All about Xeloda
Comments
-
Grannax, you look amazing!!
0 -
Grannax welcome back! Boy that is one great looking escort! Looking forward to more pictures....
Just a warning for those of you starting now....when you develop hand and foot problems you'll know it...your hands and feet will get dry, skin will crack and start to slowly peel off and since it will get tangled in everything you touch, you have two options: one is to put a lot of cream to soften it up, protect your hands, and basically do nothing for the rest of the day, the other is to remove the dead skin before appli a little cream, but be careful to sand down the rough spots ever so gently, you don't want to wear out that layer of skin quickly.
I have been on this drug for seven months, I have sand them down only a few time, and although I don't have any open sores yet, I have already lost all my fingerprints, and not from the sanding. I suspect it will now consume the next layer of skin.
Does anyone know what else it destroy apart from cancer cells? What other cells of our internal organs that divide quickly does it wear out? Hummmmm this cat would surel like to know....
0 -
I was told by a chemo nurse that from our mouth to our anus (whole digestive system) is/are fast growing cells. Along with hair. That's why we lose hair and we have digestive problems. At least with some chemo's. I also used a hand lotion I bought in Aruba made with Aloe that really seemed to work. You can buy it on line.
Karen
0 -
0 -
Klmpk thank you for that information....I suspected as much and have been intuitively taking my pills in the middle of meals instead of afterwards. Will it make any difference? Only time will tell....
For those of you that are experiencing D....I have not figured why yet, BUT if you want to resolve that issue without taking medications you might want to try this little trick...consume some cheese in some fashion even once a day...It must have something to do with calcium, but a calcium supplement doesn't work....
my favorite is toasting a 20gms of carbs rice tortilla and letting at least 2 once's of imported cheese melt on it...( all our dairy is contaminated by the milk of cows that are treated with growth hormones and antibiotics) i than top that with a small sliced avocado, and voila effortless perfectly formed stool... that would be the envy of any gastroenterologist
0 -
Hi Grannax2. I found when I was on Xeloda the first time that I would get similar side effects at around 3pm so what I did was to cook basmati rice and have a portion with salt about 2:30pm and after a day or two I stopped the internal side effects. So you might try keeping cooked rice in the fridge and microwave it to help stop the problem. Best to cook a fresh batch each day.
Also as far as feet go. I use to get blisters on the balls of my feet but then I switched to easy spirit romy walking/ tennis shoes and also had weekly reflexology which stimulates the soles of my our feet and after a month I never had another problem.
I am now trying Xeloda again after a 15 month break taking ibrance and so far no side effects but it is early days. I bought new romy walking shoes and stared reflexology and keeping rice at the ready just in case.
I wish you luck and try to push through the side effects as they do lessen and disappear once your body adjusts or at least they did for me.
0 -
Grannax -- Start doing lotions now, and make sure to do them even on the off weeks! I was advised to do a lotion with urea 2x a day. I use udderly smooth with 20% urea (you can get it from amazon) before bed & wear gloves & footie socks to bed. I then use it again in the morning after my shower. Throughout the day, I have found lotions such as gold bond ultimate healing to be helpful. The urea makes you do some light flaking but keeps the hard spots from forming (much like someone mentioned with sanding) and have avoided any peeling so far. I know the side effects are cumulative, but so far I'm doing pretty well on this regimen. My oncology pharmacist stressed doing this from the beginning and to keep doing it in off weeks.
0 -
bro. Good advice. I'm actually feeling less nausea today. Nothing on feet so far. I love rice so that will be a good thing to keep handy. Thanks
0 -
Grannax2,
My wife Liz is just starting her 3rd cycle (14on/7off, 3600mg daily) and has a routine of glasses of water before taking her dose and reclining for a couple of hours after. Nausea has been at a minimum throughout her time with Xeloda.
A few times we have had to travel shortly after taking her morning dose and nausea was very bad. She has recently tried the Sea Bands that go on your wrists and they seem to help.
Grant
0 -
0 -
0 -
0 -
My favorite NYC tourist pic at 9-11 Me
0 -
0 -
Nice pic Grannax2 !! . How's the X treating you these days?. My fatique is the worst part of my side effects but I am learning to manage it.
0 -
I had a bad day yesterday, unable to eat much. Then I had an epiphany last night as I was taking my antibiotic. It smelled and tasted absolutely horrible. Maybe when I finish it tomorrow my nausea and lack of appetite will be better. I'm taking it for the UTI and started it the day after I started X. Duh. Why didn't I notice that until day five? Who knows but it gave me hope.
