Can I quit cold turkey?

[Roamerwithroots]

I've had my blood drawn twice in two weeks, and both times it came back with a low WBC count. My neuro has emailed me that I need to quit Tec, and that he will have his scheduler call me to make an appointment to discuss what is next. He didn't tell me if I'm supposed to quit today or wait until I see him.

Can I quit cold turkey? Can I alternate doses? Does anyone have any info on whether that is effective or not? At the moment, I'm not interested in any other DMD. I'm considering waiting a year and making another decision after another MRI before starting a different med.

I guess I'm looking for some advice from other people who have gone through something similar. My WBC was 2.8.

Thanks.

[J-Bo]

Hi, Roamer

My last WCB was 2.4. My doctor keeps knocking the frequency down so that now I'm taking one 240 mg every other day. This seems so ridiculous to me that I have a hard time taking it seriously. I've frequently forgotten to take it at this point. So I went from 240 x 2 a day to 240 x 1 a day to 240 every other day, and didn't notice any difference at all in how I felt. Don't know if that helps as I think you're asking about stopping all at once, but I've never heard that there's anything wrong with doing that with this drug.

[Roamerwithroots]

Thanks J-Bo.

My doc emailed me last night and said that he doesn't want me to alternate doses, and that I should just stop ASAP. I guess that means there are no side effects. It's interesting that there is nothing on the Tec website about what happens when you stop.

I wonder why some docs think alternating doses is okay and others do not.

I'm feeling kind of weird at the moment. I was dx'd a year ago, and Tec was my first med, which I started in January 2014. My only flare was a year ago (optic neuritis) and my MRIs last month showed no progress (even a reduction on my c-spine). I'm going to wait and see for now, as I'm not interested in pursuing any other med at this point. Everyone is different...I'm just going to keep the faith for now that I'll be well.

[pballer76]

Low WBC

When I was on Tecfidera my WBC got as low as 3.1.
My neuro had me stop the Tec and referred me to a ms specialist.
The ms specialist wasn't to concerned with the 3.1 as my lymphocytes were normal. He said the lymphocytes and neutrophils were more important than the WBC.