Hydrea and Gleevec for MDS

[gasamere]

I was diagnoses with MDS since October 2012. I was placed on Hydrea and my CBC and differential counts were up and down and never come to a normal level. Then another chemo -Glevec was added to my treatment. Currently I am on both medications. I am under enormous distress and need to here experiences from others? I wander if my treatment plan is based on the type of my insurance. Please help me understand.

[Shazza]

Originally Posted by gasamere

I was diagnoses with MDS since October 2012. I was placed on Hydrea and my CBC and differential counts were up and down and never come to a normal level. Then another chemo -Glevec was added to my treatment. Currently I am on both medications. I am under enormous distress and need to here experiences from others? I wander if my treatment plan is based on the type of my insurance. Please help me understand.

Hi Gasamere,
I think it best you start a new thread. Your post would be seen by more people who would be better qualified to answer your questions.
Best wishes Shazza

[Marrowforums]

gasamere: We moved your question to its own forum thread as Shazza suggested.

[Caregive]

I am not familiar with either of these meds. Let's see who might recognize those names.

[Barbara K]

Hi--sorry to hear of your situation and concerns.

The one drug you mention is probably Gleevec, which was a drug developed around 2000 or so to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)--a form of bone marrow cancer that is diagnosed in most patients by the appearance of what's known as the Philadelphia chromosome. This occurs when parts from two different chromosomes trade places, I believe. My nephew has been taking Gleevec since he was maybe 14 or so (he's now 27). He was diagnosed with CML in 2000 as a 13 year old and underwent a BMT that didn't succeed, but he managed to survive and by that point the drug was just coming out of clinical trials. He was I guess one of the very first pediatric patients to take it--and it's been a miracle drug for him. Now it is the front-line treatment for CML, I think. I had heard that they also use this drug for other types of cancers. It's supposed to stop the cells from manufacturing an aberrant protein or something like that so it's not as toxic as traditional chemo.

The other one I don't know. I think that before his bone marrow transplant my nephew might have been on a drug called hydroxyurea.

Hopefully others can chip in more information. Best wishes, Barbara