Maybe a silly question...

pjune127
pjune127 Member Posts: 127
in Kidney Cancer #1
Here's what might sound like a silly question. If having elevated BP is a sign that Sutent is working, then if you take more BP medicine and lower your pressure, are you counteracting the Sutent?

Comments

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #2
    Sutent
    Probalby not, but ask your doctor rather than one of us guessers.

    Icemantoo
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798
    #3
    icemantoo said:

    Sutent
    Probalby not, but ask your doctor rather than one of us guessers.

    Icemantoo

    BP
    What iceman says is right - ask your doctor. Nonetheless, I'm prepared to guess that the answer is no BUT if you're thinking of upping BP medication without consulting your doctor, you're crazy. Do as iceman says and ask your medical advisors.
  • pjune127
    pjune127 Member Posts: 127
    #4
    Texas_wedge said:

    BP
    What iceman says is right - ask your doctor. Nonetheless, I'm prepared to guess that the answer is no BUT if you're thinking of upping BP medication without consulting your doctor, you're crazy. Do as iceman says and ask your medical advisors.

    BP
    Omigosh, Texas, I would never do that! My BP was way high three weeks ago and the onc told me to talk to my GP about adjusting my BP meds. The GP added 10mg of lisinopril after conferring with a nephrologist. So now I take 50 mg ToprolXR, 10 mg of Norvasc, and 10mg of lisinopril and my pressure seems to have come down. (I also went off the Sutent for an extra week, due to BP and other unpleasant side effects I was experiencing.) I will ask the oncologist when I go in two weeks, but I suspect his answer will be that it does not counteract the effects of the Sutent. Just thought someone might have already had this question answered.

    BTW, thanks so much for your concern...both you and Iceman. You never fail anyone on these boards. God bless you!
  • jam66
    jam66 Member Posts: 55
    #5
    pjune127 said:

    BP
    Omigosh, Texas, I would never do that! My BP was way high three weeks ago and the onc told me to talk to my GP about adjusting my BP meds. The GP added 10mg of lisinopril after conferring with a nephrologist. So now I take 50 mg ToprolXR, 10 mg of Norvasc, and 10mg of lisinopril and my pressure seems to have come down. (I also went off the Sutent for an extra week, due to BP and other unpleasant side effects I was experiencing.) I will ask the oncologist when I go in two weeks, but I suspect his answer will be that it does not counteract the effects of the Sutent. Just thought someone might have already had this question answered.

    BTW, thanks so much for your concern...both you and Iceman. You never fail anyone on these boards. God bless you!

    I had the same question!
    Hi pjune,

    I asked my doctor that same question a while back. The bp medication does NOT interfere with the Sutent. Both medications will still do their jobs.

    I just finished my Sutent 4 days ago, and I'm still feeling SO tired. A few other annoying side effects linger. Waiting to feel normal again. Well, at least my new version of normal...

    Sending good thoughts to you that the Sutent is working!

    Jennifer
  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    #6
    pjune127 said:

    BP
    Omigosh, Texas, I would never do that! My BP was way high three weeks ago and the onc told me to talk to my GP about adjusting my BP meds. The GP added 10mg of lisinopril after conferring with a nephrologist. So now I take 50 mg ToprolXR, 10 mg of Norvasc, and 10mg of lisinopril and my pressure seems to have come down. (I also went off the Sutent for an extra week, due to BP and other unpleasant side effects I was experiencing.) I will ask the oncologist when I go in two weeks, but I suspect his answer will be that it does not counteract the effects of the Sutent. Just thought someone might have already had this question answered.

    BTW, thanks so much for your concern...both you and Iceman. You never fail anyone on these boards. God bless you!

    Hi Pjune127
    Hi I am no expert by any stretch,but since I was dx in 2011 I have spent a lot of time studying the drugs that are used to treat this type of cancer.This Is my belief and my belief only but from all the imformation I have received I feel the drug Sutent is a good RCC drug for lung mets but is ineffective for bone mets,what I am trying to say is that I feel Sutant is a good drug that offers more of a stable control of RCC but only less than a 5% chance of becoming cancer free where as a drug called HD-IL 2 offers up to 10% or even more of being cured from this disease .I don't want to scare you or question your onc I just hate this disease and I want every one to beat this.
  • pjune127
    pjune127 Member Posts: 127
    #7
    Limelife50 said:

    Hi Pjune127
    Hi I am no expert by any stretch,but since I was dx in 2011 I have spent a lot of time studying the drugs that are used to treat this type of cancer.This Is my belief and my belief only but from all the imformation I have received I feel the drug Sutent is a good RCC drug for lung mets but is ineffective for bone mets,what I am trying to say is that I feel Sutant is a good drug that offers more of a stable control of RCC but only less than a 5% chance of becoming cancer free where as a drug called HD-IL 2 offers up to 10% or even more of being cured from this disease .I don't want to scare you or question your onc I just hate this disease and I want every one to beat this.

