Lapatnib & Liquor? or Tykerb & Tequila?

[NEDenise]

Friends...
I find myself craving a Margarita (with salt, on the rocks)...but I keep forgetting to ask my onc whether Tykerb and Tequila are good bed-fellows.

Of course, I realize that I can't wash the Tykerb down with the Margarita...but will a Margarita after dinner stop the midnight Tykerb from killing the BC beasties in my brain?

Anybody out there know?
Denise

[chrisy]

I think as long as you don't have grapefruit juice you're ok

Seriously, I've never heard specifically that alcohol would interfere with the action of tykerb...

There are different philosophies on it. My onc has always said its a quality of life issue and doesn't object to a little consumption in moderation of course. It's a different story if you are on chemo or meds that stress your liver, or if you are dealing with liver mets because then our liveris Lready working pretty hard.

I'd get the ok from you doctor tho, not some ignorant patient like me!

Of course, Tiptoe was known to be quite the lush. Just sayin...

[NEDenise]

Chris, my friend...
I thought you might be the first to notice my new thread...and you didn't let me down. I knew the alliteration and levity would spark your interest!
Thanks for the advice!
Denise
PS - any news?

[MJsHusband]

Denise,
I haven't seen anything that says you must not have any alcohol with Tykerb. MJ enjoys a Blue Moon beer or two every now and then. There needs to be a balance with quality of life too I think.
@Chrisy, I know we were told to not drink grapefruit juice and to take Tykerb on an empty stomach for some reason, but did you see the link posted by gdpawel on the Xeloda and Tykerb thread in the Herceptin / Tykerb forum? Here's the link. Interesting I thought.

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/23/3397.full.pdf

~Greg

['lizbeth]

Is it the tequila or the salt you are craving?

[Laurel]

I believe it is very acceptable and even recommended as long as you raise your glass in a toast saying, "Cheers to all my Her2 sisters (and bros) and cancer be damned!"

BTW, where is our little furry lush, Tiptoe? Anyone know? I've lost track!

[Pamelamary]

Hi Denise,
I say go for it! After my latest scan, my oncologist actually told me to go celebrate with a few glasses of wine! But then, he's Irish!!??!!
Si it's margaritas for the mets, booze for the brain - quality of life.
Best wishes.... Pam

[Deb33]

Honestly I drank through all of my treatments - except a few days before and after. My Onc told me to live Life so that's what I did. Never had an issue and loved every moment.

[LoisLane]

Cancer be damned is right! Lets have a Margarita party! I love the people on Her2 xo

[chrisy]

@mjshusband - yes, I read that article when it was published. I think the issue is really that you cannot control absorption levels of many oral meds unless on empty stomach, the grapefruit question etc.just adding too many variables to what dose is actually being received by the body.

[dearjilly]

I'd like to join you in Margaritaville!

[NEDenise]

Jill,
It's a date! Tonight...Friday, 3/8...at 8pm Eastern time...I will be toasting you from deep in the heart of Margaritaville! Hope to see you there...in spirit, anyway!!

If you miss this message...and we have to re-schedule...darn! Another date in Margaritaville....can I stand the strain?!

Denise

[Jackie07]

Acta Oncol. 2013 Feb;52(2):327-35. doi: 10.3109/0284186X.2012.746466. Epub 2012 Dec 17.
Changes in body mass index and alcohol and tobacco consumption among breast cancer survivors and cancer-free women: a prospective study in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health Cohort.

Bidstrup PE, Dalton SO, Christensen J, Tjonneland A, Larsen SB, Karlsen R, Brewster A, Bondy M, Johansen C.
Source

Survivorship, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark. pernille@cancer.dk

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

A breast cancer diagnosis has been suggested as a teachable moment when a woman is more open to making healthier lifestyle changes. Little is known about the health behaviour changes women with breast cancer initiate compared to those made by other women.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:

We examined changes in body mass index (BMI) and tobacco and alcohol consumption among women with a diagnosis of breast cancer and among cancer-free women. We used data from 23 420 women aged 50-64 years who participated in the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort, of whom 449 were diagnosed with breast cancer between baseline (1993-1997) and follow-up (2000-2002), and 22 971 remained cancer-free. We used multiple linear regression analysis to examine differences in BMI and alcohol and tobacco consumption between the two groups and to examine whether demographic and prognostic factors were associated with behavioural changes in women with breast cancer.
RESULTS:

There were no significant differences in changes in BMI, alcohol and tobacco consumption between the two groups. Only in sub-analyses among women who lost weight between baseline and follow-up, women with breast cancer lost more weight than cancer-free women (β = 0.2; CI 0.1; 0.4), but residual confounding from stage cannot be excluded. Among the women with breast cancer we found no significant changes in BMI, alcohol and tobacco consumption by level of education, marital status, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or radiation.
CONCLUSION:

Women with breast cancer did not reduce their BMI, or modify their alcohol use or tobacco consumption compared with cancer-free women. This study indicates that guidelines and interventions to change health behaviour are needed after a cancer diagnosis.

[Jackie07]

http://www.drugs.com/food-interactio...professional=1

Am J Public Health. 2013 Feb 14. [Epub ahead of print]
Alcohol-Attributable Cancer Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost in the United States.

Nelson DE, Jarman DW, Rehm J, Greenfield TK, Rey G, Kerr WC, Miller P, Shield KD, Ye Y, Naimi TS.
Source

David E. Nelson and Paige Miller are with National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. Dwayne W. Jarman is with Food and Drug Administration, Detroit, MI, and US Public Health Service, Rockville, MD. Jürgen Rehm and Kevin D. Shield are with Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario. Thomas K. Greenfield, William C. Kerr, and Yu Ye are with Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, CA. Grégoire Rey is with INSERM, CépiDc, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France. Timothy S. Naimi is with Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA.

Abstract

Objectives. Our goal was to provide current estimates of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality and years of potential life lost (YPLL) in the United States. Methods. We used 2 methods to calculate population-attributable fractions. We based relative risks on meta-analyses published since 2000, and adult alcohol consumption on data from the 2009 Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and 2009-2010 National Alcohol Survey. Results. Alcohol consumption resulted in an estimated 18 200 to 21 300 cancer deaths, or 3.2% to 3.7% of all US cancer deaths. The majority of alcohol-attributable female cancer deaths were from breast cancer (56% to 66%), whereas upper airway and esophageal cancer deaths were more common among men (53% to 71%). Alcohol-attributable cancers resulted in 17.0 to 19.1 YPLL for each death. Daily consumption of up to 20 grams of alcohol (≤ 1.5 drinks) accounted for 26% to 35% of alcohol-attributable cancer deaths. Conclusions. Alcohol remains a major contributor to cancer mortality and YPLL. Higher consumption increases risk but there is no safe threshold for alcohol and cancer risk. Reducing alcohol consumption is an important and underemphasized cancer prevention strategy. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print February 14, 2013: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.301199).