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Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:12 am
by Kiwigirl
Hi. I was dx in April this year and started Tecfidera three weeks ago. Since then my side effects have been minimal unless I don't eat enough then feel hideous. My major complaint is that I'm putting on weight. I have maintained my weight last three years eating the way I eat now so this is very frustrating. I'm also on Epilim for epilepsy. I'm wondering if anyone out there has experienced the two drugs in combination? I'm seriously considering going off the epilepsy med as I've never tried (seizure free 15 years) and it's notorious for weight gain. I've noticed I get the shakes if dont eat regularly and I know Epilim mucks around with insulin. I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy, most recent bloods came back fine. I have been on Epilim for 20 years. I really can't afford to put weight on as was overweight (but ok with) to begin with. Was so not expecting weight gain as a side effect. Please help!

Re: Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:51 pm
by lyndacarol
Kiwigirl wrote: I was dx in April this year and started Tecfidera three weeks ago. Since then my side effects have been minimal unless I don't eat enough then feel hideous. My major complaint is that I'm putting on weight. I have maintained my weight last three years eating the way I eat now so this is very frustrating. I'm also on Epilim for epilepsy. I'm wondering if anyone out there has experienced the two drugs in combination? I'm seriously considering going off the epilepsy med as I've never tried (seizure free 15 years) and it's notorious for weight gain. I've noticed I get the shakes if dont eat regularly and I know Epilim mucks around with insulin. I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy, most recent bloods came back fine. I have been on Epilim for 20 years. I really can't afford to put weight on as was overweight (but ok with) to begin with. Was so not expecting weight gain as a side effect. Please help!
Welcome to ThisIsMS, Kiwigirl.

I have never used Tecfidera and am not qualified to comment on it.

I have no medical background; I am not knowledgeable about Epilim either, but I understand, from your description, it to be an antiseizure medication.

Michael Holick – Panel Discussion – An Update on Vitamin D Bioavailability, Health Benefits and
… (2 hrs)
with Carol L. Wagner, M.D. (Medical University of SC) and Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH (Harvard University)


@1:35:57 (Holick) "If you are obese, if you are on antiseizure medication, or on glucocorticoids, you're going to need more vitamin D because glucocorticoids and antiseizure medication increase the catabolism [destructive metabolism] of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Body fat actually sequesters vitamin D."


On page 236 of Holick's book, The Vitamin D Solution: "Antiseizure medications. Drugs used to treat epilepsy ultimately destroy 25-vitamin D, making patients who are on antiseizure medications at higher risk for developing vitamin D deficiency…"

In my opinion, you need to have your vitamin D level measured (Ask your GP for the "25-hydroxy D" blood test AND request your own copy of the test results.) since you take a drug known to interfere with vitamin D metabolism.

Vitamin D deficiency can result in MS-like symptoms.

Re: Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 2:03 pm
by Kiwigirl
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I haven't heard of that connection before. I'm actually taking Vit D on the off chance it helps with MS. The once a month dose from my GP.

Re: Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:14 pm
by lyndacarol
Kiwigirl wrote:I'm actually taking Vit D on the off chance it helps with MS. The once a month dose from my GP.
Dr. Cicero Galli Coimbra in São Paulo, Brazil, believes that high-dose vitamin D definitely helps with MS! He has helped over 4000 people who have been diagnosed with MS.

Here at ThisIsMS there is a subforum devoted to "Coimbra High-Dose Vitamin D Protocol": http://www.thisisms.com/forum/coimbra-h ... tocol-f57/

As for monthly dosing… Vitamin D expert, Dr. Bruce Hollis, has a different approach:

Dr. Bruce Hollis – Vitamin D Dosing Interval (39 min.):


Sharon McDonnell, epidemiologist at GrassrootsHealth, introduces Bruce W. Hollis, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina, who speaks on the importance of daily vitamin D dosing and why our bodies need to maintain a steady amount of D3 to reduce the risk of many diseases like cancer.

@0:52 Hollis: I've personally thought about this for a long time, being involved in vitamin D biochemistry and clinical trials, and in reading the literature of how all this fits together.
@3:49 Slide explains pathway for Vitamin D and Tissue Homeostasis


@16:37 You can get away with weekly doses, monthly doses, and even quarterly doses, if you are looking at skeletal problems. But if you're looking at other problems, such as cancer suppression, immune function, we feel that these doses… Weekly dose, you know, you might get away with it, but in these other doses absolutely not – monthly doses, quarterly doses, yearly dose. If you really want to have physiologic equivalence for all these studies, you would want to do a daily dose.


This would be a good topic for discussion with your GP.

Re: Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:22 pm
by Kiwigirl
Definitely need to discuss! Thank you so much.

Re: Hi from NZ. Anyone on Tecfidera and Epilim/Depakote?????

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:50 pm
by Kiwigirl
Just watched clip. Daily it is. Gosh such a simple thing! Skeletal versus cellular if I understand correctly? Thanks again