Hello.
My mother is on Tarceva(150), overall she is fine however there is a great amount o fatigue. She is fine in the morning, goes to work, but she gets really tierded in the afternoon.
She thakes the pill in the morning, and we are thinking that if she would take the pill an the afternoon or before she goes to bed, maybe it would help. However, she is also taking carbamazepine (1 pill at night/brain surgery over a year and a half ago) ad I have read that carbamazapine can interact with Tarceva.
Would moving the Tarceve to afternoon or at night cause a problem (Tarceva-Carbamazepine interaction)?
Could we give her something to boost her strainght (vitamins, stimulants, etc)?
Thany you in advance and please excuse my english (Romania).
(PS, I have made a post earlier on treatments for Kras positive patients. As a last resort option, we tried surgery. The surgeon could not remove the tumor, but he took a bipsy. The tumor is inactive, the tissue was completly necrotized. It was a pseudoprogression :D)
Reply # - December 28, 2013, 09:16 AM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
sergiu, Hello again. No worries, your english very good. I'm glad her new tumor was benign and she's doing quite well on tarceva. Tarceva can cause a lot of fatigue and can set in after she's been on it for a while. Tarceva's side effects can come and go without much warning but my husband stayed pretty fatigued throughout. Many people change the time at which they take the pill for various reasons, fatigued being one.
Dr. West wrote a blog post (linked to below) on the subject of Tarceva Drug and Food Interactions and speaks about tegretol/Carbamazepine. It was written in 2007 and I wonder if practices have changed, such as taking the 2 as far apart as possible, just as you are asking about. I'll ask Dr. West to give the post a look and comment.
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2007/04/14/tarceva-drug-food-interactions/
FYI, if you'd like to ask specific questions like this one it's completely alright to start a new thread in our new questions forum, http://cancergrace.org/forum/q-and-a-ask-us/new-questions under 'Create New Topic in “New Questions” ' For instance you could entitle it tarceva and carbamazapine That way others with the same question may find it with a search.
If you don't mind I might transfer your post to it's own thread. Let me know.
What a great prize to have your mom still working and feeling alright. I hope she is able to find a way to gain a bit more energy.
Janine
Reply # - December 28, 2013, 04:38 PM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
There's no special time to take Tarceva, and it's very reasonable to just shift the time from morning to afternoon or evening. I think that'd be more effective than to expect any real change from changing her diet, and I'd certainly be concerned about stimulants having a potential interaction.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - December 29, 2013, 12:03 AM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
Thank you for you oponion.
However, I am not so much concearned about Tarceva and diet, as I am for a possible Tarceva-Carbamazepine interaction.
She is taking Carbamazeoine 200 (1 pill ay night). If we move the Tarceva (150) to the afternoon of evening, won't they be too close? won't they interact?
Reply # - December 29, 2013, 10:45 AM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
It is a question of the Carbamazeoine interacting with Tarceva, reducing the amount of Tarceva in the body. Since Carbamazeoine has a half-life of 16-24 hours when taken on a regular basis (and Tarceva's is 36 hours), it's going to interact with Tarceva no matter what time she takes it.
As Dr. West stated in the post Janine quoted, the best options would be to find an alternative to Carbamazeoine or use a higher dose of Tarceva.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - December 29, 2013, 10:47 AM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
Thanks Jim! I think Dr. West missed that part of the question. I'm going to make your topic a stand alone thread so there aren't 2 conversations taking place.
No worries on your part sergiu, we all know there's a learning curve that rivals the Grand Prix of Monaco.
All the very best sergiu,
Janine
Reply # - January 5, 2014, 06:14 AM
Reply To: Split: tarceva and carbamazepine
Thank you all for the advice.