Abraxane
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lulu- the day after chemo (day 2) I felt amazing. Then the next day (yesterday) I was in pain, serious body aches and could barely stay awake. Today I’ve been a little achey... nothing like yesterday, but really weak. Especially in my legs. As the day progresses, I tend to feel better. I assume it’s just the worst part, which I’ve read is generally days 3-4.
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Swess - are you doing weekly low dose or a high dose every three weeks?
Lulu - I am very interested that protein keeps your WBC up. That is really important. Any luck with fish, or do you need a steak to accomplish this? Watching my WBC. My strategy for keeping WBC up is a fasting protocol and a low dose of Abraxane on a weekly schedule. It will take a few weeks of watching bloodwork to see how I do with that.
>Z<
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Weekly low dose. Once a week for 3 weeks then one week off.
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I had my treatment today. Robin - I do get pre-meds - Aloxi for nausea and Decadron. Abraxane 420 mg,Avastin 940 mg, Zometa and Neulasta today. Olaparib 150 mg 2 pills 2x per day was started 5 weeks ago. My nausea is getting better - I was told it takes about 2 months to get used to it with Olaparib. Swess - sounds like your side effects kicked in like mine have done. After the first time, Day 3-4 miserable with the body aches - lessened on day 4, then I usually have fatigue. I am on a 3 week schedule. Lisa06 - good luck on your scans - praying for good results. I always get a "fast" read. I meet with my MD about 3 hours later and get my results. There is no way that I could wait more than one day See if you can schedule your PET/CT scan in the morning and meet with your MD in the afternoon. Hopefully, this can be done with your Image group. Z - I hope your bloating is getting better. Thank you for the table - will have to study and make some adjustments. You have such good information. Lulubee - I will have to try your routine. I have never tried coconut water. After reading your post, I want right now is a chocolate glazed Krispy Kreme donut - sounds delicious after being on the BRAT diet for weeks. We don't have them in MN. 8-12 inches of snow starting tonight - will Spring ever come?
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Z, beef boosts RBC (and thus also helps with anemia). I don't know if it affects WBC. I was told oysters boost WBC, and I have recently read one source that said salmon does as well. I haven't yet tweezed out whether there's any connection between omega 3s and WBC.
On chemo, I run low on both RBC and WBC. They typically slip a bit more each week of my chemo cycles, and then recover some on my week off, but after all these years on TX my counts never make it up to normal range anymore. I have been anemic for years, while on various treatments. Low RBC-- oof. I really feel that when they slip lower. Always gives me the drags and makes me feel short of breath. Then I eat a small steak and feel better almost immediately.
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Lulu- you have a very good sense of what you need. Nice work.
>Z<
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Please tell me that this gets easier. This cannot be my new normal. I was so grateful to have such a good 2nd day, I don’t think I was fully prepared for what came next. I feel like I need a neck to lower back brace just to keep myself pulled into an aligned position. Will these aches and pains cease eventually? I have chemo every week and if it’s like this, I don’t know if I can do it. And it’s myunderatanding that this is one of the lesser evils.
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Swess, hopefully that is just temporary. I did weekly abraxane for 5 months and did have some bone pain but it was 1-2 days max. I also took generic Claritin and tramadol to ease the effects. Good luck
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How do I take the Claritin to see if it helps next time? And I may ask for tramadol. Advil sure hasn’t been cutting it. Flexeril seems to help some, which makes sense as my pain seems to be mostly muscular in nature.
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I think there are so many strange side effects with abraxane. I don't have bone pain, but my legs and arms are so weak and I get out of breath so easily. And very tired.
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swess, I have year-round allergies, so I took it daily but you could try a pill the day before, day of and day after treatment and see if it improves. I found the tramadol to work fairly well without affecting my driving, working, etc.
Lisa, I had some weakness too but premeds helped and kept my activity level up enough to cancel out fatigue. Normally, you don’t need premeds with abraxane but I had severe reactions to taxotere and taxol, so my MO wasn’t taking any chances.
Also, if the symptoms become too much, the dose can be reduced. My was by 20% due to neuropathy and it still worked well.
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Swess, that's discouraging but I think it could very well be a introductory blow and things will ease up. I've had horrid first cycles on a few of my treatments. For example, on my first week of Xeloda, I was doubled over with searing pain that literally took my breath away at times and I thought I CAN'T DO THIS. But the second cycle was totally different. My first Taxol infusion was achy and rough, too. My observation is that that was a good sign that the new drug had gotten a bead on the gremlins and there were some shock-and-awe airstrikes happening inside my body. Stay hopeful and see how the next infusion goes.
