Hi all,
I joined the CML club in early 2014, age 28, and after 5 years on Imatinib 600mg I would like to try to reduce my dose to 400mg.
At diagnosis I had the following in my CBC:
Leucocytes: ~422.620
Blasts: 4%
Other symptoms included: Splenomegaly, weight loss, night sweats and lack of sleep.
I started on Hydroxyurea, then, in two weeks I began taking 400mg Imatinib. Unfortunately, after a month my CBC showed my Leucocytes got up again (51.420) after reaching normal levels. This had my haematologist increase imatinib dosage to 600mg. From then on PCR has been used to track BCR-ABL levels.
Here is the history of my PCR tests:
- 1,03 - October 2014
- 0,63 - February 2015
- 0,07 - February 2016
- 0,02 - May 2016
- 0,089 - April 2017
- 0,0132 - October 2017
- 0,02 - April 2018
- 0,0091 - July 2018
- Lower than the detection limit - January 2019
- Lower than the detection limit - May 2019
*The detection limit of the last two tests is 10 copies of BCR-ABL in 100,000 cells.
Why am I considering a lower Imatinib dosage? This year, our national health care system had a shortage of Imatinib and I had to buy it on my own for a period of two months. Because I was already curious about dose reduction I decided to buy only two boxes of 400mg in order to see if that would have any significant impact in my BCR-ABL levels. After these two months of dose reduction, my last PCR test came with “Lower than the detection limit”., as mentioned in my PCR list.
Finally, my question is: Has anyone here with a similar CML background reduce the dosage of Imatinib and had success with it? Could 600mg be an over-treatment at this point of my CML history?
I also would like to mention that I have no side-effects from Imatinib. I used to have nausea but this hasn't happen after I made improvements in my life-style and diet. Maybe I could mention these improvements in another post If anyone is interested.
Many thanks in advance! This forum is very helpful, specially because it is open, easy to navigate and has amazing CML stories.