9 replies to this topic

[Cliffee]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this with Tasigna. Any help would be appreciated.

I recently switched to Tasigna from Gleevac a few months back and was put on 300mg twice a day. Gleevac couldn't seem to get me to MMR after two years.
Slowly my Bili Total began to rise and eventually hit 3.8. My Alt, Ast also were up so my Dr. took me of for  2 1/2 weeks until my numbers came back down. I restarted at 300mg once a day and everything held ok. After two weeks of 300 a day he had me go back up to 300 twice a day as before. They shot right back up again within 2 weeks.

He then had me reduce to 400mg once a day with no break and Bili is now at 4.0 now. AST 56, ALT 127. I have absolutely no side effects I can feel or see.

Can 300mg a day be enough?

I'm sure I'm going to have to take another break.

At this point I'm getting very upset. What to do?

Thanks in Advance!

[Trey]

300 - 400mg per day Tasigna may be enough for some people.  Whether you are one of those cannot be known in advance. 

[Cliffee]

Thanks Trey.

As I suspected I'm off for a week, maybe two. Then will start up at 300 once a day. If that holds go up to 400 once a day. Then from there who knows.

If things head south again, he mentioned Busutinub as the possible the next horse in the race. Said its works like Sprycel with less side effects.

[chriskuo]

Since Sprycel has more of a track record, I would be inclined to switch to Sprycel from Tasigna first.  You do have to be careful about pleural effusions, but the side effects and effectiveness of each drug

varies by individual.  I think it is too early to make a blanket statement that bosutinib has fewer side effects than Sprycel.

[Cliffee]

Hi chriskuo,

Thanks for your tip.

I was told this by Dr. Druker's head assistant at OHSU. They treat 100's of CMLers and this is their findings so far.

Either way, I'm hoping to stay with Tasigna if I can get my liver to accept it. Everything is great with it other then liver levels.

I started this thread to see if anyone else has had a similar liver issue with Tasigna and the end result.

Cheers!

[chriskuo]

Thanks for the additional information.  I have not seen much information on bosutinib.  I know that ponatinib, which was approved about the same time, has been causing severe side effects in some of the newly prescribed population.  There were some indications of these issues in the trials and some warnings were included in the packaging, but some patients and doctors are somewhat surprised by the severity of some of the side effects.

[dlavila]

I just started this medication tasigna should I be worried?  I am very scared if it has bad side effects why prescribe it it to patient's? Pleas help thank you.

[NotJack?]

Don't worry too much about the side effects.  They are much preferred to the disease.  Most of the side effects you won't get, if you do get any there are resources here to minimize them.  If they prove to be a burden there are other meds to try.  I am on Tasigna, and I have a few side effects that haven't gone away over time.  As long as they keep the Leukemia at bay, I can deal with them.  If I find that the effects are too effectual on my quality of life, I will demand a change.  These drugs have taken our cancer from a high mortality rate to a normal life span.  I am two years into treatment, and only two sides remain.  For me, it is bone pain and fatigue.  The drugs, hockey, biking, Tai Chi, and walking seems to mitigate most of the problems, and I am going to try manganese and potassium supplements for the rest.  I would recommend letting the Tasigna run its course for a bit to see what side effects hang on--if any.  Concentrate instead on learning to read your blood results, and continue to refer to our community, and Trey's CML blog for questions that arise.  Take care, Jack

Trey's Blog  :  http://treyscml.blogspot.com/

[NotJack?]

Sorry, I replied without first reading your profile.  Sounds like you have been dealing with this much longer than I.  I hope that my reply wasn't redundant to a fault.  Jack

[dlavila]

No thank you so much