0 -
Grannax2, So sorry to hear about your bad day yesterday. Hopefully it will get better for both of us. I don't eat much either these last few days too. I am trying to eat saltine crackers and small snacks for a while just to eat something. Seems like if I keep a little food in my stomach, it helps just a bit. Take care, Kathy
0 -
Hi, everybody, I´m in my week off of my first two weeks on, one week off cycle (2 x 1,000 mg a day). I think I have followed almost all the good advice that I´m so happy that you willingly share on this thread.
I have iced my feet for 20 min one hour after taking the pills, icing my hands did not feel good, so I dropped that. Instead of wearing thin nylon socks as I used to I have changed to cotton socks, which, however, seems to be too much when wearing shoes. So I found some outrageously expensive (compared to what I usually pay for socks) silk socks at a French on line shop, which are somewhere between my nylon and cotton socks. I have not yet tested whether my investment pays off.
When in contact with water I wear gloves except after toilet visits and during short showers. I even wear gloves when washing my hair. I use a cream with a 49% fat content in the morning for my feet, and a 25% urea cream at bedtime for both hands and feet. During the day I use the fatty cream each time my hands have been in contact with water, so I have made sure that the steel door handles at my work place and in my house will not dry out :-)
Sometimes in the evening my feet have been hot, and my fingertips feel somewhere between sensitive and sore.
I take the pills immediately after a (not too big) meal, and have had no nausea.
I´m a planner, so I would appreciate if you would share your experience with hair thinning before I rush out and get a pixie hair cut.
Grannax2, great pictures - you rock! Hope you will be feeling better soon.
0 -
ADDK, no hair thinning for me. My hair got a bit thicker when I stopped anti-estrogen therapies and started Xeloda.
I have had no cracking on feet or hands except for when I was using dental floss wrapped around my fingers; that caused cuts. For me hfs has meant skin redness and texture change, sharp cuticles, sometimes a burning feeling on feet or palms of hands, partially lifted big toe nails, sometimes peeling fingertips (but not to the point of bleeding). None of this interferes with my life too much. I avoid heat, pressure, and friction on my hands and feet. For example I get help with opening tight jar lids, use warm water only for showers and cold water in the kitchen. I rinse my feet every night and apply lotion. (I rotate among Shikai borage foot lotion, O'Keeffe's Healthy Feet that has urea, and Everyone lotion that has coconut oil -- all no fragrance. Lots of hand lotion all day.
My eyes are often dry and irritated. I have dark chemo circles under my eyes but still look ok especially with makeup. Sometimes loose stool but manage with diet. Tired but but more livable since dose reduction.
All in all, I like Xeloda as a treatment and prefer it to all my others except Tamoxifen (which failed to keep me going stage iv).
Dose 2500 for a while, now 2000 per day; 14/7 1 year and 9 months About every six months an extra week off. Tumor marker (accurate for me) low normal.
Miaomix, regarding your scan schedule, you can revisit the question each month. You don't have to commit to any particular interval.
0 -
Add when I was on 2500 I didn't have any foot probs except one day when I walked a lot I got a big blister on the ball of one foot. I didn't do much with the feet because I grew dearly of it after messing with them every day in the beginning. My hair didn't get then but got wild and wooly. I washed it about 2-3 times a week and let it air dry. It's still looked like cotton candy when it dried. I had very dry eyes and the thing that worked best was coconut oil every night. Right in the eyes. Better than any kind of drop, even the preservative free expensive ones. My lashes got very long from using it too!
0 -
HLB. I’ve got to get that for my eyes. I so want eyelashes again.
You all are so organized, not me. My feet feel just like they always do so far. One week into 3000 a day. I am diabetic so I have burning stinging sensations all the time. I have done nothing to prepare. I know, not good.
Hopefully I will get inspired by your routine, Shetland Pony.
0 -
Hi HLB, did you follow up with any treatment for blister on your foot and what was the outcome? I have been on this forum for more than a week as my wife started on Xeloda recently four weeks after having radiation for her liver mets. Currently she is on her second cycle of 3000 mg daily (three tabs twice a day) two weeks on and one week off. Her first cycle went without any noticeable side effects except for stomach pains which we thought was due to radiation. She walks daily in the mall for forty five minutes with her friend but has started to have pain in her feet. Today, she had a blister on ball of one of her feet similar to what you described HLB. Her oncologist had recommended using Bag Balm for HFS but so far she has been using Petroleum Jelly as we could not find Bag Balm locally in Mississauga/Toronto vicinity.
