Hi all,
I was just wondering how long it takes for gleevec to be processed in your liver/body from your stomach. Its just I get nauseous quite reguralarly about an hour or so after taking it and wondered if I ever was sick then would the pill be in my blood after this amount of time or still be in my stomach?
Just looking for peace of mind (hypothetical quetsion) and also cant find any literature on this.
Many thanks in advance
Ian
Hi Ian,
I understand your concerns about how long it takes for a drug/foodstuff to be fully digested. I think (guessing here) that after around 2 hours you can be sure that all traces of a drug like imatinib would have been digested and so you would not be in danger of not ingesting the correct dosage should you vomit.
If you are experiencing nausea after taking imatinib then I suggest you really try to eat more carbohydrate before you take imatinib. If you feel ill then try eating a banana, or some sort of fruit like that. A teaspoon of pure honey can also help to counter nausea.
I think the 'half-life' of imatinib is 11 hours ...after this time plasma levels start to drop (although my memory of this fact might not be accurate- its been a long time since I asked this question) but how long the drug is held in the stomach might depend on the individual concerned.
I will try to find out how long imatinib does actually stay in the stomach- as soon as I have any information I will post it here- it is an interesting question and one that I think many of us would be interested in hearing the answer.
Sandy
Sandy,
Once again you are most helpful and informative. It would be great if you managed to find the answer to this. I have started eating half a banana as well as having toast with my breakfast and gleevec. I recently found that this has alleviated the issue but was just curious in case it came back.
Many thanks
Ian
My dt once told me that if I was sick with 30 mins of taking my glivec then I could take another pill without danger, because it wouldn't have started to be digested yet,
Barbara
Hi Ian,
You say you're having half a banana as well as toast for your breakfast...when I was on Glivec I found I needed to eat quite a substantial amount of food to avoid the nausea and swapped to taking it with my main meal of the day. Unlike other tablets that state "take with food|", I think Glivec requires quite a lot of food to avoid nausea for some of us!
Hope that particular side effect is now under control!!!
xx
Hi Ian
Eating for glivec is certainly a management process. After awhile you get to learn what you can have and not have.
My suggestions:
Do not have your glivec with any diary foods - or with muslie or cereal etc or that of salad.
You need lots of carbs. like stodgy foods.
I am on 600mg
I have 3 pieces of toast without butter or margarines, just jam.
The have glivec with water - suggestion for every 100 mg have a cup of water - so I have 3 cups of water or 1 bottle of water .
Do not sit or lay down - keep moving - you want that glivec not to sit in your stomach - this will assist with nausea.
You can play around with when to take glivec thru the day , breakfast, lunch, dinner but the issue is the same - have substantial food in your stomach - do not have on light food or have had fasting (sleep and then a light breakfast).
Without the nausea which can last for some hours - your life will turn around considerably.
My hint - take any diary - the opposite end of the day that you do not have glivec. Many people have gut problems with glivec as time goes on, or become a type of lactose intolerant. This hint will assist.
Good Luck with all the changes.
Sue (Aussie)
