You are here

Travel and time difference

Hi everyone! I’m new to this forum. I have been diagnosed 2 years ago and Im currently taking 400 Imatinib/Gleevec. I haven’t been able to travel much since my diagnosis and wanted to hear from others regarding their experiences. I live in North America and used to travel a lot to Europe and Middle East to see family and friends. Does anyone here have any experience with travelling to different time zones? Do you skip your pill or how does it work? I know i shouldn’t skip any so curious how everyone else is managing. Thank you!

Hi birthdaycake!
In my opinion, I think you shouldn't skip your pills and keep taking them at the same actual time calculated from each time zones.
For example, if you are in Los Angeles and normally taking the dose at 6.00am (UTC-8),
when you are in London, which is (UTC+0), it means it's 8 hours ahead of LA, then you should take your dose at 2.00pm.

You may use https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html for an easy conversion.

Nilotinib is the one example that the description explained it more clearly. It's indicated as 'Doses should be administered about 12 hours apart.',
which automatically means that you would take it at the same actual time of the day for each doses.

I've read somewhere that for most TKIs, you can have a window of time maximum to 2 hours before and after,
but I would say taking at the same exact time should be better!

Hi birthdaycake

I fully agree that you should stick to the original time frame wherever possible. I was diagnosed 8 years ago and my doctor impressed the importance of taking it regularly on me - I never missed a dose. I have travelled to places like China, Myanmar and Malaysia during this time and was very, very careful about taking it at the same time every day based on the local time in my home, South Africa. So this meant setting alarms for midnight or 2am just to take the tablet.

Maybe I was over-careful, and maybe this was unnecessary, but I have never forgotten my doctor's instructions. This is just too important to mess with.

Hope that helps!

Best wishes

Martin