A Question about Maca and Copaxone...

Question:  I am a fan of Beachbody's product Shakeology. I am also a Copaxone user. My issue is that the Shakeology products have the ingredient maca in them. I have used maca in the past but the issue I was running into is that when I would give myself Copaxone injections, I would "bleed out" when I was giving myself the actual injection and I wasn't getting the full amount of Copaxone. In response to this, I had a "mini relapse" and had to go into the hospital for Solumedrol treatment. Is there a way that I can get around this? I really want to take this product but it seems my treatment option is interfering with that. Should I consider Gilenya or another oral treatment instead? Thank you.


Answer:  Thanks for your question regarding Maca. I was not familiar with this plant so I had to do a little research. From what I can tell there is little known about the side effects and no mention of bleeding except for some reports of menstrual spotting. Of course, if this has been a reproducible problem for you, Maca may be the cause.

That said, it seems like an alternative to Copaxone may be in order for either reason; it makes little difference if the severe relapse was caused by copaxone being ineffective in your case or copaxone leaking out after the injection; in either case it was not working as desired. By the way it is far more likely that the relapse occurred because copaxone is only partially effective in your case.

Why not discuss alternatives treatments with your neurologist? Without knowing the details of your case, it is hard to make any specific recommendations.

-Dr. Kinkel

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