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lafounk2
01-07-2010, 02:57 AM
My son, Josh is taking Myfortic vs Cellcept for immunosuppressant med. He is currently on dialysis hoping for transplant later this year. Does anyone know why he may have been prescribed Myfortic vs. Cellcept? Has any one ever taken Myfortic? He's having some stomach/nausea/throwing up issues in the morning times and wondered if anyone had these side affects. Help!

Jack
01-07-2010, 03:09 AM
I have had a transplant and used to take Cellcept, but switched to Myfortic because it is slow release and easier on the stomach. I still have lots of digestive tract problems, but have never really discovered the cause other than 25 years of taking toxic drugs.

elephant
01-07-2010, 06:11 AM
I take cellcept and it has not caused stomach problems yet. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that. I also take culturelle for the stomach, which helps keep the digestive system in balance.

Jack
01-07-2010, 06:15 AM
I take Lansoprazole and Loperamide. I could not get by without them.

Sangye
01-07-2010, 09:12 AM
Cellcept gave me diarrhea right after eating anything. That's a common side effect. So common that docs call it "Cellcept diarrhea."

I only got heartburn for about 15 minutes within 1/2 hour of taking it. Otherwise it was fine. Does Josh take his daily dose all at once? I took 1,000 mg in the morning and at night.

elephant
01-07-2010, 12:01 PM
Hey Sangye, when you go back to " Cellcept diarrhea", what are you going to take to counteract that?

Sangye
01-07-2010, 02:03 PM
It really helped me to drink 2 oz of aloe vera gel twice a day. I mixed 2 oz into a glass of water--thoroughly mix it to get rid of lumps. That minimized the diarrhea for the most part. It's best to use the gel, rather than the juice. I had an Ayurvedic practitioner figure this one out for me! Aloe is fine with any drugs-- no interactions, and nothing to interfere with Wegs.

I also just remembered-- if I took Cellcept on an empty stomach I got a lot of stomach pain and heartburn all day. I was fine if I took it with meals.

Jack
01-07-2010, 05:47 PM
I think that is the advantage in Myfortic. The pills are "foil coated, gastro-resistant" which I guess means that they dissolve in your gut rather than stomach.

elephant
01-07-2010, 10:43 PM
Wow, thanks Sangye. My next question, if doctors know that cellcept causes diarrhea, then why give it? Why not write a prescription for myfortic?

lafounk2
01-07-2010, 11:08 PM
Thank you all for your info. Josh is taking 720mg Myfortix 2x day. It seems to be the morning time that's rough for him. Yesterday we tried taking Myfortic with a little glass of water on empty stomach in them morning and Josh did well (THANK GOD!). We'll see what today brings. Yeah, it seems that most people are taking Cellcept and I wondered why Josh wasn't taking that one instead of Myfortic. Maybe because he has kidney failure??

Jack
01-07-2010, 11:50 PM
720 mg is the standard dose, but if he is doing well it might be worth asking about reducing it. I only take half that amount and I'm still fine.
I think Myfortic is slightly more expensive which might explain why most people are on Cellcept.

lafounk2
01-07-2010, 11:54 PM
That makes sense. Thank you so much for your info. Josh blew a lot of stuff out of his nose yesterday. Thankfully it wasn't the same looking stuff (dark/crusty/bloody) that we saw on diagnosis when WG was active, but more like cold (green). Do you think it's safe to say that green is normal?

Don't mean to sound gross, but I'm very in tune with looks/symptoms/etc..

Jack
01-08-2010, 12:07 AM
I tend to treat green as a bad sign when it is stuff I cough up so it would be worth considering if he has an infection. I used to get lots of random infections before I started to take antibiotics on a regular basis (co-trimoxazole every day). I still have to switch to alternatives every now and then when I find a bug that is resistant.

Don't worry about sounding gross. You can discuss anything on here! :)

elephant
01-08-2010, 12:37 AM
Usually if someone is coughing and blowing green out that is a sign of infection. You want to get it checked out soon. I am on Bactrim every other day.

Sangye
01-09-2010, 04:18 AM
I asked my JH doc about Cellcept vs Myfortic once. He said they're basically the same thing. I don't remember why Cellcept is typically prescribed. I don't think it's less expensive, though. A month's supply of brand name Cellcept costs $900 for 2,000 mg/day.

elephant
01-09-2010, 06:28 AM
I get the generic Cellcept. I use to take the brand name, but once cellcept went generic, I had to take the generic Cellcept for insurance reasons.

Sangye
01-09-2010, 06:31 AM
How much does it cost? I heard it's still obscene.

elephant
01-09-2010, 06:39 AM
I don't know. I get my medicines through Medco, three month supply. I will have to check that out. Back in 1989 I had my kidney transplant and I did not have a job. I was on Medicaid and they did not pay for my medicine ( cyclosporine) so the hospital had a stash and supplied me for a whole year. Finally I was able to get it some how, can't remember. Anyways it was about 1,500 dollars a month.

Sangye
01-09-2010, 10:19 AM
I've been on some costly meds.
Lovenox (heparin) injections-- $4,000 - 7,000 per month for 2.5 yrs
Cellcept-- $900 per month for 2.5 yrs
Ritux-- don't know exactly, but have heard it runs $40,000 per infusion. I had 4 last October.

Crazy, huh?

elephant
01-09-2010, 12:26 PM
Wow! No wonder insurance doesn't want to hand it( Ritux) out like candy. Thanks goodness you have insurance, even though it is probably costing you dearly.