Hi,
I am on a medication of imatinib for CML. My doctors advise was to avoid any exercises except walking. He even advised against swimming since it could cause infection. But its hard to stay fit with only walking and i am gaining weight. Is there any of you doing any exercise to keep fit?
Regards
Refaye
Hi Refaye,
It may be worth challenging your doctor on this or seeking another opinion.
For the majority of CML patients, exercise is encouraged and most find it helps ease the side effects as well s taking your mind off the disease.If there are other medical issues, your doctor may well have a point but in general reasonable exercise should be fine if its just CML you have.
I was diagnosed in August 2010 and continued doing the same exercise I've always done. Running, squash, swimming , the gym and 5-a-side football are all part of the activities I enjoy from time to time.My consultant is fully aware and just tells me to get on with it!
Hope it all works out for you and keep us posted how you get on.
Cheers
Dave M
Hi Rafaye,
A keen squash player I was diagnosed back in September 2011 and put on Imatinib. I could not play for a few weeks while my spleen reduced in case of impact injury. Once normal I started replaying and play 3 to 4 times a week to a reasonable standard, thus a lot of movement etc. No problem at all with the exercise and doctors are more than happy with this. Hope this helps.
Nigel
Hi Refaye
I eased off exercise for the first few months or so, mainly because I felt I just wanted to let everything settle down while I and my body got used to imatinib.
However, I now exercise regularly and find it helps a lot in avoiding tiredness. As for infection, if the imatinib is working your risk of infection should be no different from any one else.
The only thing I am a little careful about is weights- I take those a bit easy as I do get cramps sometimes.
Good luck - and stay fit!
Richard
Hi Rafaye,
as long as your white counts are in normal range....especially neutrophils.... you should be able to swim without an increased infection risk. Neutorophils deal with bacterial infections etc... so ask about your ANC (absolute neutrophil count) which should be anything between 1. and 8... see snip for normal blood counts which you can find on the FAQ page.
"The overall White Blood Cell (WBC) count is important to monitor as a significant elevation in WBC may indicate infection, lack of response to treatment, or worsening of leukemia. Conversely, some treatments for leukemia suppress the WBC and it is important to make sure the WBC does not dip below a critical range. The normal range for WBC is generally from 4.0 to 11.0 k/ul.
Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell involved in fighting infection. It is important they remain at adequate levels. As
with platelets, neutrophil levels may become depressed in patients on myelosuppressive therapy such as imatinib
mesylate (also called IM , Gleevec or Glivec ). The normal range of the percentage of neutrophils is between 45% and
70%.
More important than the percentage of neutrophils is the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) , which should fall between 1.0
to 8.0 k/ul. The reason the ANC represents the true clinical picture better than the percentage of neutrophils is that, in
cases where blood counts are suppressed by therapy, the percentage of neutrophils will be higher when the overall counts
are low."
As others have said... you really should not stop exercise over the longer term, in fact you should increase it if you feel able to.
Even just walking is to be encouraged if you cannot do much else, but certainly if you are used to exercise then as soon as you have normal counts and you can see that imatinib (IM) is working to control your CML then- act as normal. You should not be any more at risk of infection than the next person. If your blood counts are under control then swim on.
Best wishes,
Sandy
My husband was told not to do anything while spleen was enlarged and white count was bad but since then he is at the gym three times a week and we take the girls swimming every week.
