2 replies to this topic

[Taylor]

Hi all,

I read in a couple of posts that someone had e-mailed Dr. Drucker about Tasigna dosing and he said that dosing on a 16/8 hour intervial was fine since Tasigna's half-life is 16 hours.  I am considering doing this.  I currently take 2x150mg 2x/day.  I find that right now at approx. 10:15AM and 10:15PM works well for overall scheduling, but if I go to bed immediately after that (which I do during the week), I find my first hour or two of sleep is frequently interrupted by insomnia, which also sometimes causes me to wake up with a slightly racing heart and being irritable/anxious--although this aspect may be tied to some sort of anxiety as well.  If I go to bed a couple hours later after this dose, like on the weekends, I tend to stay asleep after going to bed.

I also feel like if I know I will be having some anxiety in the night (another problem I'm battling), particularly by feeling irritable or anxious or having an elevated heart rate before bed, I am more able to try something like chamomile tea.  We're told to stay away from the tea due to an effect on serum levels, but if the dosage has been going through me five or so hours before, it may not be as much as a problem.

In any case, I'm curious to how this 16/8 dosage works with blood serum levels.  We have the Tasigna fast from food because of serum levels and the QT concern--of which, despite all the encouragement, I'm still wary about.  Would taking the dosages 8 hours apart instead of 12 hours apart not be doing basically the same thing?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[sdl722]

Taylor,

I have been on Tasigna for over a month now (400mg twice a day) via a study with MD Anderson.  Although my pill bottle says take every 12 hours, the MD Anderson study says take twice a day at least 8 hours apart.  Both the doctor and research nurse have told me at least 8 hours as well.  So although I don't know how it would effect the serum levels, I think 8/16 would be fine.  For the most part I take my pills 10-12 hours apart, but I have had some days when it has been closer to 8 due to the way my schedule is.  Generally I take my pills between 5am-7am and between 4pm-6pm.  On weekdays I often don't get out of bed until 7, but I usually wake up earlier than that and go take the pills then go back to bed.  When I've had to go to MD Anderson for labs, I will eat when I get up (6 am ish) and then take my pills around 8:30am while at MD Anderson.  I'll still take the pills in the evening those days before dinner (so usually 8-9 hours after taking the morning dose).  I like to take my pills before dinner regardless of when I take them in the morning so that I can eat food the rest of the night if I want/need to.  I haven't seen any differences in side effects with the shorter time in between periods.

Stephen

[cometbro]

I was the one who emailed Dr. Druker specifically about this since I didn't want to have a strict schedule when taking this.  He said the 16/8 interval is fine.  I do anywhere from 16/8, 15/9, 14/10 or whatever interval fits into my schedule when not eating for those 3 hours.  I'm not sure what it is doing to my blood serum levels but i've been doing fine as far as counts go and i've been doing this the whole time and i'm at the 7 month mark.

PCR at 3 months - .273%

PCR at 6 months - .0305%

The only really bad issue i've been having is acid reflux, for which I have to take 40mg Omeprazole 2x daily and a 150mg Zantac before going to bed.  So far the reflux is still kind of an issue.  Another issue i've been having is thinning of the eyebrows.  They are getting thinner each week and i'm hoping they hold up.

I'm wondering now if taking the Tasigna at 11pm almost right before going to sleep is making the reflux worse?  Not to mention that usually at night when i'm lying down is when I have the most reflux issues.  Other than this, i'm fine for the most part.