HELP!!! First day on Tecfidera. EEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 1:22 am
OMG this stuff is diabolical! I had my first dose this morning of the 120mg capsule and made sure I ate a high protein breakfast of bacon, sausage, fried egg and toast before taking it. I can't take Aspirin though due to another medical condition. Thanks for the diet tips ;)
The nausea kicked in about an hour after taking it but wasn't too bad, just a lot of goldfish gulping and feeling a bit icky.
But then my lips started to tingle and then burn as if I had rubbed raw chilli on them and then my tongue and throat felt itchy. Then my face felt itchy and started burning and bit by bit my whole body from the top of my head to the soles of my feet turned brick red and started feeling REALLY hot. And then the itching started. Blinking WHAT???? It was horrendous Not wanting to exaggerate but I felt as though I firstly had a really bad case of sun burn and then as if I had taken a shower in acid followed up by a quick roll in a nettle patch And the headache! And then I was getting the burning up feeling alternating with racking chills and shivering.
I rang my MS Nurse who said that of the 7 who had started Tecfidera 5 of us were describing the same thing and that this is the 'flush' Biogen are describing. Some flush!
She told me to only take one of the two 120mg tablets a day and to string the one week starting period out over two weeks before going up to full dose and to use antihistamines to ease the itching. I took an antihistamine and the redness and itching slowly eased but I still felt prickly for hours. And I can't shake the headache at all.
I am NOT looking forward to tomorrow when I have to do this again.
Has anyone else had the 'flush' (understatement of the century there, Biogen) to this extent and apart from Aspirin before taking the capsule has anyone any solutions?
If this takes a couple of months to ease off I really don't know that I can stick it....
Thanks for your help,
Brog
The nausea kicked in about an hour after taking it but wasn't too bad, just a lot of goldfish gulping and feeling a bit icky.
But then my lips started to tingle and then burn as if I had rubbed raw chilli on them and then my tongue and throat felt itchy. Then my face felt itchy and started burning and bit by bit my whole body from the top of my head to the soles of my feet turned brick red and started feeling REALLY hot. And then the itching started. Blinking WHAT???? It was horrendous Not wanting to exaggerate but I felt as though I firstly had a really bad case of sun burn and then as if I had taken a shower in acid followed up by a quick roll in a nettle patch And the headache! And then I was getting the burning up feeling alternating with racking chills and shivering.
I rang my MS Nurse who said that of the 7 who had started Tecfidera 5 of us were describing the same thing and that this is the 'flush' Biogen are describing. Some flush!
She told me to only take one of the two 120mg tablets a day and to string the one week starting period out over two weeks before going up to full dose and to use antihistamines to ease the itching. I took an antihistamine and the redness and itching slowly eased but I still felt prickly for hours. And I can't shake the headache at all.
I am NOT looking forward to tomorrow when I have to do this again.
Has anyone else had the 'flush' (understatement of the century there, Biogen) to this extent and apart from Aspirin before taking the capsule has anyone any solutions?
If this takes a couple of months to ease off I really don't know that I can stick it....
Thanks for your help,
Brog