Gilenya, Day Eighteen

I have become suspicious that at least one person on the Facebook Gilenya Support Group is a plant from Novartis. The reason I am suspicious is this person constantly proclaims that she has never had any side effects from the Gilenya, AND she almost always counters anyone's claim that they are having any side effect with with something like: "according to documents published by Norvartis, that isn't a side effect" or "M.S. causes that, it's not the Gilenya" or "How old are you? I have this problem because I'm getting old/going through menopause, it's not the Gilenya." This has really been upsetting to me for three reasons:

1. If I'm feeling something that I haven't felt before, or in a way that I haven't felt before, I usually try to find a reason for feeling the new thing, by eliminating the things that haven't changes and identifying the things that have, therefore I have already explored options related to other medications and/or symptoms of M.S. 
2. M.S. patients get enough discrediting of how they are feeling by doctors, nurses, friends, family members, coworkers and everyone else that I really, really think that it is important to have a safe place to share experiences and concerns. or ask questions without having to worry about someone saying "No, your experience is invalid." *
3. I can accept that my experience with Gilenya is not every person's experience with Gilenya, why can't you!?!

(* For the record, I don't believe that any of my friends, family, or coworkers have intentionally made me feel like my experiences aren't valid. It just happens... with the best of intentions. I understand that the various people that have done this are just trying to find a common ground, to make me feel not not-normal, which is nice of them but... Generally, when someone has asked me about how Multiple Sclerosis effects me and I tell them fatigue/word loss/mild stuttering/clumsiness/adverse reaction to heat/occasional numbness/vertigo, and their response is: "I feel/everyone feels that way/has that some of the time or all the time" which makes me feel like they think I'm just being a big baby and I that I need to get over myself already because what I'm feeling is not a big deal, because apparently everyone feels the same way from time to time.)

Impressions: I feel good overall and happy with Gilenya. I still don't think it is a miracle drug, but it improved my outlook. It is nice to not have to do shots anymore, and FINALLY, I only have a few  injection site reaction scars left. They have almost all faded away. Woo Hoo! I would post a photo of my injection-site-reaction-free thighs, but I'm not going to. :)

The larger-than-the-quarter puffy red spot on my thigh is an injection site reaction from when I was on Rebif,. Every time, I did a shot I got an injection site reaction. With three shots a week, my thighs were covered. As they fade, they would change from red and puffy to bruise-like.

Side Effects: Still Sleepy with a capital "S"; short-term memory loss; and vivid dreams.