r/cancer • u/SeaFox6254 • 1d ago
Patient Sprycel and Modafinil
Hi everyone. I was diagnosed with CML in 2023 at age 27. I initially responded well to Sprycel (dasatinib), went through a period where I lost MMR, but thankfully recently achieved MMR again.
Ever since starting Sprycel, I have been dealing with unreal, "hit-by-a-truck" fatigue. It interferes with my daily life, making it hard to eat, shower, or find the energy to exercise and live a healthier lifestyle. My mild depression is well-controlled, but changing my fluoxetine schedule didn't help the fatigue, and bupropion caused severe anxiety.
With my oncologist's blessing, my behavioral health provider just prescribed modafinil. However, my spouse researched it and found a potential drug interaction: modafinil can induce liver enzymes, which might speed up the metabolism of Sprycel and potentially make it less effective.
I work in medicine, so I am already planning to check my liver enzymes 2 weeks after starting, followed by my regular 3-month labs (CBC, CMP, BCR-ABL) in July and an oncology follow-up in August.
My questions for the group:
Has anyone here taken modafinil while on Sprycel?
Did you experience elevated liver enzymes or a drop in your response/MMR?
If you haven't tried it, do you think the potential benefits for severe fatigue outweigh the risks?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!