Zumab

[kaypeeoh]

I just watched a show about cancer treatment. I didn't catch the doctor's name. But he's one of the first to use immunology to treat cancer. He patented a monoclonal antibody. I've seen a lot of drugs recently all ending in umab or zumab. These endings are specific for human or mouse-derived monoclonals. I was treated for MS for two years using natalizumab infusions. AKA Tysabri. I had to devise an acronym to help me remember. I came up with Natalie Merchant performing atop a Zumba, a disc-like vacuum cleaner that moves across the floor on its own. Kind of a tortuous acronym but it stayed in my mind the past two years. I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning.

For years his findings were ignored because they didn't fit the conventional wisdom. Other doctors mentioned there's a kind of tunnel vision that keeps researches from looking outside the box. I'm hoping there are 'out of the box' researchers working on PD and maybe prostate cancer since that's in my future.

[GrandmaBug]

How did you respond to the treatment for your MS or were you misdiagnosed or do you have both MS and PD?

[kaypeeoh in reply to GrandmaBug]

I was diagnosed with MS long before the PD diagnosis. For the MS I took weekly IV infusions of tysabri for two years. My only symptom was phantom odors. The odors came back a day or two before the weekly infusion, That was my cue for the treatments. Eventually the phantom odors failed to recur and I quit the infusions. Then I was diagnosed with APS, a clotting disorder similar to Lupus. And ultimately the PD diagnosis for which I'm still taking meds, namely Rytary.

[GrandmaBug in reply to kaypeeoh]

I'm sorry for all you have had to go through......