Keytruda Side Effects - Early Stage TNBC
Hi all!
Started chemo in September just had my 7th infusion of Paclitaxel, Carbo(out of 12) and 2nd of Keytruda(out of 7 + 9 after surgery).
Along with usual side effects: fatigue, loss of hair, slight nausea and digestive discomfort/problems since starting Keytruda my neutrophiles strated to drop and my liver enzymes(AST/TGO) started to rise. Currently just under/above normal but used to have 3 days/week to feel kind of normal and now I have 1 maybe two.
Can anybody tell me what to expect along the way? What was the progression of this regimen side effects? Of course each is different but it will help a lot if I knew I had a bit of control (knowing what I could expect).
Thank you so much for the support. I was totally clueless when I begun this journey and I am entering each day, read and gather new information from this community...it helps so much.
XO
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Hi Nume,
Hello from a fellow TNBC sister. Hopefully someone else can jump in and comment who may have had a treatment plan more similar to yours. I also had weekly paclitaxel (12) with every 3 week Carbo + Keytruda infusions, and then another 4 infusions of Adriamycin + Cytoxan (every 2 weeks), with every 3 week Keytruda infusions. So, I was getting Keytruda every third week from my first infusion all through chemotherapy. That makes it hard to say exactly which side effects came from which drugs, but I do know that chemo is cumulative ... every week my window of "good days" got a little bit shorter in between. I did also feel generally worse during the weeks that I was getting the Keytruda, though there were no specific extra symptoms to pinpoint, just a general feeling of ickiness.
I finished chemo in early July and have since had 4/9 of my stand alone infusions of Keytruda. I will say that I haven't had any notable symptoms with these infusions, except for some skin redness.
I also experienced decreased neutrophils (I think we all do while undergoing chemo) and had increased AST/ALT levels. My AST/ALT levels are still above normal range, but trending down each time I have labs, so my MO is not concerned. She explained to me that your liver does the bulk of the body's work clearing out toxins - and you've been pumping so many toxic chemicals into your body, that it could take a while for those to return to normal.
This is just my experience, though. Everyone reacts differently to medication. Hope this helps a little, and please keep us updated on how treatment goes. Rooting for you!
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Thank you so much, meghann422
!It really helps knowing I am not alone and what`s happening is kind of normal
XOXO
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