as I knew I had to do some hills to keep on track with my fluctuating quality run plan.

So a note on the gel: I purchased a 26 serving bottle of Chocolate Hammer gel for $20 on Amazon. I use 3 oz gel flasks and dilute 1 to 1 with water. It takes some shaking to get it mixed up, but it is a lot cleaner and less wasteful than the individual servings not to mention cheaper. I really like doing my gels this way. The bottles I have a weird and are rounded so they don’t stand up but feel good in my pockets. I like the diluted gel as well. The chocolate was a little sweet, I have had espresso as well and I thought that was less so.

So in addition to my diluted gel I also brought a pack of Honey Stinger fruit energy chews. They are a bit like Sharkies only more jelly like, sort of remind me of the old jelly candies my Grandma had. They are ok, I don’t think I care for the Honey Stinger product lines so much. They are a bit too strongly honey tasting for me. I had some gels from them as well that I got as samples at the Portland Marathon and they were the same way, like eating a tablespoon of honey. Good but too honeyey. I had maybe 3 or 4 of them on the run to the hills and then the gel halfway through. I felt pretty good energy wise, good combination of gel energy and electrolytes.

So the hills were tough. My hill route I went on today has 10 or 11 hills about a quarter mile long of varying steepness. I zig-zag up and down along this three block long ridge. So down for three blocks, over one, up for three blocks and over one and so on. Halfway through I turn around and go up the ones I went down the first time through. The workout tapers a bit to the mid-way point with the hills getting easier, but the way back is murderous and by the time I near the end of the hill portion, the final two hills are brutal. Here is the run. I felt pretty strong throughout the run and my HR dipped pretty low on the recovery portions (130-140). My max HR was 185 for the run, but more often in the high 170s. It was a good workout and one I feel pretty rested from now that the afternoon has waned.

I missed my rebif injection yesterday, so I did it today after the run. I have been doing the shots after workouts for awhile now and so far I have bot seen any sort of issue with it. I am not sure if the exercise makes it any more or less effective, but there don’t seem to be any problems. Even today when I did my shot into my leg all pumped up after the hill repeats, no issues. I do notice that when I inject in the morning I sometimes have to take ibuprofen in the evening to cull a headache, but it doesn’t happen often. I do worry about taking so much ibuprofen and acetaminophen and its effects on my liver. But I guess I’ll deal with that when I have something concrete to deal with.