AC treatment
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last AC treatment for mom on Monday!!! I am stoked.
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I'll likely to switch to AC from TC after reacting to the taxotere 3 times in 3 tries.
Does everyone using AC get an echocardiogram before starting?
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MountainMia - I did get one before starting AC but mostly because I asked for it. My MO actually made it an option. I never had any cardiac issues but I just wanted a baseline. Since finishing AC I haven’t felt any cardiac issues either so I’m not planning on getting another one.
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Thank you for sharing kber. I am one A/C down and gearing up for round two (ding ding). I too have a big aggressive tumor and was so excited to see your post. “Big Bertha” was really painful before last week, now the pain is gone. How fast did you see shrinkage? Call me impatient but really can not wait for it. Leading up to chemo it just kept growing soooo fast! Anyone else have similar success???
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I got the echocardiogram before starting ac. After completing and before my prophylactic surgery, I asked for another to make sure I was strong enough
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hello everyone! How is everyone doing? I had round 2 last week and I have been pretty tired since then. Nausea is still the worst side effect. Trying to walk everyday as that really seems to help. This weekend my hair started to fall out. It felt really good to shave it off. Why do I feel like I should be singing Sinead O’Connor songs all day lol!
Peace and healing thoughts to you all!!!
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Hi all, I’m wishing everyone here minimal SEs and happy days:)
I’m just checking in... I’m on day #3 after AC #1/4... so far day 1 has been the worst for me. Just had some nausea and lots of head fog. Days 2 & 3 have been good. A couple moments here and there I’ve felt queasy but have just taken my rescue nausea meds and it seems to settle it down. One thing I found that helped especially on day 1 was adding OTC “Gravol” (Canada on top of prescription meds. This seemed to help me sleep and not feel much tummy upset at all.
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I just saw the post from pcranky dated 3/11/19. I found it very helpful. I am having the four DD AC first, followed by four DD Taxol. Treatments two week apart. I have been searching through this discussion board looking for other people's experience with AC. I have been looking for hints on managing SEs. I have had two AC treatments so far. The very worse thing for me has been a headache. Between treatments 1 and 2 they changed one of the IV anti-nauseas and that got rid of the whopper headache. But now I suspect my oral anti-nausea (it has a super long name) is causing the ongoing headache I have while I am taking it. Did anyone else have this reaction to anti-nausea meds? I feel like those "bad" days could be a little better without the headache. Thanks for any input.
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believe60, hi and welcome.
I had 4 AC, two weeks apart. I didn't have a lot of trouble with it, in terms of side effects. Of course I lost my hair! After the 3rd treatment I had more nausea than with the first 2. I think maybe I got complacent, assumed I would be fine, didn't bother to take anti-nausea meds when I started to feel icky. But I never threw up or got worse than uncomfortable. For the 4th one I was more careful and was fine.
My WORST SE was after the 4th. I had terrible, knee-buckling fatigue. The fatigue wasn't tiredness as much as weakness. I was very very weak. I couldn't walk more than a half block without literally being unsure if I could go farther. There were lots of times I turned around and slowly walked home, so my husband could go ahead and walk without me slowing him down. And there was a couple of weeks that were also HOT out, and I couldn't be in it. It literally would have knocked me over.
If you suspect one of your meds of causing any particular SE, talk to the MO or the nurse about it. Likely they can adjust your meds to work better for you.
Good luck!
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Thank you for your reply. I did notice a little uptick in fatigue from the first to second AC treatment. I will be careful about how far out I get on my daily walks. I do plan to talk to them about the headache at my Labs appt. tomorrow. And I love your byline about the rain and the mountain. I wrote it down.
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I just got a call from the hospital, and will start my first AC treatment on March 11th. I have gone through all the posts in this thread and I found them very useful. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Anyone else still on AC treatments?
I am scheduled to have 4 AC treatments every 3 weeks, followed by 12 TH (+/-P) afterwards.
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I hope more people who have been through AC will post their experience, and especially what helped the SE's!! I'm currently in Taxol chemo but will be starting AC soon and it's scary.
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LW422, I am currently on AC number 2, day 6th. There hasn't been much I could do for SEs. It is mostly my prescription drugs that are keeping the side effects just barely tolerable. I was on steroids for 4 days, and now I am on anti nausea meds. One thing I have been told is important is to drink lots of water but water tastes really weird so I try to have popsicles, coconut water, etc.
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Hi Everyone!
Please read the paragraph with the **** below!!!
I just had my first dose of AC this am. I'm feeling fine so far, just a bit tired. Reading all of these posts has helped me so much, I want to contribute and hopefully help too! It's not letting me update my profile right now, so I'll give a brief hx. Dx with IDC early Nov. Mammaprint showed High risk, so I had 4 doses of TC, then breast sparing lumpectomy . Path report showed stage 3/3, and said the tumor did not respond to the chemo, so MO recommended more chemo. I wanted to take my 15% chance of recurrence but my family pushed for the most aggressive tx. Thus the AC. My MO ordered an echo prior.
I tolerated the TC pretty well, so my family thinks I'll just fly through AC. Yeah, we'll see. The nurses are all more sympathetic!
I'm very pleased with the surgical result. If I don't raise my arms, I can hardly tell I had it, except for my new little blue tattoo from the leaked dye!
I pray for each one of you for effective, low side effect treatments and good health and well being! I commit to praying for you while we are in this together!
