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Headaches and extreme tiredness

My wife, Val, has had great success with Glivec - the last PCR was "undetectable." She came off Glivec for nearly 4 weeks prior to a stem cell harvest at the end of February. Afterwards, she went back on Glivec and has had continual headaches (sometimes very bad indeed) and extreme tiredness ever since, ie 8 weeks. So bad was it that we arranged to go for an extra hospital visit yesterday because we felt her neutrophils and haemoglobin must have crashed. However, her counts were near normal. The Consultant didn't have any positive suggestions as to what is causing the problems, except that it is probably the body getting used to Glivec again. So the suggestion was to take pain killers for the headaches and go back to hospital again in three weeks.

Val had trouble starting with Glivec originally (having to come off it three times) and she had headaches then but nothing like so severe as now.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments, I'd be very grateful.

David

David
I am so sorry to hear about Val's headaches. She is doing so well. There is always something to rain on your parade isn't there ?
I would say keep up the painkillers and see if it improves. May be Val could try homeopathy. I do hope all this settles down. Glad that all the counts etc. are fine though.
Hope you have a pleasant weekend.
Elizabeth xx

David I also had terrible fatigue after my harvest and restart of Glivec. Some of it I think was due to the harvest and the stress on the old body. Headaches can be a real problem for me, and I have found cutting out cows milk and using goats has helped - no idea if this will help Val but it might be worth a try.

Homeopathy has really helped me with all types of side effects,since having CML and taking Glivec, perhaps Val could try this route and see if it helps?

So pleased her counts and PCR are so good.
All the best.

Pennie

Elizabeth and Pennie

Thanks for your posts.

Sorry to be a nuisance but was there anything in particular that you had in mind in relation to homeopathy and headaches/tiredness. Homeopathy is a subject about which we know very little. I would appreciate a gentle steer in somne direction or other!

For the moment, we have found that parecetamol with codeine (ie in the one pill) seem to work best for the headaches but we know we need to be very careful about how often and for how long she can take them.

We have our fingers firmly crossed that this is temporary and that it will go away with time. It's just that 8 weeks of it now is a bit much.

Kind regards

David

Hi David and Val

Helios homeopathic pharmacy - 01892 537254 have a homeopath you can speak to over the phone. Perhaps the best way to find a local person is to contact the school of homeopathy in London for a list of local people. Do stress that you need to see someone experienced with working alongside cancer treatments. Every person responds differently to Homeopathic remedies, so what works for Val may not be the same as works for others.

Good luck in finding a solution.
Pennie

Pennie

Many thanks.

Kind regards

David

dear David,
i can vouch for the homeopathic systems's power to help this form of headache. of course painkillers are purely palliative and the cause of the headaches is not addressed.
Val could also try acupuncture. i suffered from migraine headaches for many years when i was younger. eventually i was so desparate to rid myself of the pain...(same time every night for 2 weeks) that i agreed to see a TCM practinioner and after 4 sessions my migraine disappeared never to return....ever.

do take Pennie's advice and at least talk to a homeopath on the phone.. helios pharmacy are very well respected.

best wishes,
sandy
Sandy C ;o)

Sandy - thank you very much.

David