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My queries about CML

Hello Doctor
1.Can a person with CML( on IMATINIB 400 treatment) is possible to proceed with marriage?
2. How long the tablet should be taken?

Hi,

The people on this site are not doctors. We are patients who have had CML and share our experience and knowledge gained over many years for some of us. I hope we can help, but you and your doctor are the people in charge of your treatment.

I assume your marriage question is really about having children. This post on a recent thread has links to a presentation by Prof Jane Apperley on the subject which will I hope be useful.

I was diagnosed 11 years ago and was told I would be on 400mg imatinib for the rest of my life. I was 50 years old at diagnosis. More research has been done and there are now some people who have stopped taking the tablets and remain disease free. For some people the blood results start to show an increase and they started taking the tablets again and the results returned to normal. If you have been diagnosed recently the trials show that the best chance of remaining disease free after stopping is after several years of treatment. My advice would be to think that you are likely to be on the tablets for some years, get all your test results stable and at low levels, and think again.

If you can tell us your blood test results (either test by FISH or BCR-ABL), and when you were diagnosed we may be able to help more.

 

 

Alastair, there is at least one doctor (Samsam) in our forum.  But admittedly not a CML doctor. wink

And to quote the wisdom of Romo,

We are our own doctors.
My Oncologist thinks he’s a genius for not lowering my dose.
I think I am a genius for lowering my dose.
We love each other.

I am responsible for what I put in my body.

Hello Beulaparthiban,

Welcome to the CML forum.

If you are male, then marrying and having children shouldn't be a problem while you are taking imatinib therapy.

If you are female, then it is a much more difficult problem.  As I understand it, a woman should have very low residual CML markers before taking a break from therapy and becoming pregnant.  During time off of therapy, close monitoring should be performed.  In case of relapse, I believe interferon can be used until the baby is born.

It's best to talk to your doctor about this.