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glivec is making feel so sick?

Hi all, I haven't posted for some time although I always log in and read all about you wonderful people.
I have been on 400mg of glivec since nov 03 and so far so good apart from a few scary moments last year and the usual cml problems I am ok
However for the last 6 months I am finding that I am getting more and more sick after I take my glivec. I have been prescribed cyclizine (ant sickness) and take it when I really feel sick. but sometimes its too late I wake in the night and have to rush to be sick, always its the drug that comes up!
My appitite is quite poor and I know this is a vicious circle as the less food I take with it the more sick I feel.
Any advise please? I always used to take it before I went to bed, but tried taking it with my evening meal......and was sick before I went to bed!!!
Also I have had a water infection and been on antibiotics for that so that hasn't helped matters. I have bought some cranbery powder that I mix with water to help with this from a health food shop and was wondering if anyone knows if that is ok to take with glivec, I only started that yesterday.

Cheers
Michelle

Hi michelle,ive been taking glivec since oct 03 and suffered badly with the sickness ,then i was told to take my tabs with my main meal and dont drink tea/coffee an hour before or after and its worked for me,give it ago.love kath

Hi Michelle, I keep an eye on the forum on a regular basis and it is such a help for us. Brian does not get sick, but having been advised by the hospital to take glivec at breakfast, has been doing this since feb 07, has no appetite at all during the day and only feels vaguely interested in food in the evening, his stomach is constantly very upset. He just seems to have no taste for anything but forces cereal and toast down beakfast time along with pill and water. Extreme tiredness, puffy face and we are dealing with a bad skin rash that is slighty more in control now. Really think he needs to take his pill along with main meal and will suggest that at next visit to hospital. It is demoralising but hopefully the side effects will lessen. So hope things get better for you and sorry I don't have any constructive comments, just similar ones. Love Christine.

hi michele,

it is essential to take glivec with food if you to overcome this side effect....
when i took glivec (600mg) i used to take it with my largest meal... for me that was dinner, but it depends on the individual and other side effects that might be prominent - in my case this was tiredness - dinner was an ideal time for me.

glivec is extremely irritating to the gut so it is no wonder that you are being sick if, as you say, you do not have much appetite.

you say that it is glivec that you are vomiting... this means that the drug is not being absorbed into your blood stream as it is not in your gut long enough and so you may not getting the benefit you should be getting.
you must really try to solve this problem if glivec is to do its job properly as you must maintain a certain level of the drug in your blood stream if it is to work well over the long term.

as kath has suggested, you may benefit from cutting out coffee and tea as well as taking glivec with your largest meal.

i am not aware that cranberry juice is on the list of food/drinks to avoid so i think you should be OK.
drinking lots of plain water (at least 1.5 litres daily) as well as dilute cranberry juice will certainly help. water is recommended by novartis to counter the side effect of nausea.
drinking lots of water (as well dilute cranberry juice) will help with your urine infection too.

your note has reminded me that when i took my first glivec capsules back in august '99 ...
(i was part of the first US trials and i have just realised that that was all of 8 years ago!....)
dr. druker's nurse sat with me to make sure i did not vomit before the capsules had been absorbed and after about 30 minutes i did start to feel sick, so she gave me cranberry juice to drink and it worked immediately.

(remember that this was very early on and before they had clinically proven that taking the drug with food would have no affect its absorption through the gut and therfore into the blood stream)

i hope this is of some help.

best wishes,
sandy C ;o)

Hello Michelle,

I have been taking Glivec since Feb 2002 and still have times when I feel/am sick. Mostly this is when I go off my usual food regime. Dairy products, cream ice-cream cheese etc nearly always make me sick! Particularly if I have them in the evening, I usually take my tablets with my main meal in the evening. It's really important for me to have a lot of water when I take them, even if I don't want it.

Also I have found that being upright, in a straight back chair, or going for a short walk after taking them helps - never lie down soon after taking glivec this seems to make the nausea worse.

I restrict my intake of coffee to one decaf each morning (not bad for an ex coffee addict!) I can't stand tea these days, and have herb ones or green tea. Mostly I drink water or diluted fruit juices.

Hope some of these ideas help, the sickness is a real pain.

All the best
Pennie.

Hi Michelle,

Sounds like your having a rough patch with side effects of Glivec. If you are vomiting the tablets, then they obviously are still in the stomach, or even the oesophagus.
If you take the tablets last thing at night, make sure that you don't lie down for about half an hour after taking, and also take plenty of fluid (preferably water)
Lying down too soon after taking any tablet risks having the tablet lodge in the oesophagus. This can in some cases irritate the oesophagus as well as the stomach and may provoke vomiting as a result.

Most people taking Glivec find it best to ensure taking with or immediately after food, and with plenty of fluid.
My wife finds that she doesn't need to eat a lot of food to reduce the effects on the stomach, even a light snack is sufficient.

Hope you get over these problems

Best Wishes

Paul

Hi, i don't know if this will help but my son aged 10 has split his dose so he takes 150mg with his breakfast and 150mg after tea which seems to help. The only time he is sick at he moment is when he takes it without food when he has a bone marrow biopsy.

Hi Michelle

I had bad nausea when I was on taken 800mg a day and tried various remedies. I was eventually prescribed 20mg of pantoprazole a day and it worked a treat. I have only had nausea a few times since then.

Cheers

Adam

Hi Michelle,

For the first month or so of taking 400mg I experienced nausea. Then I split it in two halves, one half after breakfast and one after my evening meal. The nausea disappeared. Other side effects are still present, but the Glivec seems to be working.

John

I was diagnosed, november 2006, and take 400ml glivec. I eel sick, but counter this by taking cyclizine about 1/2 an hour before my breakfast, then toast and cereal, then tablet with large glass of water, hope this helps michelle.I also wonder if taking it at night it lies on your tummy and because you are asleep your not drinking so are not flushing it through your system,dont know if anyone else thinks this