Ibrance (Palbociclib)
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I just started Ibrance and Femara today. I'm hoping these drugs will work well for me with little to no side effects. I feeling pretty hopeful about it. Other than hip, shoulder and rib pain, I feel 100% healthy. I'm starting to eat even healthier than I was and I'm in a cancer support group.
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Hummingbird-so sorry about your mom-sending hugs and prayers!
Babs
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Hummingbird - I'm so sorry to hear your mom's struggles right now. You've already walked down the path ahead of her. I hope that you both will be able to draw support from each other when you need it. The pain of those closest to us is hard to endure. Praying for healing and peace for both of you.
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Hummingbird extra prayers for you and your m poo their. I will be starting rads on Monday to lumbar and sacral Mets. No new Mets showed up on bone scan. Pain free night to all. Marilyn
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Hummingbird, I am so sorry to hear the news on your mom. I can only hope for her what I hope for all of us, that she responds well to treatment and you can be there for each other for many years. Life sure deals us some dirty tricks, but having a loving mother or daughter makes up for a lot.
Rushjackson, Glad to hear you have started treatment and are feeling positive and healthy. Stage IV is a tough adjustment, but sounds like you are doing very well. Hang on to that hopeful outlook, it is one of your best tools.
Marilyn, Good luck with rads next week! Hope you get good pain relief and few se's. Yay for no new mets!
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Hummingbird, This is so difficult for you both and your families. Prayers and hugs for your mom, you and the family. Kathy0
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Hummingbird, prayers and hugs to you. My mom was dx with uterine cancer last week and underwent a full hysterectomy the next day. It turned out to be stage 1 and not other tx is needed, but the stress and emotional aspect is alot when dealing with your own issues. Will keep both of you in my prayers!!
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Hummingbird and now Mama2 my best wishes for health for your mothers. I too have an 86 yr. old mother that I am caring for. It is so difficult when you have your own issues, and you want to help a loved one with their health issues. My prayers for a speedy recovery for us all. Mama2, I know your mother was helping you alot with your babies. I hope you are getting outside help now.
Oy! best wishes to all. Myra
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Hi friends, Thank you ALL so much for your good wishes, concern, prayers, and hugs for my Mom and me. I truly appreciate the support and good advice. You are wonderful ladies, and I am so grateful that even though we never met in person - you really care. To those of you who are also caring for a family member or friend, I'm sending extra hugs and prayers for you too that you all have the strength to help them. Hoping that Ibrance works for us for a long time! We sure need it to!
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Could someone please tell me how long you were on Ibrance before your tumor markers went down. After the first cycle they went up 70 points. The doctor is throwing that count out and see what happens next month. After 1 month they put me on a dose reduction. My counts went low but hoping to go back to the 125mg.
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Sally - Our experiences seem to be all over the place as far as tumor markers. Many have gone up before they come down. Others have come down right away. Others went up somewhat, but scans remained stable. There is some general information about tumor markers (not Ibrance specific) that indicates some patient tumor markers can remain elevated for up to 90 days even if a treatment is working. And of course there are some people for whom tumor markers are not reliable at all. So, don't be alarmed if yours are up after the first cycle. That is not an unusual experience at all. If you have time to read back through some of this thread, there's a lot of discussion about how perplexing this is. Good luck!
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I have a question. Can bc spread to the lymph nodes after a mastectomy and metastasis haveoccurred? Just wondering.
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sallyk, for what it's worth, my TMs went down slightly after my 2nd cycle (they went up slightly after the first, but that was an improvement over earlier, much bigger increases), and my UCLA onc seemed pleased with that, commenting that for many women they can go up for several months before actually coming down. Remember, this drug works totally differently than any other, and we and our oncs are still learning as we go.
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sallyk my tumor markers are all over the place. CA27-29 went down a hundred point during by first cycle on palbo, but my ca15-3 has steadily gone up. I think it's a little early for me to even be watching as I'm only on my second cycle. My onco told be not to expect results for 6-8 weeks. Both of my markers are high so I'm hoping for a decrease or at the very least, stability. I agree with dlb823, this is all really new and we're all learning as we go.
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Thanks for the reply! I had a good run with faslodex 30 months. My markers went down from the first month. At about the 24 month started creeping up. My cancer is in the peritoneal and have several nodes positive in the chest with plural effusion. Praying Ibrance does the trick!!!
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My tumor markers have dropped significantly from the beginning from 203 to 58. This month after cycle 6, they rose for the first time to 62. Seems like everyone's tumor markers have been "off" at some time. I guess it's all a guessing game...this drug is so new and they are still figuring it out
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Hummingbird, Life is not fair is an understatement. I pray for you and your Mom that someone upstairs will cut you girls a break here. One day at a time is all we can do....