    Hi Limelife
    I had an 11 cm tumor removed along with my right kidney in July 2011. My right IVC was involved, so I had open chest surgery as well. The CT scan showed places in my lungs that were highly suspicious of RCC, but they have never been biopsied. No bone or brain involvement. I have been taking Sutent since August of last year and subsequent CT scans have shown significant reduction and/or resolution of everything in both lungs. Sutent is working for me.

    When I was diagnosed in May of 2011, I was told about IL2. I was told that I would probably be a good candidate in spite of my age (60). I think the cutoff is 58. I pondered the thought and made the decision to live and manage this "condition" (as my oncologist calls it). The success rate was not high enough for me and all the things I read about it scared me terribly. Call me a coward, but I did not want to "go to the edge" and be brought back several times. I just am happy living each day and enjoying my grandchildren, my husband, and my life.

    Of course I want to beat this disease, but I want quality too. And even with IL2 I would always be "looking in the rear view mirror" waiting for this beast to emerge again. I'm doing that now, but I suppose that's my personal choice. I do thank you for mentioning this to me. It doesn't scare me and I appreciate your caring about me.
  • pjune127
    pjune127 Member Posts: 127
    #8
    jam66 said:

    I had the same question!
    Hi pjune,

    I asked my doctor that same question a while back. The bp medication does NOT interfere with the Sutent. Both medications will still do their jobs.

    I just finished my Sutent 4 days ago, and I'm still feeling SO tired. A few other annoying side effects linger. Waiting to feel normal again. Well, at least my new version of normal...

    Sending good thoughts to you that the Sutent is working!

    Jennifer

    sutent
    Hey Jennifer! Thanks. I was sure I wasn't the first person to wonder about that! I take 37.5 mg 2 weeks on and 1 week off. I am so ready to stop after 2 weeks that I cannot imagine what it must be like to take it for 4 weeks at a time. I am wiped out after 2 weeks! My BP and other side effects got to a point where the doctor told me to take 2 weeks off. I was really starting to feel like myself and then I went back on the meds this past Monday. So far so good.

    Here's a random question...if/when we stop taking Sutent will our hair grow in dark? I am pretty white right now...everywhere!
  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    #9
    pjune127 said:

    Hi Limelife
    I had an 11 cm tumor removed along with my right kidney in July 2011. My right IVC was involved, so I had open chest surgery as well. The CT scan showed places in my lungs that were highly suspicious of RCC, but they have never been biopsied. No bone or brain involvement. I have been taking Sutent since August of last year and subsequent CT scans have shown significant reduction and/or resolution of everything in both lungs. Sutent is working for me.

    When I was diagnosed in May of 2011, I was told about IL2. I was told that I would probably be a good candidate in spite of my age (60). I think the cutoff is 58. I pondered the thought and made the decision to live and manage this "condition" (as my oncologist calls it). The success rate was not high enough for me and all the things I read about it scared me terribly. Call me a coward, but I did not want to "go to the edge" and be brought back several times. I just am happy living each day and enjoying my grandchildren, my husband, and my life.

    Of course I want to beat this disease, but I want quality too. And even with IL2 I would always be "looking in the rear view mirror" waiting for this beast to emerge again. I'm doing that now, but I suppose that's my personal choice. I do thank you for mentioning this to me. It doesn't scare me and I appreciate your caring about me.

    Ok
    Ok thnx for your explanation Pjune127 I respect you decision and hope you can keep this beast in check for many years to come.
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798
    #10
    Limelife50 said:

    Ok
    Ok thnx for your explanation Pjune127 I respect you decision and hope you can keep this beast in check for many years to come.

    BP, Il2, Sutent
    pjune, I was relieved to hear you weren't contemplating a unilateral experiment. It's handy that, amazingly, Jennifer had been there before with your question and was able to give you the answer. Another forum score! (I'm entertained by how interested you ladies are in getting free hair colour jobs but I must confess to being intrigued to know the answer to that question too - I'm guessing that the drug-induced colour change is reversible.)

    In replying to Mike on Il2 you mentioned an age cut-off. In the UK it's probably not the same, but I hadn't known about an age qualification. Is it so, over there, or is it just an initial indication of likely heart, lung, liver robustness and consequent capacity to take the hammering HD Il2 gives? I ask out of more than academic interest, although a passing suggestion was made to me that, if my second op isn't effective, Sutent may be indicated in my case.

    Being interested in BP, I find it interesting that there's a significant risk of hypertension with Sutent and of hypotension with Il2! BP measurement is accepted as being still a very inexact art but I sometimes speculate that seemingly anomalous data may be due less to inaccuracies of measurement than to the under-appreciated variability of BP in most people. Admittedly I'm always an oddball but I find my systolic pressure, in particular, can shift by 20 or 30 points in less than ten minutes, sitting calmly under constant conditions. What is your typical measurement? Have you noticed much variation? Have you had ambulatory monitoring? What kind of range have you had, as between pre-treatment BP, BP controlled by meds and current on-Sutent levels?

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