Dr McCandless sent me this from 1 of her readers on Gilenya/LDN 2 post here

April 18, 2011

NOTE...THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME. I AM JUST POSTING THIS FOR DR.

McCANDLESS....I DON'T KNOW WHO THE PERSON WAS INQUIRING ABOUT THESE 2

MEDS....BREN

Question asked of Dr. McCandless by one of her forum readers.

Dr. JM ; I am scheduled to start " Gilenya " in two weeks. I am assuming L.D.N.

cannot be taken in combining like Copaxone, so I need to know if there is a

certain amount of time I have to be off.Health care is going to cover it, people

have been excited for this drug but it's so expensive, that outta pocket, is

about 5K a month. Fortunately, I am covered completely.So I feel I should try.

Let me know your thoughts on the subject. NO NAME TO PROTECT PRIVACY.

Jaquelyn McCandless

From: JAQUELYN MCCANDLESS

Sent: Fri 4/15/11 1:04 PM

xxxxxxxx

I had never heard of Gilenya, and though apparently it is not known exactly how

it works, the following from the literature about it is interesting: " As shown

in animal models, Gilenya stops many of the white blood cells (lymphocytes) from

leaving the lymph nodes. Exactly how Gilenya works in MS is unknown, but it is

thought that it results in fewer white blood cells entering the CNS to attack

and damage the myelin sheath. If Gilenya treatment is stopped for any reason,

the number of white blood cells circulating in the body increases over the first

few days and gradually returns to normal within 1 to 2 months. " Since LDN is

known to increase certain white cells, particularly the regulatory CD4+ cell, I

would guess the doctors would want you to stop this while taking Gilenya. If I

were you, I would put your query out on the adult LDN list, where many if not

most of the 6000 members do have MS, and see what others are or have experienced

with Gilenya. At the cost, not a lot of people can probably take it unless they

have fabulous insurance.

Dr. J.M.

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