Tecfidera and fasting

Hi guys. I need a little advice. I’ve just come off Rebif as its caused me to gain a stone in weight over the last year and I’m going to go on Tecfidera. I’m hearing everywhere that you have to eat a proper meal when you take the tablets but I’m currently doing the 5:2 diet to try and lose the Rebif weight. Does it have to be a big meal? Would porridge be ok?

hi sam

it takes some fiddling with to find the right meal time regime for you.

i don’t have a good appetite and breakfast has to be forced down.

i vomited after the first few higher dose tablets but that doesnt mean that you will. that is the reason for fiddling with meals.

no reason at all that porridge would not be good.

i found that porridge/tecfidera/slice of toast worked best - trap the tec between 2 lots of food.

if you find the gastric problems and/or the flushing a big problem, you could ask for more than one week on the lower dose.

i haven’t been on this site for almost a year but Paulo Smythe was always around then and he had loads of experience and advice.

good luck sam. this is your chance to kick ms’s butt!

carole xx

whatever happens, it is worth persevering because these days i can take my tec after a piece of bread and butter and i’m fine

p.s.

the flushing looks like you’ve been out in the sun without any SPF

enjoy the glow!

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Yes a full stomach is required if you wish to take Tecfidera as easily as possible (in my opinion and based upon my experience).

I do not know the sort of diet you are on. Frankly i have never adhered to such concepts as temporarily conforming to such and such a regime in the hope of achieving short term goals.

I simply apply the rules of no fried food; nothing over 15% fat; nothing after 8pm (whenever possible) for the entirety of life. Even calorie counting is a dubious practise in my mind and i find it far easier to live by the simple rule of ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, supper like a pauper’.

But with all that said, a bowl of porridge might be enough for you, when taking tecfidera without poor side effects. Ultimately, it is not the quantity total that you eat, but the proportion to which your (own and very personal) stomach is full.

good luck!

If you were to eat half your porridge, take the 'Tec then eat the rest, you should be ok. Then you really need to eat another decently ‘stodgy’ meal with your second dose at what ever time suits you best (not forgetting the two doses must be at least 4 hours apart. I suspect you’d get away with your fasting days for the first week, but double the dose and you could have more gastric problems. One way round it is to request 4 weeks at the lower dose, so your stomach has longer to get used to the Tecfidera, then go up to the full dose on week 5. Many people have found this to be a better way of starting anyway.

I’m not sure you’re going to succeed sticking to the 5:2 diet because of the potential gastric problems at the start at least. But by all means give it a go.

Personally I had been trying to stick to a calorie counting diet when I started Tecfidera, but gave it up as a bad job right at the start. I haven’t put on loads of weight but I definitely put back on what I’d lost over the 3 or 4 months prior.

Good luck with it, let us know if you can make it work.

Sue