Can someone explain to me how this works… so the MS society / MS trust / neurologists have listed which DMDs should be ‘safe’ if you get covid ( so not cause severe disease solely based on the DMD ) and which drugs have the potential to make you get severe covid. I believe Tecfidera is on the list of drugs that should not affect you in case you get covid- as in, you shouldn’t get worse covid due to Tecfidera… I reluctantly started taking Tecfidera last week. My Neuro told me I really should not worry about the medication causing me to have severe covid in case I catch it. How do they know this ?? I checked the leaflet today and it specifically states that you’re more prone to infections and it even mentions pneumonia. I’ve put off starting Tecfidera for three months because I was worried about this.
How can the neurologists and the MS society / MS trust say it doesn’t cause severe covid- when Biogen actually says you’re more prone to infections because of low white blood cells ?
Can anyone help me out here because I’m considering stopping again. I don’t want to die of covid. Sorry for being a bit hysterical. Covid really scares me and I have bad health anxiety.
Hi Carole, thank you. I have setraline in my cupboard but I just haven’t taken it. Maybe I’ll start one day and things will change, I just need to work up the courage. I had my last blood test in August and they said it’s fine for me to just start now, which also makes me nervous- as I’ve had tonsillitis recently and I’m not sure if that would mean your white blood cells are down etc. I think I would have felt better if I had had a blood test before starting. They say you need to do blood tests every three months while on it.
I’m on dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera), the beta-interferons (Avonex, Betaferon, Extavia, Plegridy, Rebif), teriflunomide (Aubagio), glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) and natalizumab (Tysabri) – when should I get the vaccine?
Prof Schmierer: “You can get the vaccine at any time if you are on one of these. Also we have no evidence suggesting these DMT’s will reduce the efficacy of the vaccine.”
Hi Emily, try not to fret. I’ve been on Tec over 2 years my lympho count was taken every 3 months and is always strong. Since the pandemic it has been extended to blood test every 6 months in accordance with ABN guidance, Im still returning a healthy count. It may be that this info is there to advise that if your count is low, you may be more prone to infections, not that you will have a low white blood cell count by taking the meds.