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Dasatinib and headaches

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Has anyone got any advice how to deal with the daily headaches.? 

My friend was initially on Imatinib but wasn't progressing enough,but side effects manageable. Then he changed to Nilotinib and suffered liver failure after about 8 months. After a break he has now started Dasatinib and after a week the daily headaches around 4pm have started. I have read this can happen , but how do people cope if painkillers are not recommended? Also how long has anyone found  that they last in terms of weeks or months? Have read a a couple of places that strong coffee helps- is this true??

Any advice greatly received

 

 

 

Hello.

I am also on dasatinib, and when diagnosed I started with the 140mg dosage, taking my pill at 1 pm.
Invariably, at 4:30/5pm the headache used to hit me. It was mostly in my temples area. It was strong, but not impossible to bear; just the feeling you have when you really need sleep.
What I did was taking a nap, for 40 minutes more or less. I must say it really did help.

The good news is that it did not last long; it was strong for 2-3 weeks, then it got milder. Then it changed into a kind of tiredness that used to happen around 6pm.
This got less and less noticeable, until it disappeared completely when my dosage was lowered to 100mg.

Now, every now and then, I get the odd "tired" sensation around 6pm, especially if it was a hard day at work; but I can't really tell whether it's dasatinib or not.

As for the headaches, I'd tell your friend to take some rest and hang on tight for a few weeks, then it should get much better all by itself.

Davide

 

Yes, I have the same Headaches, only started with Dasatinib a bit over a week ago (switched from Imatinib due to lack of effect on ABL)

I take my 100mg in the early evening on nearly empty stomach (as the pills are coated and get absorbed quicker when there's enough stomach acid) and get the headaches around 3am - I simply take 1 Paracetamol and go back to sleep, when I get up at around 6:30 they are gone.

Let's see how long they are coming back, still early days.

Hi there 

My husband is on 100mg Sprycel. He finds the key to avoiding headaches is to drink lots of water ( at least a gallon  a day) . The days he forgets he tends to have a headache in the eve. 

Best, Louise 

Thread continued from: 
Headaches - Please help!