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Taking Glevic and weight gain.

Hello everyone my name is Fred; I am an expat American living in Australia.

I was diagnosed with CML almost 3 years ago and have been on Glevic since Jun 04 my CML numbers are good but I have problems now with Potassium and Magnesium being very low (every time I get a bone marrow done they freak out on my Potassium and will not let me out until they can get it back up).

Some days I just do not feel much like taking the 600mg of Glevic due to the side effects that I get which are:
1. About 20 % of the time I feel pretty off and weak for about 2 – 3 hours.
2. Minor upset stomach almost all the time.
3. Having to eat extra to keep the stomach for getting too upset.

It is hard sometimes to even complain about any of these issues as I feel that I should be so grateful for Glevic (and I am) but the issues are still there and just get to you when it is day in and day out.

The other point I wanted to raise also seem minor but weight gain, I have put on about 10 kgs since going on Glevic and find it harder to lose the weight then before this might be simply because I am getting older, thought.

This is a great site a big thank you to the originators of it.

Fred

Hi Fred
Just a few tips to try and cope with Glivec better. Have you tried taking your Glivec at night with your evening meal ? Best to have some carbohydrate also with the meal to cushion the Glivec on the stomach. It does irritate the stomach and if you have problems with this I know some people take Immodium.
If you take the Glivec at night, you could sleep through the worse of the tiredness. Glivec does make you tired there is no denying it and you just have to give in to it when it hits you. Many a times I have fallen asleep at my desk at work !
As for the weight gain, I am afraid it does affect some people that way, I was one of those, I put on over 10kg over the four years I was on Glivec and I was not eating that much. As it happens I had to go for transplant and am now back to my normal weight but I would not recommend this route for weight loss !!
Try cutting out refined sugars and fats and see if it makes a difference, but I know how hard it is and I do sympathise.
I do hope you are getting good results with Glivec. May be you should take some Calcium/Magnesium supplements and for potassium eat more bananas !!
Take Care. Hope you are enjoying life in Australia, where abouts are you ?
Elizabeth

Hi ,ive been taking my glivec with my evening meal and for thr last 3 years ive either been sick or felt very sick,until someone posted not to take glivec with caffine,so know i dont have a brew for 2hrs before and 2 hours after and its worked a treat,so thank you very much to who ever posted that message.take care all love kathy

Elizabeth,

Thanks much, I live just outside Melbourne but work in the CBD.

I think I will try taking Glevic at night as before I started I was never much of a big breakfast person but now to overcome the issues with stomach upsets I have been eating much larger breakfasts. I did try the good old American standard of Grits with Glevic but this was a big no go and ended up in bed most of the day oh well live and learn.

I was concerned with taking anything to protect the stomach to much as I remember my father having issues where the Mylanta was coating his stomach to the point that his drugs where not getting into the system.

The Dr has me on 5 potassium and 3 Magesium suppliements a day + at least one banana. I never thought I would hate bananas but I am getting there.

Smile

Fred

Thanks for the reminder on this I did read something on this in another forum and will give (or better give up caffine) a try.

If it works for my I will pass this onto my Oncologist.

Regards

Fred

Howdy Fred
As Elizebeth says, try tking Glivec with your main meal of the day, actually in the middle of eating rather than atthe begining or the end. I never have found any difficulty with what liquid I used, but water is probably the best. I never did have much of a problem with stomach problems, but it was suggested a year or so ago, that I use Omeprazole at 20mg once a day first thing in the morning, reason being that this would protect the stomach. So I did, and still do - no problems. On the weight thing, I also put on weight, and was taken to task over this by Oncologist, the only reason we could find was that I was eating too much, so Weightwatchers for me, and weight is no longer a problem. Also as I am now on Dasatinib, I can monitor my weight daily and judge if there is any build up of fluids that shouldn't be and deal with it immediately with prescribed meds. Sounds like you enjoy your food just as much as I do, but take care, Elizebeth's advice is very good.
Do have fun Fred, and always keep smiling
Keith

Keith,

Thanks for the information, on the weight gain for me I think it has more to do with the stomach issues and tiredness. I say the because yes I love my food but I have always used exercise (running about 8 kgs 4 time a week) to keep fit and have found that I just can not do all the running I was doing. Hopefully changing the time I take Glevic to my main meal will get over this and I can do my noon time running again.

I am trying some biking but with winter coming on there just is not enough daylight to really get good rides in around working from 9am - 5pm.

Regards

Fred