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Tasigna and Cholesterol Levels


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#1 jrb666

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Posted 22 October 2015 - 08:29 AM

I've been on Tasigna for almost a year now. It's working very well and I'm feeling pretty good. I recently had a cholesterol test and my levels are way up. 240 total, LDL 151, other components normal. Before my dx my cholesterol has always been normal to slightly elevated.

 

My PCP said to work on diet/exercise. My oncologist said the same thing, but suggested that I take cholesterol lowering meds. I'd prefer not to take cholesterol meds.

 

Does anyone have any experience they can share on this? I'm at the upper end of "normal" weight and I get alot of exercise. At least I think I do.

 

Thanks in advance.



#2 Trey

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Posted 22 October 2015 - 09:25 AM

The phrase "Increases in total serum cholesterol levels have been reported with Tasigna therapy" is seen quite often in information about Tasigna.

 

The Tasigna safety pamphlet says:  "total cholesterol  increased, blood triglycerides increased"

 

http://www.tasigna.c...Information.pdf

(See "Adverse Reactions" paragraphs)

 

With Gleevec this not not seem to be as much of an issue, and Gleevec may even lower LDL cholesterol.

 

The elevated cholesterol could possibly be slower processing by the liver due to taking Tasigna.  Some test results are altered by TKI drugs.  Whether they are a real problem or not is not well understood.



#3 JPD

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Posted 22 October 2015 - 09:48 AM

Great!  My Onc just ordered tests for both of those... "now that you have been on Tasigna for a while, we need to start watching your heart"... blah blah blah.  One more thing for me to worry about.  Christ.

 

In other news, after upping my dosage of Tasigna, my PCR is back down to .85 (from 1.3).  I guess that's good news.  Doesn't feel like it.


January 15: .53%

April 15:       .78%

July 15:      1.1% - upped dosage to 400mg after this test

Oct 15:       .85%

December 15:  .28%

March 16: .29%

July 16: .34%

October 16: .11%

January 17: .081%

April 17: .055%

July 17: .135%

Oct 17: .008%


#4 Gail's

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Posted 22 October 2015 - 01:05 PM

If it's not one thing . . . I had to stop simvastatin then restart at a much lower dose when I started gleevec because the 2 are really powerful. I think I read somewhere on this forum that research is going on to look at the simvastatin/gleevec combo as a new approach to treating cml. Evidently the simvastatin potentiates or increases the effectiveness of gleevec. Made me super dizzy until I stopped the statin but it knocked my WBC and pcr way down right away.
Diagnosed 1/15/15
FISH 92%
BMB 9:22 translocation
1/19/15 began 400 mg gleevec
1/22/15 bcr 37.2 IS
2/6/15 bcr 12.5 IS
3/26/15 bcr 10.3 IS
6/29/15 bcr 7.5 IS
9/24/15 bcr 0.8 IS
1/4/16 bcr 0.3 IS
Started 100 mg dasatinib, mutation analysis negative
4/20/16 bcr 0.03 IS
8/8/16 bcr 0.007 IS
12/6/16 bcr 0.002 IS
Lowered dasatinib to 70 mg
4/10/17 bcr 0.001 IS
Lowered dasatinib to 50 mg
7/5/17 bcr 0.004 IS
8/10/17 bcr 0.001. Stopped TKI in prep for September surgery.
9/10/17 bcr 0.006
10/10/17 bcr 0.088

#5 Lisa Lisa

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Posted 02 November 2015 - 11:33 PM

JRB666,

Sprycel has apparently raised my cholesterol thru the roof. Yikes 374! what's going on? Just got my bloodtest results today.  I am on Sprycel 60 mg. Before dx was at 200 but this is a ticking time bomb!  Have almost no carbs, no sweets and I cluck from the chicken I eat.  The statins are an interaction with Sprycel but what are the choices...


Dx 2/2015 BCR-ABL1 (p210) 85.2% (IS) 3/15

     22%  5/15     0.13% 6/15   PCRU attained 9/15

Initial dose Sprycel 100 mg 3/15  Lowered 80 mg 5/15   Lowered 50 mg 1/16

Note: dose lowered bc of side effects - not bc onc wanted to reduce dosage

Sprycel: Currently 50 mg per day - taken 10 pm

 





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