CLEVELAND -- The incidence of multiple sclerosis is high in northeast Ohio and the treatments are not easy, all involving getting stuck with needles on a regular basis.

But the Cleveland Clinic is recruiting patients to test the first-ever pill, instead of an injection, and it is showing a lot of promise, reported NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth.

Despite her debilitating disease, Roseanne Schaefer has maintained her independence and gets around pretty well.

She keeps her sense of humor about living with MS, a chronic inflammatory disease of the nervous system.

"I just hope for the best. Throw my legs out of the bed and tell 'em, 'Work with me, please,'" Schaefer said.

Schaefer was diagnosed 19 years ago when she was 30. She fit the typical profile of the MS patient: female, between the ages of 20 and 40, living far from the Equator and having one of the typical symptoms.

"I was tripping over my left leg. I kept tripping over it and then I went to see the doctor," she said.

Schaefer ended up at the Clinic's Mellen Center, where 10,000 patients receive treatment for MS, where many patients wondered when treatment will come in a pill form.

Neurologist Jeffrey Cohen is the lead investigator for the clinical trial taking place at the Mellen Center. Patients are testing out Laquinimod, the first-ever pill treatment for MS.

"The four standard treatments that are available all work, they're all generally safe, but they're all given as injection, which most people dislike," Cohen said.

The clinic is enrolling patients in the phase three study right now, and Schaefer plans to be one of them.

"I could take something that's easier. I'll take anything that is a little bit easier," said Schaefer.

She is just one of millions of people hoping to see a medicine in their lifetime that makes life with MS better than it is now.

As with any clinical trial, there are risks. It's a two-year trial and some patients will not be getting any medicine, they'll be getting a placebo.

But all patients will be closely monitored and all of the care will be free.

If you are interested in learning more about the MS pill, call the Mellen Center, 216-445-5788 or go to www.clevelandclinic.org.