Hi both Mark and Don,
regarding leg pains and imatinib (Glivec)... this is a very common side effect in the first 3 months of starting therapy with imatinib. I suffered this effect for exactly 12 weeks, after which much to my relief it disappeared (overnight).
It is very unpleasant and I suppose the severity of pain and how you cope really differs between individuals. Personally, I found it difficult to cope more if I allowed my legs to get cold- this made the ache/pain much worse. However, even with heat packs etc. the side effect did not really go away... until the magic 12 weeks.
You could try to supplement with magnesium- I have found this to be excellent in dealing with leg/joint pains in general. Maybe a blood level test for magnesium might help to see if this could be a cause.
Mark...
It does seem that you are suffering very badly and it might be that your doctor considers your reaction severe enough to change your therapy to nilotinib- which is currently available as 2nd line therapy on NHS. It is best if you really can stay on therapy without breaks so you can be sure you will have an optimal response and hit the treatment goals on time.
It might be that nilotinib might give you a better chance at doing that as the side effect profile differs significantly from imatinib.
Best of luck,
Sandy
