Safety/Effectiveness of Adding Monthly Dexamethasone to Weekly Avonex for MS

Exclusion Criteria

• •type I of type II diabetes
• •uncontrolled hypertension (systolic \>160 or diastolic \>100 despite medication therapy)
• •history of suicidal ideation
• •history of psychosis
• •history of alcoholism or other substance abuse
• •clinically significant coronary artery disease
• •history of hepatic failure and chronic renal failure
• •history of cancer other than basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin
• •pregnancy or unwillingness to use adequate precautions to prevent pregnancy during the duration of this study
• •nursing mothers
• •history of stroke, dementia, seizure disorder, peripheral neuropathy, Parkinsonism, myasthenia, myelopathy or other primary degenerative disease of the central or peripheral nervous system
• •history of peptic ulcer disease
• •history of intolerance to corticosteroids or allergy to albumin
• •history of osteoporosis
• •history of Lupus, Sjogrens syndrome, Lyme disease or syphilis
• •abnormal laboratory results indicative of significant hepatic, renal, hematopoetic, or coagulation dysfunction
• •the entity of any disease entity, which in the opinion of the investigators would potentially prevent the patient from successfully completing 2 years participation in this trial or confound the observations made during this trial
• •prior use of Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif, mitoxantrone, cyclophosphamide, azothioprine, methotrexate, cladribine, cyclosporin, CellCept, IVIG, natalizumab, anti T-cell or anti B-cell antibodies, plasmapheresis or other systemic immunosuppressant or cancer chemotherapeutic agents
• •unwillingness or inability to comply with all the requirements of the protocol
• •known diagnosis of osteoporosis