Also, question for all the incredible X ladies, any views on going to swimming pool for aqua fitness when having HFS?
0 -
Concerned, I wouldn't recommend the pool, due to all the chemicals in it.
0 -
Thanks Goldie for your prompt response.
0 -
Concernedbuthopeful,
My wife Liz is halfway through her third cycle. We also had difficulty finding the MO recommended Bag Balm in Toronto. The pharmacy at PMH informed us that there is a supplier shortage and they won't expect any till end of April (this was 6 weeks ago). We got it from Amazon USA and received it in 3 days.
https://www.amazon.com/Vermonts-Bag-Balm-Condition...=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=bag%2Bbalm&qid=1551265048&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&th=1
I was a little concerned about Liz swimming and the chemicals in the pool but she has been swimming lengths semi regularly and it seems to be fine. Our gym seems to use less chlorine than the local community pool (just guessing) and maybe that helps a little. Also, she is not doing aquafit so there is no pressure on her feet while she is in the pool.
Prayers to all the girls on the forum.
0 -
Concerned, I didn't do anything for the blister. It just cleared up on its own. It was due to the friction of walking around at an art festival all day. It seems if you wear shoes that are tight enough not to let your foot move around that should be helpful. I never really had much trouble but the feet got extremely dry. I used 40 percent urea sometimes to get rid of that dry layer and not let it get thick. I washed my feet well every day thinking it could be helpful to was the medicine off that might be leaking into the soles, but I'm not totally sure that is what happens. I think the bottom line is when it gets too bad, reduce the dose. I nly reduced by one pill and never had any problem after that except that one time that I walked all day. When I started at 3000 per day I had sore feet 9 days in, as well as the dry eyes and a red spot on my face.
Grann I didn't wear eye makeup for a few months because my eyes were so bad. When I did wear it again I was so surprised how long the lashes were when I put mascara on! Two swipes each lash and they bloomed way out. Normally I'm putting in on top, putting layers on etc. Right now I have almost no lashes from abraxane but I will definitely be using the coconut oil! I think it helped to heal my eyes.
0 -
I'm through with the antibiotic for my UTI. Evidently it was causing the nausea. Now, I'm only having one SE on Xeloda. Loose stool. I'm sure I have a pill for that in my huge supply of meds. I'm still not wanting to eat much but I am maintaining my weight.
All in all, I'm doing well so far.
0 -
lizo1, thanks for your response. Actually, we had asked the PMH pharmacy about Bag Balm also and got a similar answer. The pharmacist suggested using Petroleum Jelly instead and that is what my wife has been using. But today, her feet were really hurting and she had difficulty walking. Her hands are dark with some pain. As per instructions brochure given to us by the Oncologist, we called PMH and were advised to stop taking Xeloda immediately and we will see the Oncologist next Tuesday. Don't know if it is going to be a reduced dose or change over to some other medication. She has already been on Letrozole first and then Ibrance/Faslodex since December 2014.
HLB, thanks for responding as well. Your suggestion about using tight fitting shoes is very logical as it is friction that may be causing the pain. As I mentioned above, she has stopped Xeloda as of now till next Tuesday. But today, she is using cold pack on her feet and that seems to be helping. If she continues on Xeloda with reduced dosage, we will certainly try tight fitting shoes.
0 -
HLB, to avoid HFS I now wear thicker socks than I used to so my shoes feel quite tight. Yesterday I wore shoes all day (little walking, though), and at night my feet were red and very hot. I always had cold feet and have not yet skin issues on my feet from Xeloda. I was thinking of getting larger shoes - is this a bad idea in your opinion?
At yesterday´s appointment with my MO I found out that during the first cycle I have only taken 2/3 of the prescribed dose. I was overwhelmed by the amount of pills that they handed out to me when I started Xeloda, so I thought they had given me pills for at least two cycles. Instead af taking 2 x 1,450 mg a day I took only 2 x 1,000 mg a day during the first cycle. This perhaps explains my minimal SEs.
0 -
Hi everyone,
Just finished first full week of Xeloda. The only side effect I have is severe constipation. I have been taking miralax and did a glycerin depository last night and nothing. It’s been like 5 days. Called Dr. hopefully won’t have to go there. Also, I have been drinking extra water and having a lot of fiber rich foods. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you, Ilene0
