(Wed-09-04-2014, 21:05 PM)Caroline Wrote: Hi Bill,

Well luckily it is not that bad. I normally take my medication so all goes well. The only thing that is hard that is that I realize that I cannot do without, that sometimes makes me sad.

On the other side I am quite healthy and fit. If I scratch myself at something or whatever, that heals always very quickly.
I never have something like you describe as "fatigue", I can always continue. Or if I am a bit tired, power up myself and go again. But.. I can get quite sleepy, I really need my sleep.

btw. good for you that most of your fatigue is now gone ! An interesting side effect of DMF?

Cheers,
Caroline

Fatigue is something I have not experienced it's the opposite for me. I sleep little and enjoy an active life without tiredness, I have always been hyperactive and rarely rest to the annoyance of family. Fumaderm has not changed that unfortunately

(Wed-09-04-2014, 21:15 PM)jiml Wrote:

(Wed-09-04-2014, 21:05 PM)Caroline Wrote: Hi Bill,

Well luckily it is not that bad. I normally take my medication so all goes well. The only thing that is hard that is that I realize that I cannot do without, that sometimes makes me sad.

On the other side I am quite healthy and fit. If I scratch myself at something or whatever, that heals always very quickly.
I never have something like you describe as "fatigue", I can always continue. Or if I am a bit tired, power up myself and go again. But.. I can get quite sleepy, I really need my sleep.

btw. good for you that most of your fatigue is now gone ! An interesting side effect of DMF?

Cheers,
Caroline

Fatigue is something I have not experienced it's the opposite for me. I sleep little and enjoy an active life without tiredness, I have always been hyperactive and rarely rest to the annoyance of family. Fumaderm has not changed that unfortunately

The effect of DMF is that your body temperature will be raised a little bit. So it may be explainable that energy is sufficiently available, as your burn rate of food must be a little higher because of this raise.

11April 2014

Just been to hospital had long chat with the dermatologist, she assured me my low blood count had nothing to do with my radiotherapy treatment, as the area treated was unlikely to have an effect on my bloods it was decided to reduce my my tablets to 2x 120mg tablets in morning and one 120 mg tablet in the evening. Cutting the dose by 25%
With my lymphocytes being just 0.76 this month a drop from 0.85 last month. She was fearful of it falling to critical levels, [normal is between 1 and 3]
So we will run with the reduced level for a month monitoring my blood after a couple of weeks to see what's happening, hopefully they will begin to rise again, and my psoriasis won't flare up

Good luck than Jim.
As far as I know critical levels are at 0.2, so you have kind of a buffer.

Caroline

(Sat-12-04-2014, 07:20 AM)Caroline Wrote: Good luck than Jim.
As far as I know critical levels are at 0.2, so you have kind of a buffer.

Caroline

Thanks Caroline I'm sure it's a temporary blip and will be ok
If the levels come up on the reduced dose and the psoriasis stays away, I guess that's a good result

(Fri-11-04-2014, 22:18 PM)jiml Wrote:

11April 2014

Just been to hospital had long chat with the dermatologist, she assured me my low blood count had nothing to do with my radiotherapy treatment, as the area treated was unlikely to have an effect on my bloods it was decided to reduce my my tablets to 2x 120mg tablets in morning and one 120 mg tablet in the evening. Cutting the dose by 25%
With my lymphocytes being just 0.76 this month a drop from 0.85 last month. She was fearful of it falling to critical levels, [normal is between 1 and 3]
So we will run with the reduced level for a month monitoring my blood after a couple of weeks to see what's happening, hopefully they will begin to rise again, and my psoriasis won't flare up

Obviously your dermatologist knows more, but I have just read that chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and some types of cancers among other things can cause it. But like they said it's probably not the reason due to the area treated, though reading that it could be.

As for reducing your dose of Fumaderm, that can only be a good thing as in the end the less you take of anything the better. Yes you may get a slight flare-up, but that could be down to you thinking it will get worse. Your Psoriasis score is at 2 at the moment which is probably the lowest of any member here, and even if it went up to say 6 as mine is at the moment it wouldn't be that bad as I also have PsA. So a little bit more psoriasis to me far out ways more pills, but whatever thanks for updating Jim and don't think to much about a flare-up just go with the flow and see what happens. They are keeping a good eye on you.

Well, at least MTX, which is also uses as a chemotherapy, is known to reduce the lympho's also.
I can imagine, more heavy chemicals will do that.

Thanks Fred and Caroline
I am staying positive and won't let the reduction of Fumaderm worry me . I am fairly happy with the reduction and if it has no effect , you are right the less tablets the better

Yes, hope the reduction works Jim. I have been trying topicals (tar based) as well as DMF and together they seem to be eliminating the last of my plaques, though it will be a few weeks yet before I can be sure. Like Fred and Caroline, I get no thrills from my medication, although its efficacy has exceeded my expectations. As far as cell counts go, did your dermatologist suggest a critical value?

Cheers,

Bill

(Sat-12-04-2014, 22:48 PM)Bill Wrote: Yes, hope the reduction works Jim. I have been trying topicals (tar based) as well as DMF and together they seem to be eliminating the last of my plaques, though it will be a few weeks yet before I can be sure. Like Fred and Caroline, I get no thrills from my medication, although its efficacy has exceeded my expectations. As far as cell counts go, did your dermatologist suggest a critical value?

Cheers,

Bill

Thanks for the reply Bill. At the moment I am not using anything apart from Fumaderm and I am hopeful that the psoriasis will stay away, and the count will come back up.
The dermatologist said she would take me off complexly if my lymphocytes went under 0.5
Which I had to agree I would rather have the psoriasis back than the alternative (whatever that is)
I like you am amazed at how good DMF has been at clearing my skin I now don't even have discoloured marks where the scaling used to be. I would say that my skin is clearer now than it has ever been before in my adult life
Jim