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Has any one experienced anemia during TKI therapy?

hi, Everyone,
6 months into my Glivic therepy, my RBC and haemoglobin is dropping continuously. And I feel dizzy all the time. My haemoglobin is 119g/L at the moment. My Dr can't figure out why. My BCR-ABL level has dropped from 412 initially to 37 in 3 months and 0.74 in 6 months which is 2.1 log reduction. Dr. thinks it is not good, he expects a 3 log reduction or at least less than 0.1 BCR-ABL level at 6 months. He said most of his patients has reached that level, he has now changed me to Dasatinib. Has anyone switched from Imatinib to Dasatinib? I am generally Ok with Imatinib, no severe side effect or could anemia be a side effect of Glivic, my onco says unlikely. Not sure if I can cope with the new one. I thought my result was not bad, but what my onco said really made me worry. Appreciate anybody could share their experience.
thanks,
William

hey, william, low haemoglobin is quite normal during therapy. mine is around 13 but a lot of folks have lower Hb. you have just mild anemia, not that much. Your result is fine. the goal é to reach 1.5% in IS or less in 6 months. if your result is on IS, than you're pretty good. the 0.1% is for 12-18 months. 0.1% or less in 6 months seems like a very ambitious goal, even if we talk about 2º generation tki. well, good luck!! cheers!

Hi William,
I think you response is quite good as Lucas has said... that is if your PCR testing lab is tied to the IS (international scale) an optimal response goal could be MMR (0.1% or 3 log reduction) within 12 months, but many take a little longer.
If you are happy with IM then ask your doctor to monitor your response for a few more months and see if you can get to MMR.
Imatinib certainly suppresses HGB in my experience. All the time I was on treatment with IM I had low HGB which never got above 10. I was tired all the time.
If you are already being treated with dasatinib you may see a lessening of the side effects from IM...and maybe you will not see any side effects from dasatinib other than even lower PCR results. I hope so- but don't worry, you seem to have responsive disease - I am sure you will see further drops in Bcr-Abl1 with the next PCR.

best,
Sandy

I heard about a trial at our local hospital for patients with anemia - eating beetroot. As strange as this seems when I mentioned it to my fitness instructor at our sports centre she wasn't in the least surprised as she eats it regularly if she's feeling a little low on energy. She recommends buying the basic beetroot from supermarkets ( not the kind in vinegar)and roasting it with salt and pepper.

Worth a try?

Best wishes for Easter to one and all,
Chrissie

Thanks to Lucas, Sandy for sharing their experiences, and Chrissie's beetroot therapy. I was never disappointed posting a question in this forum. So it looks like anemia is quite common with people taking Glivic. I just hope my Haemoglobin doesn't drop again, it really affects my life a lot. I've got my new medication today. Hopefully it will be more effective. I will share my experience taking dasatinib with fellow cmlers later, and also hoping to hear from others about using Dasatinib over imatinib.

Thanks,
William

I couldn't leap to that conclusion nor to finding it being the cause. It could be entirely coincidental.

Don't stop your doctor doing other investigations for other commonly occurring things such as a chronic gastric tract bleed or malabsorption condition.