I was dx in 2005 with 100,000 WBC count and platelets near 1,000,000 after a CBC that was done to find out the cause of pain in my left side. My regular doc called me later that day at home and told me this was bad news, and that an oncologist would call me soon. Within the hour an Onc called and made me come to the hospital right then, and started a saline solution IV to dilute my blood due to risk of complications such as stroke, blood clots, and other hazards. The problem is that CML causes the blood to become too thick, not just from high WBC counts, but often high platelets. This is a bad combination, since the blood becomes like syrup and can clog arteries, especially in the brain. It is speculated that some people who do not know they have CML have died from a stroke without anyone knowing they even had CML.
Within 30 hours I had the final diagnosis of CML, and started taking 400mg Gleevec plus Allopurinol, which helps get rid of the extra uric acid in the body produced when Gleevec causes all those extra WBCs to die. After a couple weeks my Onc stopped the Allopurinol since the WBC count had dropped to normal, so the uric acid issue had passed. So I started directly on Gleevec, and never took hydroxyurea or interferon. Within a couple weeks my WBC count was normal, and within 100 days I had a 3 log reduction in Ph+ chromosome levels. I know that hydroxyurea still has its place as a starter medication for CML when there are other complications to deal with, but Gleevec has become the starter drug of choice. --Trey --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
