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Fast breathing at night/skin rash update

Can anyone tell us if they have had fast breathing when asleep. As far as beathing during the day is concerned everything seems normal although he does get breathless after exertion especially in the mornings. Brian was first diagnosed in Feb 07 he had very fast breathing and generaly not relaxed sleep at all. |His breathing was anything from 20 to 23 breaths a minute, far faster than normal for him. Once on the drug and things setled down, it went down to 14/17 breaths a minute and everything was far more peaceful. However recently his sleeping has become less relaxed and the rate of breathing has gone up to 20 breaths a minute. My gp told me initially that this was because of the blood being so thick and it was causing this problem. Since it has reappeared, I would like to know if others have had same experience.

We are getting on top of the skin rash problem, thank goodness. |It seems that the anti depressant initially taken has kicked off a response from Glivec and we will have to wait for it to die out. However, the rash is definitely responding to the creams we have, otherwise it would be a question of changing drugs, so thank goodness all seems to be going well
on that front.

Many thanks

Christine

Hi Christine
I waited to see if anyone was going to pop up with similar problems. I must say I have not come across this and such a problem is best dealt with and monitored by Brian's consultant.
Glad the rash problem is getting more manageable.
Best wishes
Elizabeth

Thanks Elizabeth for replying. What a worrying illness with all these side effects. Things are quieter again breathing going down to 17 breaths a minute, people will think I am paranoid but of course it is so evident. I will get Brian to ask again when he goes to the hospital.

Brian visited the skin specialist again this morning to be told that this is definitely a drug induced reaction but he has not dealt with any other cml patient before on glivec, so not so bad as it was but it does dome and go.

So very grateful for your help

Christine

Hi Christine,
I do know of at least one person who went off Gleevec and onto Sprycel because of a very bad rash on Gleevec. Other times they do a short course of steriods to deal with the rash and keep the patient on Gleevec. Your onc could consult with some of the CML specialists who have more experience with this.
Nancy C.

Thank you Nancy C for your reply. We seem to be getting there as the rash is generally not too bad, it comes and goes and hopefully will just die out. Sorry I haven't replied before this but we have had problems with broadband and out computer was out for a week, better now BT visited this morning, keeping fingers crossed.
Many thanks Christine.