Karen, Thank you for sharing your diarrhea story. I too think it can cause problems with drug absorption. Isn't diesentary(sp?) a disease they they take very seriously because of the diarrhea? I would think you are not only NOT absorbing your drugs but are also running the possibility of dehydration, which is very serious. People stop drinking enough fluid when they have diarrhea too which is very bad to do. My local cml buddy has FISH+ (after 4 years) showing again and has had severe diaherria he would not treat....like for 3 years! I have conveyed your story to him and he is finally doing something about the problem. Taking Immodium. I hope your letter to Novartis will help other patients to take this seriously, and we thank you. Hoping so hard your FISH is a good one! xxx Linda in Ca
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Karen Andrews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Debra. Yup. I can relate well. For the 1st year I was on gleevec, I had virtually no diahhria, but after a year it arrived in full force. 22 times in 2 days sounds about right. I had to plan activities around when I ate (I would ALWAYS be in the bathroom 10 min after eating anything - and then several times after). My dr told me that if it was an inconvenience to take immodium. I started taking the immodium (1 or 2 a day - the tablets) about a month ago and it is amazing. The diahhria totally stopped! I hope this works for you. I only wish I started taking it 18 months ago! > > My dr originally saw diahhria as just an annoyance that aggravated me. However, I am convinced that it is much more serious than that. I really think it has some impact on how well gleevec is abosorbed into your body. Before the diahhria started I had reached PCRU. As soon as the diahhria started, over 18 months, I lost my PCRU, lost my cytogenetic remisission, became 76% PH pos by fish and wbc started rising! During this 18 months, I lost all other gleevec side effects and started developing other cml symptoms (enlarged spleen, night sweats.). Since taking the immodium a month ago, my wbc is now back normal, I now have all of the gleevec side effects that I had during that 1st year, and my spleen is normal, no night sweats and I feel great! My dr says that it is possible that the gleevec wasn't being absorbed (at least not well) because of the diahhria, but I don't think he's as convinced as I am (yet). I have a fish and bmb on Nov 19 and that should show if the gleevec is now working again. I wrote a letter to novartis and the customer service people forwarded it on to their more technical scientific people, but I havent heard back yet. > > Hang in there and I hope the immodium works. > > -karen A ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/8zSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New! Sign up for local CML support group meetings in your local community at http://cml.meetup.com Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Support List) --------------------------------- Part Of CMLHope.Com An International Community Of CML Patients For more information: http://cmlhope.com Post Message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To No Mail/Web: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CML Group Web Site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