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Hi, I started Ibrance/Palbociclib along with Faslodex in August 2015. I was originally diagnosed in 1998 with primary BC but went metastatic in 2001, with one met to the liver. Femara alone made it disappear for 14 years. The liver tumor has come back and I am now on this new combination that has only recently become available outside of trials. YEAH! My CA15-3 tumor marker dropped from 174 to 100 after 2 cycles of the combination, and a 3 month CT follow up showed shrinkage of the tumor. My question has to do with side effects- when is the best time to take the drug etc. You are suppose to take Palbo with food, so I try and take it with dinner. I do have some digestive problems and sometimes have to sit up going to sleep- Pepcid AC has helped a bit. I am more fatigued and had a few very vivid dreams! My tongue has some sores on it, now that I am at the end of the third cycle- sensitive to things with salt now.
Also my doctor does not look at WBC but at the ANC (Neutrophils Auto Count-ANC) to determine if I can continue with chemo. Since it has been below 1.0, I have been off an extra week twice, waiting for it to go back up so I can start the cycle again. Does anyone have this measurement? What is the level of WBC they want? My WBC was in the normal range but not the ANC.
Thanks for listening and being able to answer questions or give me your experience on the is drug combo.
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NinaCa: I think >1.0 is the cutoff for ANC's and >3.0 for WBC's. That's the range my NP told me.
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NinaCa my WBC was 1.7 and ANC was 600. The way I understood they took the neutrophils count and WBC and do a formula and come up with the total ANC. I was stopped 4 days early and then put on a lower dose. I take mine right after supper. Still get a little nausea, fatigued and sore gums.
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Regarding blood counts: That sounds about right, mcsushi. I'm not a medical professional, but here is some info you can run by your onc if you are curious about the guidelines, Nina. According to the sources below, ANC 1.0-0.5 is grade 3, and it is recommended to "withhold initiation of next cycle until recovery to [equal or greater than] Grade 2". If there is Grade 3 with fever or infection, it is recommended to both take a break and lower the dose.
For WBC, Grade 3 is <2-1, Grade 2 is
-2.Ibrance http://www.drugs.com/pro/ibrance.html
CTCAE criteria vs. laboratory parameters http://www.phusewiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=CTCA...
After two cyclesof 125
I got an extra week off and a reduction to 100 because of mouth sores. I did five cycles of that, then got an extra week off and a reduction to 75 because my ANC was only at 1 after my usual week off, and my fatigue has been so bad. It's kind of interesting, because my monthly blood tests had been occurring at the beginning of myusual
week off, with the doctor expecting the ANC to get up in time for the next cycle. But last time, my blood test occurred at the end of my
week off, and we couldn't expect it to rise when I was about to start the med again that day.(Sorry, I don't know what is going on with the formatting here.)
NinaCA, it is great to hear that Femara worked for so many years, and that now Faslodex + Ibrance is working well for you. Regarding when to take Ibrance, I decided to take it at lunch because I didn't want any digestive issues to interfere with my evening classes or my sleep. I also decided to take my other pills at other times, so my body could process one thing at a time.
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Hummingbird, damn life is not fair. Nothing like getting kicked when you are down. I'm sorry your mom has to go through this, and you with her. Like you havent had enough. It pisses me off when some people have nothing bad happen to them EVER, and others have bad things happen to them again and again. It's just not fair!!!!!! ....ok, temper tantrum over.
Welcome Ibrance newcomers. I think you'll find the SEs here "relatively" mild. It also seems that with a lot of us, they actually get a bit better after the first few cycles, once your body gets used to it.
McSushi, I grew up in Philly. Northeast. Now I live in Los Angeles, but I love me some brotherly love. 😊
Stefanie
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Stephanie: you can take the girl out of Philly, but you can't take the brotherly love out of the girl!
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I decided to start tomorrow instead of Sunday. I was lying in bed hearing a great variety of sounds coming from my chest.
I'll be taking letrozole with my Ibrance
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Mcsushi, another Philly girl here! Live 20 minutes south of there!
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Did my 1st test after first 2 weeks of Ibrance. My segmented neutrophils count is high at 90 and Lymphocyte is low at 7. WBC appears normal at 8.2. Would appreciate any guidance
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usha, I'm not a doctor, but I can share what my ULCA oncologist told me, which is that low counts are an expected side effect of Ibrance. They normally will bounce back within a week after stopping the drug (in that 21-28 day "off" period), and if they do not, you can wait a few days longer and hopefully they will by then. She does not even recommend testing before 28 days because she said the drop is totally expected, and women rarely get sick as the result of it. UCLA is one of the medical facilities involved in the trials for this drug, so she has more experience with it than many oncs, including my local one.
Just my input, although others may have different experiences to share. Of course, if your counts don't rebound, then your onc may consider a reduced dosage, but that's something I thankfully have not had to address.
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lynnwood1960: Glad to have another local girl on this thread!
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Thank you everyone for your advice. After looking at the information Shetlandpony posted (very informative document), it looks like they do not reduce the dosage unless there is a fever or infection (or really bad side effect), just change the amount of time off if it is just a low ANC. My doctor has automatically put me on two weeks off after a 21 day cycle. Just wondering which is better, two weeks off or lowering the dose? Does a reduced dosage mean less side effects? I realize this drug is quite new and not everything is known and rules can change with new information. Anyone from Northern California?
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