I’m 29 and have had 3 lesions soo far and not much disease activity since initial diagnosis (1 year). I haven’t started any DMT yet and after my visit to Mayo Clinic, they advised me to go with Ocrevus, aggressive treatment from the start.
My local neurologist has recommended Tecfidera since my MS is pretty mild from her standpoint and that my insurance MIGHT refuse Ocrevus in my case.
From my understanding, Ocrevus stays in your system for a few months, so if there were any negative or serious side effects, I’d have to wait them out?
Is there a downside to starting with Tec and switching to Ocrevus later in terms of effectiveness?
I don’t know what option to take, any advice?
Hi
I’m sorry that I can’t be of much help but thought I’d just let you know my situation. When I was diagnosed 3 years ago, I was offered a few different dmt. I’ve been taking tec since then with no ‘clinical’ relapses but MRI shows that I have had new lesions so I am now offered ocrevus. It is possible to change drugs as far as I’m aware, but you have to be eligible for the drug at that time I think. So for example- if you’re stable for years they may decide not to offer ocrevus. That’s what I believe to be true but don’t take that as gospel.
whatever you decide -I hope you keep well x
Hi there,
I also haven’t taken either treatment but was offered both and wanted to just add to your thinking on it in case it’s useful. I don’t know your gender as you’ve posted anonymously, but if you are someone who is able and wants to get pregnant anytime soon, neither of these treatments can be taken while you are trying to conceive. Because of that, there’s a window of time they called a ‘washout’ where you’d have to stop taking the medication and let it leave your bloodstream. For techfidera, it’s 3 months, but for ocrevus it’s 12 months. For that reason, I decided not to take either treatment - I hadn’t been planning on kids anytime soon but decided to bring that forward rather than having to go on and come off within two years (which my consultant said was a bad idea as coming off a medication can increase the chance of a relapse)
if you’re not planning kids then ignore the above 
The side effects they told me about were mainly gastric with techfidera (which I’m not keen on as I have IBS so would almost definitely get them badly!) and reduced immune response with Ocrevus (so would get more colds, UTIs etc). If I hadn’t been planning kids, I would have gone with Ocrevus as it’s more effective and wouldn’t mess with my stomach, but it’s obviously a completely personal situation.
good luck x