Well I received my delivery yesterday and psyched myself up to start this morning…advised to eat well and take tablet half way through a meal SO indulged in bacon, eggs and mushrooms for brekkie to get the good protein and fats going YUM YUM!
Any further Tec starting advice greatly appreciated if anyone has tips to share…
Thanks
Roobs xx
Good luck Roobs - i’ll soon be on it 2 years now - occasional flushing (beetroot head) but everything else seems to have settled down (stomach upsets etc)
Steve
Thanks Steve, it’s been reassuring to hear some good feedback before I started…I took a lot of convincing cos I hate taking any tablets so this for me is a huge thing but 4.5 hrs in…so far so good! 
All the best,
Roobs
Hi Roobs. Hope you’re starting very slowly as per the advice of the Tec expert, Paolo Smythe! I was very glad to have this advice! For me this made the difference between difficult stomach issues at the beginning, as did the Omeprazole that I took every morning at the beginning.
Still getting the flushing though and have been on it about 22 months.
Best of luck.
Louise
Hi Louise,
Yes, slow low dose start for week or two then dose increases from then on so yes a slow but steady start fingers crossed!
Thanks…hoping to keep my brekkie down 
Roobs xx
Just make sure you sandwich the Tecfidera between food, so eat, take 'tec, eat is the general rule. Paolo swears by volume rather than type of food, but he’s an ice hockey player so can probably afford to eat 6 slices of toast for breakfast. Others go for foods with more bulk and / or fat content. So porridge, especially in winter, yoghurt (full fat variety), peanut butter, etc.
For some reason, the breakfast 'tec seems to be the hardest one to squidge between food stuffs. The evening one (or sometimes lunch so long as it’s at least 4 hours apart), I just took halfway through the meal.
Sadly I had to stop the Tecfidera but I did manage to take it without too much in the way of nausea for about 6 months. And I never had a beetroot head. So neither is necessarily going to happen.
Sue
I think I had a month at the lower dose which the neuro was OK about. Then sandwiching it in the middle of a meal but I never had high fat things, just a good amount of food.
Louise
If it pleases the court… i have nine slices of toast for breakfast
3 slices then my (half) aspirin
3 slices then my tecfidera #1
3 slices then my coffee
For new comers to the tecfidera lifestyle, i whole heartedly recommend a course that avoids any and all hardships…
consequently, i would hope all noobies are provided with limitless supply of the 120mg. the daily quantity taken to be increased each week, for as long as everything feels normal.
to assist in maintaining the sense of ‘normal’ paracetamol can cure any stomach cramps, and anti-histamine any flushing / prickling etc.
if things feel abnormal to an intolerable extent, revert back to the dosage amount of the previous week.
the absolutely vital thing to keep in mind: it is better to be taking something, even if only a little in the early days, than nothing at all. that is the cornerstone of this strategy. MS is a bugger, DMDs shouldn’t add to our burden.
although life is clearly a lot easier to take Tec with food (the label no longer states ‘can be taken with or without food’ over here) daily dose #2 is typically at bedtime, whether i am fat bellied (with grub or booze) or not. this can sometimes result in a prickly face about 4 hours later.
once you are happily munching full dose, you can opt for the full strength 240mg capsules. simples!
good luck!
Thanks for that, no probs today…
For info…
I had 1 poached egg 2 rashers bacon few mushrooms the 1 Tec with pint of water
Then 1 more poached egg 2 more bacon and mushrooms followed by another pint of water and half an aspirin!
A protein fuelled breakfast works great for me…I hasten to add I swim 3 times a week and use my cross trainer daily or I might have a bit of a weight issue to add to the mix!
Ta for the info
Roobs xx
Sounds like i need to come to your house for breakfast! (although i am only permitted three eggs per week)
So many new Tecfidera addicts have expressed concern about forcing themselves to eat breakfast or to change the sorts of food they eat to accommodate the prescribed ‘wisdom’.
fact of the matter is that no aspect of your diet or eating habits needs to be amended; the only ‘law’ - no two doses within four hours of each other. couldn’t be easier i reckon.
Love breakfast…best meal of the day…omelette also good BUT might bust your egg quota for the week…
Had a personal trainer for quite a while, bit of a dietary specialist too…he didn’t believe in much…def not a spiritual guy BUT he did believe in breakfast so I became a hearty breakfast convert!
Back to the drugs, how long have you taken Tec for and do you feel it has made a real difference to you?
Sorry, many questions it’s still quite a new thing…
how o envy all of you lol.I am starting injections soon and I just hope I don’t have to eat even breakfast.I have had no appetite since last April when I had my biggest relapse ever.its now January and I am still not feeling great .but hey ho tomorrow is another day
You should never apologise for asking questions; the more the merrier. Anyone / everyone is eager to reply, even if only for the collective to test their opinion / theory in order to find a better way!
I have been on Tec for over two years and i cannot say it has done anything for me (that i know of) and that is the point.
if i remain as i currently am, then with hindsight, i will be grateful for the relapse and disability reducing drugs i have invested myself in!
Hi Roobs,
I have been psyching myself up for some time now. Was due to start 2nd week Jan but hold up due to Xmas back log. Have to wait two weeks for rebif to flush out so D day is 2nd Feb. I do so hope all works out well for us. I have all my side effects medication to hand. Was reluctant to stop Rebif but my site reactions are getting bad and I am running out of places to inject.
Always open to advice from other users.
Thanks.
Thanks everyone for your advice/thoughts…2 days down…no effects so far…
As Paolo said, if this is the case and I remain as I am now, I will be mighty grateful as I feel that I am one of the luckier ones from reading this forum since last June.
long may it continue,
All the best,
Roobs xx
Well I’m in the forum.I’m so glad to have finally found people that are like me.every one seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet here.lol having read the post regarding vitamins I was just wondering where I stand .please don’t judge me but I don’t eat any veg at all do you think that I would have any benefit from vitamin c d and b12’i know it’s terrible at my age.reason I’m asking is I am due to start injections in the next couple of weeks.
Vitamin D is very useful for people MS.
B12 is also beneficial for nerve health, but it has to be the ‘dissolve under tongue’ variety.
Fresh fruit and veg and ZERO processed foods nor saturated fats are also recommendable.
I do not believe anyone in here will judge you for eating an unbalanced and crappy diet
Ultimately, it is only you who will suffer the poor consequences of such a regime.
All the best.
Just to be nosey, cos I am…
When was your last relapse/what’s your recent MS history and how old are you???
I am just comparing different cases, sometimes ‘head cases’, see where I fit in this bigger MS master plan…
Ruth
None of that matters.
MS is different for us all; you will soon find there is nothing to be gained with regard to what you might expect, from considering what others have gone through.
I maintain that the worst aspect of MS, is also the only thing that is universal: the uncertainty of it all. For this, there is no comfort other than the hope that a cure is one day found and that until then, the DMDs we are provided will slow our progression into disability.
Keep popping the pills and crossing the fingers.
Day 15
All is well…no side effects…touch wood!
Eating and exercising well with it too…I would definitely settle for remaining like this.
Quite tired but hubby went to USA for 9 days to work…thought that would make me crumble BUT still soldiering on quite nicely…
Hope if anyone else has started DMD’s in the new year that it is being as good as they hoped?
Roobs x