Hello, everyone! I've been away for a long while with no really good excuse, other than that I had not the health insurance necessary to pursue more than the slightest, barest healthcare for my diagnosed MS. Therefore, no DMD, no MRI's to chart progress, etc. That has all changed in the past six months and now I've gone through one neurologist after another, each pretending to know a lot about MS that they don't. AND I have some specific questions, and perhaps info., for the on-line community if anyone out there is willing to respond. First, one neurologist, who billed herself as the MS Treatment Center in my area, prescribed Aubaugio 14 mg. to treat my RRMS. I had not yet had the TB test or the liver enzyme test to qualify me for the Aubaugio and had to deny delivery for 3 straight weeks before I could be sure it was OK to take it, and THEN she was upset because she said she didn't have the results of the tests in her file (she did!). Changed her to another neurologist on the 6th day of Aubaugio. Always had pain for past 5 years since dx, ESPECIALLY A BURNING PAIN IN MY BUTTOCKS AND TAILBONE AREA THAT SPREADS UP MY BACK INSTANTLY WHEN I WAKE TO CONSUME MY NECK, EARS AND FACE WITH FLAMES THAT MAKE ME SQUENCH MY EYES SHUT AGAINST THE PAIN (QUESTION 1: ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS TYPE OF PAIN?) but seemed the Aubaugio was magnifying the pain. New neurologist said Aubaugio could not amplify pain and that she felt I was in a flare. Scheduled me in for an updated MRI of brain/cervical spine. Meanwhile, the pain continued to intensify. Saw my pain management "professional", who blew me off. He and one of the surgeons at the local back institute had given me four sets of invasive injections into my tailbone region and lower back where I had a slightly bulging disc over the past 6 months. None of the injections helped and the back surgeon finally said, "It must be MS". I was the first MS patient he'd ever treated, so he did what he could, but was good enough to admit it was beyond his ability to help. Not the pain mgmt. guy. I realized, and the back surgeon concurred with my opinion, that the pain mgmt guy, whose office was housed with the back institute's offices, believed that one could not have pain unless that pain were in the back. Dumped him and sought a new pain mgmt dr. By that time, I was 5 weeks into the Aubaugio and becoming insane with pain, but it takes a while to get accepted by a new pain mgmt person. Then I broke out in what I thought were compression blisters on my buttocks and the tip of my tailbone. The eruption was acutely painful, adding to the burning pain I'd already felt in my rear. I could not sleep most nights and if I did, I'd wake 3 hours later, sobbing, fire and shocks at my tailbone and across my rear, flames rushing to my face. The new neuro said the Aubaugio had been prescribed at too high a dose, that I should have been started on 7 mg., allowed my body to adjust, and then moved to 14 mg., and that's what had triggered the flare. If she took me off the Aubaugio or lowered the dose, she said, I might have a fresh flare. The despair I felt that day, almost 5 weeks ago! As to the breakout on my tail-end, no one even bothered to investigate when I described it. After the MRI, I saw the neuro again last week. She reversed everything she'd previously said, told me that the Aubaugio had elevated my pain, but I wasn't in a flare. She was actually angry with ME and told me that my white matter lesion load on my brain and c-spine should make me have memory loss (yes, definitely) and numbness and tingling (paraesthesis), but not pain. She finally looked at the one remaining blister on my butt and coldly dismissed me with: "You have the shingles!!" It didn't matter that I'd experienced burning there for 5 years, intensified by what I now know is shingles. I told her I'd experienced a similar, very itchy rash on my right shoulder and back several times over the past 5 years. She said she could see no evidence of shingles' scarring on my back. I left stunned, knowing she believed I'd lied about my pain. The same day, I saw the new pain mgmt. pro for the 1st time. He identified the shingles scarring on my back. He told me that: (a) I am in a flare!!!; (b) that the Aubaugio triggered the flare at the high dose; (c) that the flare had triggered the shingles, which on this occasion had decided to crop up on my buttocks; and (d) that the injections to my lower back and tailbone had not relieved my pain because they had been given into the back of my spine instead of into the front of my spine. He said I would likely experience shingles every single time I flare from now on and it should be a symptom of a flare for me. QUESTION 2: HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED SHINGLES AS A SYMPTOM OF A FLARE? He disagreed that the physiological evidence (i.e., the MRI) should be the final authority to conclude whether I was flaring or not, and he believes I am in the pain I'm in. He plans to do invasive injections into the front side of my spine, into the spinal cord, to see if that helps the pain, and if not, he wants to implant a device that will help relieve the neurological pain. He also wants to implant a device that will help with my rhythmic muscle spasms, followed by sharp shocks, in my legs bilaterally. That device works on muscles and though it has been approved for use by the FDA, it has not yet been released for use, but will be in the next 3-to-6 months. He is more than willing to talk to my neuro and expressed the desire to become a part of my "comprehensive care team"!! (Hooray!!) QUESTION 3: HAS AUBAUGIO TRIGGERED A FLARE IN ANYONE ELSE? I LOVE IT THAT THERE ARE NO INJECTIONS AND IT IS IN PILL FORM, BUT IT DROVE MY BLOOD PRESSURE THROUGH THE ROOF WHEN BEFORE, MY BP HAD BEEN LOW-TO-NORMAL WITHOUT CORRECTION. QUESTION 4: THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE HAD THE IMPLANT DEVICES, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IT'S LIKE. HE SAID THAT IN THE PAST, IMPLANTS WEREN'T DESIRABLE BECAUSE THEY DEFEATED MRI'S, BUT NOW THE TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPROVED AND MRI'S CAN BE MANAGED EASILY. THANKS AHEAD OF TIME TO ALL WHO RESPOND TO ANY OF THESE 4 QUESTIONS. I'M ANGRY WITH THE NEURO AND WANT TO KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO HER WHEN I SEE HER NEXT, BUT I BELIEVE I'LL JUST LET THE PAIN MGMT DR HANDLE HER. WHAT MAKES ME ANGRIEST IS THAT AFTER 10 WEEKS OF AUBAUGIO, THANKS TO THE SHINGLES AND A COMBINED FLARE, I'M STILL IN ACUTE MISERY AND SUFFERING.