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⚠️ Please read with care: This blog shares personal, sometimes painful experiences. My intention is to support and speak honestly not to harm. I’m not a professional, just someone who understands how hard it can get. If you're struggling, you're not alone please reach out for professional help.
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Disclaimer: This post is my brutally honest opinion on Cladribine and MS treatment. It’s not medical advice talk to your doctor before making any treatment decisions. If you’re easily offended by dark sarcasm, read with caution.
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Multiple sclerosis treatment has always been like picking your poison: you either get relapses and progression eating you alive, or you take drugs that come with their own private horror show. Enter Cladribine (Mavenclad, for the branding fans) originally a cancer drug, now handed out as an MS therapy.
Yes, they literally borrowed chemo and said: “Here, this might help.”
What It’s Supposed to Do
Cladribine targets your lymphocytes specifically memory B and T cells the immune troublemakers that think your nervous system is a snack. By nuking them into submission, it slows down MS attacks. Less immune warfare = fewer relapses, fewer shiny new MRI lesions, less chance you end up in the disability fast lane.
The sales pitch? It’s not a daily grind. You take the pills two short treatment weeks a year, for two years. That’s it. Sounds almost civilised. (Technically, it’s split into two courses per year: Week 1 and Week 5.)
What It Actually Does
Apart from kneecapping your immune system? Here’s the side-effect menu (thanks, Drugs.com):
Hair loss or thinning like chemo-lite for your head.
Fatigue squared as if MS wasn’t already holding a grudge.
Rashes, mouth ulcers, fevers welcome to the MS + chemo carnival.
Heavy Hitters:
Infections: shingles (herpes zoster, ~20–25% of patients), TB, hepatitis reactivation. When your immune system’s on a smoke break, everything wants a party.
Liver damage.
Possible increased risk of cancer trade one disease for a raffle ticket to another.
Other important notes:
Cladribine is strongly contraindicated during pregnancy.
Live vaccines should be completed before starting treatment.
Why People Still Take It
Because untreated MS is still worse. Clinical trials show Cladribine cuts relapses by ~58% and slows disability progression in relapsing MS (RRMS). For some, the two-weeks-a-year convenience outweighs the roulette wheel of side effects.
It’s not pretty. None of this is pretty.
Dark Sarcasm Corner
Doctor: “We’ve got a new MS therapy.” Patient: “Fantastic, does it cure me?” Doctor: “No, but it gives your immune system a two-year hangover (or longer, if you’re unlucky).” Patient: “And side effects?” Doctor: “Think of it as… trading MS for a subscription to What’s That Rash? magazine.”
The Brutal Truth
Cladribine is not a miracle. It’s not even a nice drug. It’s chemo in a capsule that sometimes buys you time and slows down destruction. That’s all.
Every MS treatment is a trade-off. Cladribine just makes it brutally obvious:
“Would you like your MS gnawing through your spine, or would you rather take a drug that leaves the door open for cancer, infections, liver issues, and shingles?”
Pick your monster. That’s the reality.
I write in ink and fury, in breath and broken bone.
Through storm and silence, I survive. That is the crime and the miracle.
⚯̲𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕺𝖇𝖘𝖈𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝕽𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙 was acknowledged. Shard is listening.