5 replies to this topic

[Terrasage]

Hi everyone,

By way of background, I was diagnosed in 2009 at age 49 in the early stages of CML and have been doing great ever since.  I've been taking gleevec 400 mg, 1x/day ever since then with virtually no side effects and my bloods tests are perfect.

I'm pursuing the dream and hoping to look like I belong on stage with other all natural (no steroids) bodybuilders some day. I called my oncologist with questions re: supplements, and of course his office had no idea ::grrr::  So I'm turning to you good people, whom I trust more anyway!

My trainer has had me start increasing my protein via 1.5 scoops whey protein powder 2x/day and 1 scoop of casein (milk) protein 1x day at night before bed.  She would also like to me to start taking creatine, possibly CLA eventually.  Is anyone aware of adverse interactions between these supplements and gleevec?

Thank you!!

[CallMeLucky]

I have a lot of the same questions.  Although I am no body builder, I do train.

I use Soy protein powder without any problem (I'm alergic to milk, otherwise I would use Whey, I doubt there is a difference)

My doctor and hospital nutritionist are fine with this.

I also use an after workout recovery drink.  This they are not as crazy about.  My doctor initially took me off it when I started treatment, she said she didn't want anything in my system that would interfere with treatment early on.  She wanted to know if TKI was going to work and didn't want to start playing games with "well let's try stopping the supplements and see what happens in a month or so".  Now that things have stabilized a bit (I'm 9months in MMR) she said I could start to take it.  The nutritionist wasn't as thrilled, she said that while there was nothing in there that was a particular problem, it was the amounts that she was concerned about, particularly the high levels of Anti-oxidants, especially viatimin C.  She felt the amount of Vitamin C was too high and could potentially interfere with Gleevec (I found out that this was based on a study where they showed that Vitamin C could impact efficacy of Gleevec, although there are people on here who would probably state otherwise and I would like to hear from them because I have been meaning to post about it).  By the way the recovery drink has creatine in it, but not a lot, just enough to replenish spent amounts from the workout.  The nutritionist didn't seem to have an issue with this.  I've decided to limit my use of it.  I usually only take a half serving on days when I really push it.

What concerns me about Creatine in general, and especially in higher amounts like in supplements is the way creatine works.  From what I have read, "creatine aids in replenishing your reserves of ATP. Adenosine  triphosphate -ATP is the molecular fuel that provides the power for  muscular contractions".  Now, according to what I have read about Gleevec "The active sites of tyrosine kinases each have a binding site for ATP. The enzymatic activity catalyzed by a tyrosine kinase is the transfer of the terminal phosphate from ATP to tyrosine residues on its substrates, a process known as protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Imatinib works by binding close to the ATP binding site of bcr-abl, locking it in a closed or self-inhibited conformation, and therefore inhibiting the enzyme activity of the protein semi-competitively. This fact explains why many BCR-ABL mutations can cause resistance to imatinib by shifting its equilibrium toward the open or active conformation."

I'm not a cellular biologist, so I don't know what all this means, but it concerns me that both Gleevec and Creatine work with ATP.  Now maybe the Creatine will help the Gleevec be more effective, or maybe not.  Unforunately there is little to no research out there about this stuff and anytime I ask a doctor they immediately err on the side of caution and say "stay away from the supplements".  Guess there aren't a lot of leukemia patients body building!  Nonetheless, this is a position I completely understand.  Until this is studied, you don't know what you are going to get with it.

So for me, I'm using protein supplements and staying away from creatine, even though I want to use it.

If you find out anything else or if you decide to try using it, please post back and let me know.

Would also be curious to hear about anyone elses experience in this area.

Trey - if you read this, any thoughts on the ATP role in all of this?

[Trey]

ATP has many uses in the body for all types of cellular processes.

Seems like a reasonable regimen to take these supplements:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....8?dopt=Abstract

[Terrasage]

Trey, you are the bomb...especially when you tell me what I want to hear

[CallMeLucky]

I still have concerns about this, that trial basically showed a positive effect of CrM, I don't dispute that, I think the stuff works really well.  My concern is if it would interfere with Gleevec.  From the things that I have read, in general, it almost seems like the opposite, that it may help or at least help with the side effects related to achy muscles.  But there is just no way to know until it has been properly studied.  In my case, I am still early in treatment so I would want to wait a while longer until I had a good PCR trend that I could look at and then if I start using it and suddenly I start to see an increase in PCR I know to stop the CrM.  It is tempting though, I would like to use it now.

Would love to hear from anyone who has tried this.