Hi
Doing a lot of research into the new oral drugs at the moment as I may be changing to Gilenya. So it seems that (with my very limited understanding!) these new oral medications are “basically” immunosupressent drugs - whereas the betaferons are immunomodulators - still trying to understand what the difference is exactly.
Tecfidera BG 12 (not yet available in UK) sounds the most interesting to me at the moment because of its safety profile and that the side effects, which at first seem to be pretty grim for some people, then seem to subside as time goes on, and it can be well tolerated. The serious side effect of BG 12 are not in the categories reported for Gilenya or Tysbari - although of course some people do really well on these drugs too. Just trying to understand all of this - information is power!
Trying to get my head around the whole immunospressant drug thing - does anyone one know what a low lymphocyte count is in percentage terms?
Apparently in the trials for Tecfidera, patients had a reduced lymphocyte count of between 10%-28% - and this may be the reason it works as it stop the immune cells getting through the blood-brain barrier and into the central nervous system ( I wonder where they go?).
Was very interested to read that some regard MS as a disease of the blood-brain barrier, as in its faulty and lets things through that it shouldn’t, rather than the immune system.
I understand that reduced white blood cell count is caused by things as simple as the common cold and very serious lymphopenia by conditions such as AIDS. Apprently if the condition is induced by medications in most cases it will return to higher levels once the medication is stopped.
The problem is of course that low white blood cell count leaves the body exposed to infections, depending on the severity of the low white blood cell count.
I had a thought - alcohol can suppress the lymphocytes in your blood. I wondered if giving up drinking might help to balance out the reduction in lymphocytes caused by the immunosuppresive drugs - I don’t think I drink enough though for it to have this effect though 
I then started thinking about other things that suppress the immune system - such as stress. So maybe trying to lead a low-stress life and very low alcohol intake could be a way of balancing out the reduced white blood cell count. I’m going to ask my neurologist on my next visit and will report back - it seems to make sense.