March 2025
Meditation on Medication
14/03/25 16:30
After well over a year between Walton Centre visits I’ve just had two visits within four weeks. During the last one there was some talk about taking a drug (Aubagio) to replace the Copaxone I’ve been on—in light of a recent relapse. When I took a phone call the other week the talk was about a different drug; Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate). I assume that the addition of a different possibility was after the nurse had spoken to the consultant. The centre sent me a detailed guide to the drug to help my considerations.
There are a quite a few things to consider with the medication (Tecfidera). There are plenty of possible side effects some more common, some quite serious. And the way that the drug works and can impact on people means that there will need to be quarterly blood tests in order to identify potentially significant issues. The more common ones (c.1 in 10) are gastric ones, flushing, and hair loss is listed too. The more significant ones include PML (the mighty mouthful of ‘progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy), which is where the blood tests come in. It’s handy living near to the Walton Centre as I should just be able to pop in there every 3 months and get the samples taken without messing about with booking appointments (often a more painful experience than the actual needle in the arm).
Interestingly they know that the drug works but they don’t understand completely why. Like Viagra the drug was actually designed for something else (psoriasis) and subsequently found to be useful in the treatment of MS.
Anyways all the side effects are possibilities not guaranteed effects, in any case maybe I’d look good red faced and bald. The main thing is the drug will likely do a better job than Copaxone and—importantly—actually treat the MS to some extent, and not just reduce the risk of a relapse, so I’ve decided to go for it. It’s a no brainer really.
First up was some blood sampling—taken today whilst there—to see if my body is up to it and also to set a baseline. There may be an MRI (but probably not).
It’ll probably be a month or so until I get on it. First the bloods results, then various toing and froing between people for approving and issuing the prescription then getting it ordered (the same home delivery company a those that deliver the Copaxone). The first few months on the drug may be interesting, but even if there are some negative impacts hopefully things would settle down after that. Fingers crossed for everything.
There are a quite a few things to consider with the medication (Tecfidera). There are plenty of possible side effects some more common, some quite serious. And the way that the drug works and can impact on people means that there will need to be quarterly blood tests in order to identify potentially significant issues. The more common ones (c.1 in 10) are gastric ones, flushing, and hair loss is listed too. The more significant ones include PML (the mighty mouthful of ‘progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy), which is where the blood tests come in. It’s handy living near to the Walton Centre as I should just be able to pop in there every 3 months and get the samples taken without messing about with booking appointments (often a more painful experience than the actual needle in the arm).
Interestingly they know that the drug works but they don’t understand completely why. Like Viagra the drug was actually designed for something else (psoriasis) and subsequently found to be useful in the treatment of MS.
Anyways all the side effects are possibilities not guaranteed effects, in any case maybe I’d look good red faced and bald. The main thing is the drug will likely do a better job than Copaxone and—importantly—actually treat the MS to some extent, and not just reduce the risk of a relapse, so I’ve decided to go for it. It’s a no brainer really.
First up was some blood sampling—taken today whilst there—to see if my body is up to it and also to set a baseline. There may be an MRI (but probably not).
It’ll probably be a month or so until I get on it. First the bloods results, then various toing and froing between people for approving and issuing the prescription then getting it ordered (the same home delivery company a those that deliver the Copaxone). The first few months on the drug may be interesting, but even if there are some negative impacts hopefully things would settle down after that. Fingers crossed for everything.
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