Hi there!

On July I will begin with immunotherapy, and my neuro has proposed me to choose between Plegridy (injections) vs Tecfidera (oral).

I think I will try Plegridy first, as she told me it is only once every 14 days. She also told me that Tecfidera can cause some serious problems, but rarely. I want to know if this initial proposal is correct, and some feedback, would be appreciated!

I haven't tried either of these drugs but Tecfidera is less likely to cause liver damage according to these studies:

Plegridy is one of the interferons, and so this information applies to it--from a study done at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases a couple of years back:

Beta Interferon - LiverTox - NCBI Bookshelf

The same overview found that Tecfidera has involved less liver damage--specifically:

Dimethyl Fumarate - LiverTox - NCBI Bookshelf

However, there have been a few PML cases in patients taking Tecfidera. I'm sorry I don't have any information on Plegridy and PML.

You might want to weigh the risks of one drug against the risks of the other.

Thank you agate for the quick answer and for the info, It seems that you are the guardian of the ms forum now, doing a great job.

Thank you!

As a long-time cyberfriend of Sally C, who was a major player here until she left this world, I feel badly about seeing this MS board start to fade.

I don't mean to be a guardian of this place. I'm just filling in, in the hope that others will come along and help as well.

I just wanted to say that finally discussing with my neuro we decided to take tecfidera, it seems that is a little more effective than plegridy.
So I will begin the treatment in a week or two.

This is a little dead, we multiple sclerotics either need to revive this place or move to a more lively forum!, mstrust or something.

greetings

Other boards often seem to be even more dead, believe it or not. It's as if the multiple sclerotics have spread themselves too thin--too many MS boards out there to choose from, and the result is that most of them are suffering from a lack of participation.

People have discovered Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites and found them more amusing, I guess.

It's hard to carry on much of a discussion on those sites, IMO.

When Sally was here, she was dependably here. She--and others as well--built this place up but after some people drifted away and Sally died, it has been limping along.

I'm glad a few people are still dropping in to participate.

I just began with Tecfidera last Tuesday. I took it at 21 PM and 3 hours later at 0 AM I had the flushing, great heat and itching that lasted for an hour. Then yesterday I took an aspirin half an hour before tecfidera and...tadaaa, no flushing. I didn't take the aspirin today and no flushing too.

My schedule is:
- 1st week = 120 mg at night
- 2nd week = 120 mg in the morning, 120 mg at night
- 3rd week = 120 mg in the morning, 240 mg at night
- 4th week = 240 mg in the morning, 240 mg in the night

That's all! Greetings!

Congratulations on solving that problem!

From my experience with MS drugs--3 years on Avonex, 3 years on Copaxone--I have the impression that it pays to keep tinkering with the schedule and with how you deal with the side effects. If one thing doesn't work, you move on to another way and keep on doing that until you have a system you can get along with.

With both Copaxone and Avonex, the tendency to have bad side effects was especially noticeable at first but after a few doses things got better. Maybe that's what's going on with you and Tecfidera.

It's great to hear from you agate.

Yes, at the beginning, I preferred Plegridy as it was 1 injection each 14 days, but the neuro said that Plegridy, in reality, is just the same as Avonex, and if Plegridy had an effectivity of 30% Tecfidera is on 50%, so she recommended to begin with tec first.

Plegridy is also interferon beta-1a, like Avonex, but it's pegylated. They've done some tinkering with the molecules:

PEGylation - Wikipedia

Reducing the dosage frequency would make life easier. I recall doing an Avonex shot once a week and would have been glad if it had been less often.