Livia, I was on Interferon for a year after I was diagnosed in 1997, and I have only one thing to say about that drug--it's ugly. However, my husband says it saved my life--kept me alive long enough to get into the STI 571 phase 1 trial at UCLA. And here I am going on 11 years later still kicking! I will have my 9 year anniversary on Gleevec on April 19. Hang in there. I'm sending healing thoughts your way along with Cheryl-Anne. Virginia Garner
----- Original Message ----- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" To: CMLHope Subject: [CMLHope] Re: interferon trial Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:53:22 -0700 (PDT) Hi Livia, So sorry to hear about your reaction. I have taken quite a bit of Interferon over the 7+ years with this disease. Since your body is already used to Gleevec it isn't the Gleevec that caused it. I am looking forward to hearing what your doctor has to say about the reaction. It seems very severe after having such a small dose of Interferon. But interferon can be difficult for some people. In my case, I was only on small doses and had a little bit of aches and pains but nothing as drastic as what you describe. Hang in there as the trial you are on is really quite special and may give you the opportunity to go on a "maintenance" program with very little drugs. For someone of your age and particularly if you want to have children later on, this might be very important. I am sending warm healing thoughts to you. Love and Peace, Cheryl-Anne On Mar 24, 12:13 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi Livia and so sorry for your problems. > I had a similar reaction when I started Gleevec. I had chills and fevers and > thought I was dying. > It soon went away; so hang in there if possible. > Blessings, > Jeanie<3 > In a message dated 3/23/2008 1:42:12 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > good afternoon everybody, > first aof all i would like to thank everybody for their response to my email > regarding the interferon. i started a trial this saturday, so in addition > to my 600 mg of gleevec, am also adding .3 cc of interferon and 250 mcg of > leukine 'sargamostim' wtih saline. it was my first time yesterday and i must > say that i had a horrible reaction. it was kind of emotional > for me to inject > myself, but i did it. my husband laughed that there are so many people who > take insuling and they do not cry like me... i really cried like a baby, but > the reason was not that it will hurt me a little bit, but the > whole concept of > having cml, being so far from the family and just realizeing how sick i am. > interferon injection hurt me a little bit, maybe because i was > doing it very > slow. leukine with saline was perfect. i did not feel anything. but now my > experience from this night. approximately two hors after the injections i > started to shake like crazy. my teeth were making a noise and i > had to wake up > my husband. he brough me two blankets and a coat, but nothing was helping. > my whole body hurt so much and my fever was 103.5. i guess it is was a > reaction to the interferon, but it was realy horrible. i really > hope that it was > just the first reaction. i hope it will go away, because i have > to work. today > i am spending all day in the bed. i will call my nurse to tell her about my > side effects to see if it happens to the patients just the first time they > take interferon, or if it is a high dose for me or what... i am > not sure but i > can tell that i have suffered this night. oh well. i started it, > so i can not > give up so easily. i can switch to the vaccine trial, but it was only the > first shot... oh well. i hope it will go better. thanks for listening to me. > livia > > **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL > Home. > (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=a...) Please help me fight cancer. Click here to help: www.active.com/donate/tntgla/walkingvirginia --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