Drink drink drink water, both the days before and after infusion. Take a lot of showers. Try a heating pad. If it's bone pain, ask for prescription lidocaine patches or at least run to the store and pick up some BioFreeze spray or something like that. That won't make it all go away but it might help you keep on keeping on. I try to avoid opioids because they stop up my gut like crazy, and I feel like it's important to stay regular to keep the spent chemo moving out of the body. But you have to do what you have to do sometimes, so I wouldn't rule them out if all hell broke loose. (I think I remember that tramadol is an NSAID and not an opioid...right?)
I think this will pass, Swess. Keep your chin up! Next week could be a whole different story! Listen to your favorite music--that is *proven* to lower our perception of pain and it has been incredibly helpful to me!-- and watch some good movies. That always takes me somewhere else for a couple of hours which is just the best relief ever when I can't stand my here-and-now reality.
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Swess, I am on the 3 week schedule and have the two days of side effects. So I’m not sure how the weekly would work with having only 5 good days. I was on opioids for multiple rib fractures due to the mets for three weeks and had constipation issues. My MD prescribed Amitiza to help get moving again. Worked gently as the over counter meds didn’t work. Opioids at times are very useful if you need them. I hope and pray for your relief. Lisa
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Lulu, although I hate to know you’ve had some terrible days, thank you for giving me hope that this may be the worst of it.
Medic - I was expecting (though not really prepared for!) 2 days. Today was an unexpected painful / aching day. It actually led me to tears thinking about how this is no life. It hurt to sit, stand or lay. Opioids generally make me sick at my stomach and/or pass out. I guess it won’t hurt to have some on hand for when it gets super bad though.
I wonder what determines if you’re on the weekly vs the 3 week schedule?
Let’s just pretend for a moment that the abraxane knocked the tumors out. Wishful thinking, I know. But if it were to, would I continue to get the chemo? I know this is probably a question to ask my MO, and I will, just wondering your thoughts.
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Swess - The every three week dose is much (~3X) higher and generally has more side effects. I am not having much in the way of side effects from my first dose on the weekly treatment. The doctor started me at 70% of the normal dose due to severe hepatic impairment. The drug is metabolized in the liver and he's worried the liver is not quite up to metabolizing the full dose. In any case, they have discretion in modifying the dose. You may not be metabolizing it well due to any number of reasons. I asked to be pushed up to the full weekly dose on Monday (100mg/m2) because of the lack of side effects. I don't know if MO will do it. We'll see on Monday. We are all individual in how we metabolize these drugs.
I am also fasting two days before treatment and one day after. Doing the IV's in a fasting state has been shown to be protective of normal cells and to sensitize cancer to the drugs in mice. In small human trials (10 patients) fasting reduced side effects. However, combining fasting with the weekly chemo schedule is borderline crazy. I am doing okay with it so far. My body wants to fast. But I am ready to throw in the towel when it gets too hard. The trials with water fasting and chemo have mostly not completed due to lack of compliance. People don't like water fasts. There are now a bunch of trails using a fasting mimicking diet (FMD). The FMD is much less difficult but needs to be longer and therefore not workable with the weekly IV's.
>Z<
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Swess, I knew that Z would have an answer with the weekly/3 week. I'm not sure why my MD put me on the 3 week regime. I didn't know there was a weekly option until I saw it here. I don't know if I could do the weekly and still work full time with only 5 days free of side effects. You definitely have to picture Abraxane killing those tumors. With my March 2017, I blossomed according to my MD and the scan found over 60 bone mets, tumors in my liver, lung and lymph nodes. My MD and myself thought this is it. He started me on Taxol which I had in 2007 and it took 6 months to work. Sorry the pictures are so big, couldn't shrink them down. For the first time, I was in remission.
So in answer to your question on continuing chemo? I stayed on Taxol for another 3 months until my next scan in December 2017, found new mets on my cervical and left hip. I did radiation and also started Abraxane/Avastin and finished in January 2018. March scans showed radiation worked, however 4 new mets on my spine and right hip appeared,so my MD added Olaparib. Uugh! Since then, my TM's haven't gone up or down and have stayed steady. I get them done monthly and he said it was to early to see if Olaparib is working. I am hoping all of this is working and will stay on this regime for a while. Like Z has said - we all metabolize the drugs differently and luckily there are many drugs that we can try. My mom lived 1.5 years with BC in the 70's and I was diagnosed in 2006. There are women here on this site who have had it even longer than me and that is so encouraging. We always have to have hope! Sorry so wordy - we just had 12 inches of snow and expect 1-4 more tomorrow. Stuck in the house! Take care and will see if my side effects show up on Monday and Tuesday as that has been this drug's MO. I am hoping the side effects will lessen like Lulubee has stated. Stay strong! Lisa
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Mediclisa - I have so many mets in the liver, I too wonder if this is it ... Those are amazing and motivating scans. Thanks for posting and laying out your experience.
