[MothasParticipant]

Dear board

next week I’ll be starting my new treatment and I have some questions.

Firstly over at myeloma beacon the profile for Revlimid states the following:

“caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, and street drugs may affect the action of Revlimid”
http://www.myelomabeacon.com/resources/2008/10/15/revlimid/

I’ve never heard before that caffeine might impact on the effectiveness of Revlimid; I do need at least 2 cups of tea to get me going in the morning. The odd glass of wine would be nice too. Anyone got any insights?

Secondly, I’m mentally preparing myself for the dreaded Dex dose in combination. Some people recommend taking it at night but I’ve been prescribed it for morning (with Revlimid as an evening dose). Any knowledge on whether an evening dose of dex would effect the Revlimid would be appreciated.

all the best

Tom

[jeff605Participant]

Hi Tom, I’ve been on your new regime of Dex on Monday morning, Revlimid each evening for some time. I’ve had side effects from the Dex, feel great Mon and Tuesday, usually overdo things and am not quite so good Wednesday, pretty down and tired Thursday, could hang myself Friday, and slowly pick up over the weekend ready to start again ! Once I realised what was causing it I found I could deal with it.The other side effect which I don’t know what’s causing it, are very heavy sweating in the morning, resulting in change of wet clothes, and being completely whacked out until about lunch time. The only time I was delayed in taking the Dex until late in the afternoon I had a terrible nights sleep. I do make sure my coffee and tea are pretty weak. Hope this helps, Best Wishes, Jeff

[MothasParticipant]

Thanks Jeffery

I’ve been scheduled 20mg of 2mg Dex every 4 days so 80mgs a week in total. I believe the standard dose is double that but the specialist thinks for me this should be ok.

Just to let people know I’ve contacted Celgene (who make Rev) directly to ask about caffeine and alcohol consumption impacting treatment so will report back.

[MothasParticipant]

As a follow up Celgene have told me that there is no published research that shows Revlimid is impacted by coffee or alcohol. They have no idea where Myeloma Beacon got the information from but they did send a very detailed letter describing all it’s known interactions.

[jeff605Participant]

Hi, Tom, thanks for the feedback, one thing less to worry over !! Jeff

[scott9Participant]

Hi Tom

You are following in my footsteps. I’ve done the Revlamid/dex and then just Revlamid to keep the cancer at bay. It stopped working then I had a stem cell transplant. I’m now on my 6th session of Pomalidomide and Dex. I take 20 dex pills once a week as early in the morning as possible. I also take one Pomalidomide pill each morning for three weeks then a gap of a week and the whole thing starts again. I was pretty ill last month with one cold after another. This adversely affected the results of my treatment. My light chain reading went up a bit and my kidney function got a bit worse. I’m hoping to get back on track this month. The dex does make sleep difficult and I don’t feel so great the next day, but I can live with it. It does help if I can get in a game of golf that day as it takes my mind off things. It depends on how I’m feeling. I’ve learned to listen to my body these days and if I feel really bad then I do take it easy.

Good luck Tom and keep fighting.

Scott

[Author]

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