You are here

Avoid ibuprofen

Categories:

Currently there is a debate as to whether those who develop a fever either via Corona Virus or seasonal flu take Paracetomol often known as Acetimenophin or Ibuprofen/neurofen. The latter is an NSAID and in some patients can lead to substantial side effects hence one of the reasons why it is not favoured as a means of reducing temperature and so on.

For those of us who are CMl patients and especially if we are on imatinib then  ibuprofen is contraindicated and research has shown that it should be avoided as it affects the uptake of the imatinib and effectively reduces the dose substantially.

With best wishes

John

Does the same apply to naproxen I take it for osteoarthritis

I asked my local village pharmacist a question concerning my use of dasatinib. To my surprise, he telephoned me early one morning and discussed drug interactions for about 20 minutes. He talked around the internet resource PDR.

Here is the link for imatinib:

https://www.pdr.net/drug-summary/Gleevec-imatinib-mesylate-433.8465

You can do a find on the particular drug which concerns you.

Here is the equivalent link for dasatinib:

https://www.pdr.net/drug-summary/Sprycel-dasatinib-115.8464

 

In response- the source of my information is the research that was undertaken at University of Adelaide -"Contrasting Effects of diclofenac and ibuprofen on active imatinib uptake  into leukaemic cells" by Wang,Hughes et al .They took 12 NSAIDS in their work and naproxen was one of them and it did not indicate any effect on limiting imatinib uptake-it was only ibuprofen which seemed to be the problem. In UK naproxen seems to be  prescription only and in tablet form;in some countries it is available in spray form and I have found it excellent in terms of treating the skeletal- muscular side effects of imatinib.

Hitherto many arthritis patients would have been dispensed diclofenac but its record of leading to stomach bleeds have led doctors to be wary of prescribing it.The branded drug Arthrotec based on diclofenac  also contains misoprostol so as to protect the digestive system;generic diclofenac can of course be used as long as it is accompanied by a proton pump inhibitor but the latter can also affect imatinib absorption.

One of most definitive works on other interactions is that by Haouala et al on "Drug Interactions with tyrosine kinase inhibitors imatinib, dasatinib and nilotinib";I am not aware of any definitive work that includes the other two tkis bosutinib and ponatinib.

The site Epocrates is used by many medical professionals to check drug/drug interaction and seems to be very comprehensive.

My post was in the context of the current shortage of over the counter paracetemol and the use by many of ibuprofen as substitute for relief of fever,headache and joint/muscle pain.

With best wishes

John