Jennifer van Amerom, an NMO patient advocate, discusses changing treatments, setting realistic expectations, and working closely with her neurologist to find the approach that best supports her quality of life. Read her column, “The Beginners Guide to Walking.”
Transcript
I had a really rough year last year, and I changed my treatment plan three times, and every single time I did, I was really fortunate that I had really honest and transparent conversations with my neurologist around what might happen or what might not happen, and the efficacy of each one of those treatments.
So something that we started to think about was comparing how they did in their trials and what my expectation might be of those treatments. So when we switched over to them and they didn’t work out, at least I was mentally prepared for that — that there was a possibility.
And then we had to have the dialogue again around, “Am I willing to try a different one, or do we want to just stay on this one and add something in addition to it?”
So it’s really just a matter of finding the right cocktail that works for you and your body to give you the best quality of life.