>Z<
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Z Are you going to get the results of your MRI tomorrow? 💞
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Z - I don't believe this is it for you. You just need to get right drug and I am hoping that Abraxane will be that drug for you. Who would have thought that a drug that I took in 2007 did such a good job for me in 2017? And then, it quit working, so onto the next drug. It's hard to have patience - it took 6 months to work for me. We are so lucky to have all these drugs available to try and hoping there is something on the horizon with women in the studies. I also did a LEE011 Study in 2015 at UAB, when the liver mets showed up and was booted out of the study. Xeloda/Ibrance kept the liver mets in check until I blossomed in 2017. So again, the right drug at the right time. You are so strong and knowledgeable. I also believe that you have to stay positive - hard to do sometimes, easy to say. Hang in there and there is always hope! So glad there is a forum like this so we can share experiences, sorrow and helpful advice. I bring all of this great knowledge to my MD. He was surprised I weaned myself off Gabapentin and is worried about my increasing neuropathy. Trying some supplements to see if that will make a difference. Lisa
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In hopes of encouraging some of you, I am almost 8 months on the A train and am having good results. The first PET showed great improvement of the bone mets and then the late April on showed even further improvement. I’m a bone mets only gal but last summer after failing both Ibrance and Xeloda the Mets we’re getting out of control. Abraxane has brought things back down to manageable.
I am 3 weeks on and one week off. I get Zofran as a premed and seldom have nausea but have significant fatigue most days and some days are easier than others. My legs get wobbly and my nose runs almost constantly!
Z I remember you from one of my last treatment threads. Sorry to see you here, but hope it works well for all of us!
Stay strong!!
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SusanR - I am happy to hear you are doing so well. I will be happy to get such a long run out of this treatment myself. Yes, encouraging.
>Z<
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SusanR, thanks for this. Since you have been on the A train for 8 months, do the side effects get better? We are on the same dosing regime. I have new mets, but hope with time, Abraxane takes care of it. Are you also on Avastin and get Zometa? Hoping my side effects go easy this week. 8 months and more sounds like a great plan. Lisa
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Hi ladies,
I have a very "delicate" question about abranxe. I seem to have bathroom issues-where I go in my pants a bit-it is to the point where I need to where depends when I go out. When I first started this stuff I was constipated-then some diahrea. Now its kind of regular with no warning. So not to be gross, but am I alone in this?
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Lisa, you are not alone. While is didn’t have to wear depends, I did have very little warning sometimes and didn’t make it 3 times. Once I was on the phone with DH and took off running, then crying, it’s a sad moment when you shit yourself. Fortunately, it never happened at work or in public butI only had D on day 6 of weekly abraxane, so I got good prevention by taking an Imodium first thing that morning.
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Is anyone having nose bleeds? I have asked this question before and I know a few of you ladies had mild bleeds. Mine was mild until last week. MY nose is constantly full of dried blood making it hard to breath through nose. Then when I blow my nose "gently" is drips huge drop. My nostrils feel inflamed and I am having headache's off and on......feels like a sinus headache. I have been using a nasal moisturizing spray and sometimes take use a Qtip with vaseline.
Anyone having this problem to this extent?
Robin
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Yes! It has been an ongoing problem since I started this chemo in February. I use vaseline and saline spray. It does not seem to help much.
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Lisa, Thanks for your reply, but I am concerned about the volume. It's a lot!
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I have a lot too. Sometimes it pours out of my nose. I said something to my oncologist and he did not seem too concerned. Not to be gross, but I get clots. I always check my platelets because this has been going on for so long.
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Thanks Lisa! That's exactly what is going on. Huge clots on both sides!! My nostrils also hurt!
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I've had nose bleeds on and off. Once even ended up in the emergency room which was not a fun night. Most important rules are:
- If you are on a blood thinner, hold it for a day when nose bleeds are a problem
- keep your nose well moisturized with spray/moisturizer of both
- absolutely no nose picking/digital trauma
- no hard nose blowing
- keep some Afrin handy for use as a last resort
Large cancer centers generally have a doctor on the ENT team who is the designated "nose bleed guy". (It's a pretty common issues across a wide range of cancers). Go see them if you can't solve the problem yourself.
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