First Week of Tecfidera

One week ago today I started Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate).  When I was diagnosed, I never thought the day would come when I would be able to take a pill to treat my MS! After 9 years of injecting myself every other day, today is a miraculous day.  It is so wonderful to be taking a pill rather than shots!  I would much rather take a pill twice a day than a shot every two days!

I got off of my medication while pregnant, because MS goes dormant during pregnancy.  I breastfed my son for 6 months, so I did not get back on any medication.  We went to my neurologist, and he told me that he did not think that the treatment I had been taking for the past 9 years was working as well as he would like, so he wanted me to choose a different medication.  He suggested 4 options:

1) Tysabri - a monthly infusion, but it can cause PML (a deadly brain infection)

2) Aubagio - a pill that would basically require me to have my tubes tied because it is so bad for fetuses

3) Gilenya - a pill that has been shown to cause heart attacks

4) Tecfidera - a pill that would be coming on the market any day and had no serious side effects!

We looked over the options and immediately went home and started praying and fasting that option 4 would come on the market!  A month and a half later, it did!  Then a few days later, I woke up with sight problems and my legs were almost numb.  So we went through the motions of the IV steroid infusions and steroid pills and an MRI.  And those symptoms are improving almost daily, slowly but surely.  We signed the forms to start the new drug, Tecfidera, and the doctor warned us that all the patients he prescribed it to had to wait at least a month for their insurance to get the drug to them.  We signed the papers, and received the pills a little over a week later!  

For the first week you are on what's called the 'starter dose', which is half the normal dosage.  So today I started the regular dosage.  They say the most common side effects are flushing (redness, itchiness, burning sensation) and GI problems.  I did experienced the flushing.  It was a burning sensation, as though I had a really bad sunburn and my skin turned bright red on my face,neck, and upper arms.  It only happened on 3 of the 7 days, though, about 2 hours after I took the pill in the morning.  And it only lasted for about an hour and then it was gone.

Me during the flushing.  I look like I got sunburned.

 When you get the drug it comes with this pill box so that you don't forget whether you took each dose or not.  I haven't decided whether I want to use it because it is much bigger than the bottle the pills come in and I don't have a ton of extra space in my diaper bag!

The pill box closed

The inside.  A spot for each of the two doses for a week.

And another great thing about it is the manufacturer has made a $10 Copay assistance program!  And I qualified for it!  So we only pay $10 a month for this drug.  AMAZING.  Learn more about it at: http://www.tecfidera.com/tecfidera-ms-support.html#co-pay
 So far, I am liking it.  But like I said, I just started the full dose today, so expect another post in a while to see if the side-effects get worse or not!
 Here is that update.