What a group!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

After reading about your embarrassing moments, I would like to ask how many of

you

had your gall bladder removed? This is one cause for having loose bowels and if

you take Gleevec, you double the odds of having diarrhea. I have been in other

trials, besides Gleevec, so I don't blame it on one particular drug, as the

other TKI's are the

same for me. Imodium does not do it for me, I have to take a class of drugs

called opiods, like paregoric and Lomotil. Lately it happens late in the

evening before I go to bed and only then does Imodium work, because then I go to

sleep. Everyone needs to explore their options to see what works best for them.

Read on.

This is a very interesting article from Merck on diarrhea and its causes.

http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual_ha/sec3/ch55/ch55c.html

Diarrhea caused by chemotherapy:

.... " Chemotherapy is especially threatening, since it works by destroying rapidly

dividing cells, which include cancer but also normal cells found in the

intestinal walls. "

" AL B. BENSON III, MD, FACP: When this happens, the normal mechanism of the

intestinal tract is severely affected. Normally the intestinal tract is helping

us to absorb water, other liquids and foods, but if the lining of the intestine

is affected, that process cannot occur, and so what happens is that there is

excessive water in the intestinal tract, and that leaves the body as very loose

stool or diarrhea. " Much more information at the web site listed below.

http://www.wellsphere.com/cancer-article/chemotherapy-and-diarrhea/79961

FYI,

Lottie Duthu