**** I want to alert everyone to read the list of possible drug interactions with the chemo and if yours is on the list, research the possible interactions! I was on Verapamil for high BP, and it is on the list for AC and TC. My hubby is an MD and researched and found that Verapamil can interfere with your ability to clear the Adriamycin and thus increase the toxicity! As if it's not toxic enough! And I'm getting the dose dense every 2 weeks. So, I stopped the Verapamil on Sunday. Verapamil was on the list for the Taxotere too, and I called the office to ask about it and was told it's "ok". I'm going to research that now, but it's too late. I lost all my hair and at 8 weeks I have zero new growth. I sure hope it didn't enhance the Taxotere to permanently damage my follicles! Of course, I was bald until I was 2 years old, (which my mother keeps reminding me!), so hopefully it will just take a little longer for my hair to come back. Guess I won't know for awhile!
I'm going to post this in the general chemo section so others are alerted too.
God bless,
Laura
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Thanks, Aram. I'm finding Taxol extremely tolerable but I'm dreading AC. Sounds like you are halfway through? I suppose the "good news" about AC is that it's only 4 treatments, at least that's what I'll be having. Take care and I appreciate the info.
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Hello everyone!
I had my first dose of AC on Apr 8th and was very nervous after reading about how hard it can be. I am
actually doing very well. I've been queasy a few times, which Compazine took care of. No nausea, mouth
sores, or fatigue. My brain is a bit off but not bad. I'm eating normally, but more frequent smaller meals to
ward of stomach upset. I already lost my hair from TC Dec-Feb. But I finally got a crop of peach fuzz after
9 weeks, and new eyelashes and eyebrow hair. I'm sure that will stop soon with the AC.
I'm due for round #2 Apr 22. I imagine side effects could get worse with each dose, but I'll just take one day
at a time. I'm feeling very blessed!
Hang in there everyone!
Laura
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Glad you're doing OK, Laura. How did #2 go?
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just an update. I am on day 4, AC #3. This time my MO prescribed another medication for managing queasiness and it has been much better than previous ones. The pill makes me sleepy but other than that I have been doing much better.
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Great to hear the new meds are working for you Aram. What did your MO prescribed for you?
Nicole will start AC on Thursday. We are preparing for the worst as she is prone to nausea (can't sit at the back of the car, gets sea sick).
How long is the AC treatment including pre-meds, etc? I think nurse mentioned to be a few hours
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On the infusion day I get Dexamethasone, Emend and Zofran. For the second and third days it is Dexamethasone and Emend. Fourth day it is only Dexamethasone. For the first round I was also prescribed Prochlorazine which didn't help at all.
This time he also prescribed Olanzapine for night time for a week. This one is not mainly an antinausea medication but one of its side effects. The pharmacy warned me not to be scared by its main usage which is to treat Schizophrenia. He has also prescribed Metonia which I can take on need basis but I didn't need it yet.
One mistake I did first round was that I didn't contact the pharmacy/nursues as I was told when the nausea didn't subside with my prescribed meds. When I did complain, and the dr changed the meds, it made quite a difference.
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thanks Aram! Will definitely keep that in mind to make sure Nicole call and talk to her nurse if she doesn’t feel well
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Has anyone managed to get through AC without having Neulasta injections? Seems like almost everyone has to have them.
I'll start AC on Tuesday, so I'll be wringing my hands all weekend.
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it doesn’t appear that this topic gets a lot of traffic which is too bad because I know many people are having AC treatments. I’m wondering if anyone finds that swelling of the hands and feet is common with AC
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LW, I think many of the details end up being discussed in the monthly chemo threads. Have you joined your month & read through the archives of the previous 1 or 2 months? I got tons of info to prep for chemo by reading those archives.
I had neulasta on AC & definitely needed it. The granulocyte colony stimulating shots have revolutionized chemo in terms of how much and how frequently it can be administered - & in this way likely are really saving lives. So one way to look at that injection is that it's a super integral part of your treatment because without it you would need a smaller dose spaced apart further and that increases risk of the chemo not being effective. Are you worried about the shots?
I did not have any edema.
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Thanks, Moth. Yes, I participate in a couple of the monthly chemo threads and have read many of them. Since this forum has such piss-poor search capability it is always a nightmare trying to sift through thousands of terms and is very frustrating.
I'm not concerned about the Neulasta yet; my doctor said since I'm on a 3-week AC regimen I might "recover" enough bettween treatments to not need it. So I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I am most concerned about the edema in my hands and feet, since my kidney numbers were a bit "off". I guess I'll call the triage nurse and they will whisk me to the "acute care" facility which I totally dread. Thanks for your response.
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Hi LW422, Nicole had a bit of swelling the night of in her ankles, because she drank quite a bit of water/liquid, and sat and worked on her computer all afternoon after her chemo infusion. Swellingwent away the next day after she elevated her feet that night.
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Well yesterday was the "first 24 hours" and I have never felt so awful in my entire life. Thankfully I'm a bit better today; not as shaky or as nauseated. I have to say, I'm not sure I'll make it through AC.
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LW, what anti nausea protocol do you have? There almost always are more effective meds they can use if yours aren't working.
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Moth--I had Zofran and Emend in the infusion, then prescriptions for Zofran and Compazine. I spoke to the MDA pharmacist this morning and she recommended taking Zofran every 8 hours instead of 12.
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I hope that works for you! If not, you can ask them to add dexamethasone. There are also additional prescription meds that can be added so if the nausea does not improve, let your team know!
Also, over the counter dramamine is usually ok to take on top of all the other meds - just clear it with your team first. It makes me drowsy but I didn't care. My strategy was actually do sleep through the worst of it & then get up feeling better the next day.
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