Hi Scott, As a patient suffering from CHF, you have the right to voice your views in the aim to help others by your experience. I sincerely am sorry for the CHF and wish you a speedy recovery from the heart surgery and hope you continue to keep well.
While we need to take all precautions against any Gleevec side-effects, worrying incessantly about something that by medical accounts is rare cannot be healthy, either. Gleevec is in the lives of patients and caregivers long-term, sure, we need to take heed of any new development that comes along, good or bad, but along with that we need to take into accout what CML experts from top centers feel about these developments so we can keep our perspective and sanity. I tend not to see side-effects the way you do, that more you go on taking Gleevec, more danger of side-effects. Medical articles and what I have seen in Gleevec patients say quite the opposite. Liver toxicity occurs in 5% of Gleevec patients (higher than 0.4% for CHF) and these patients mostly get it within 2 years of Gleevec, same with Ph negative chromosomal abnormalities. In fact, the doctor who created all the furore with CHF, Dr. Force, the 10 patients who had CHF all had it within a year of taking Gleevec. And there are thousands of Gleevec patients worldwide who have been on Gleevec for more than 5 years. So, I don't necessarily believe that more time you are on Gleevec, the more danger of side-effects. That is certainly not true of all side-effects. Regarding doses (in mg by weight, not ml), doctors have found from controlled human trials that 400mg is the standard dose of Gleevec, this is the dose that controls the leukemia in most patients. However, some patients do not respond to this dose and their doses have to be increased. Doctors have to carefully weigh the risk of progression to blast crisis if the patient is on a dose that does not contain the leukemia and the side-effects that the higher dose may bring. If a Gleevec patient is otherwise healthy with no liver or cardiac issues, obviously, the desire to halt the leukemia by a higher dose is going to influence the physician rather than a 0.4% incidence of CHF. Thank you for sharing your experience, it is important as well to have perspective for all of us and I am glad that the MDACC doctors addressed the issue of CHF in their teleconference. Anjana caregiver to Roy d/x Jan 2002 400mg Gleevec, March 2002 CCR, Sep 2002 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
