Taxol/Carboplatin Combination Side Effects

please can you help.....

My mum has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and is due to start chemotherapy with taxol and carboplatin next week. In herself she feels well apart from slight tiredness/breathlessness. The side effects of this combination sound awful, mum is worried,as i am too. We understand everyone reacts differently to these drugs but would appreciate if anyone could let us know their experiences.

Many thanks in anticipation of any experiences/help/advice

Gemma

Gemma,

I had the same chemo as your mom plus Tarceva.  One doctor told me that I would be very sick and I would loose my hair.  I had a friend that went through chemo he had no bad side effects at all.  My oncologist said that I may not get sick and if I did not get sick after the first treatment, then I would probably not get sick at all.  The point is not everyone gets sick, but if you think you will get sick before you start, then this increase your chance that you will.  I did everything that I could to not get sick.  I went through all of my chemo with no bad side effects.  If you would like to read my, story go to this address:

http://lchelp.org/l_community/viewtopic.php?t=25376

If I can answer any questions let me know.  You will be able to contact me through the address.

Stay positive,

Gemma,

I'm very sorry to hear about your Mother's diagnosis.  It's impossible to tell how a person will react to each of the chemo regimens.  My husband did very well with this combination and never experienced nausea or lack of appetite.  He was also short of breath and that eased quickly when the chemo began working.  She needs to stay hydrated.  From what I understand, women are a little more sensitive to nausea issues from chemo then men are.  There are so many good anti-nausea medicines on the market today that this should not be a problem for her.  She needs to take the medicine at regular times and not wait until she is nauseated.  If she does get nauseated, call the doctor and tell them that she needs better anti-nausea meds.  Staying in front of the nausea is key.  She probably will feel flu-like symptoms set in about 3 days after chemo, but these go away in a few days.  If her blood counts drop, she will also receive booster shots to help keep her on schedule.

They can administer this combination in two ways.  One is the full dose every 21 days, which has more of a whack to it then once a week for three weeks.  There are some people who have had hardly any chemo and what they received were reduced weekly doses, so of course their side effects were minimal.  But I can truly say that this didn't impact my husband's life too badly and he had many rounds of this particular treatment in full doses.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.   We are fairly well versed in many different chemo regimens.

Best of luck

I can understand your concerns. However, I had 3 full dose treatments at 3 week intervals followed by 7 treatments at a reduced dose while I underwent radiation therapy. After the initial 3 treatments, my mass had been reduced approximately 50%. Only a slight reduction was seen following the 7 weekly treatments and radiation. I'll be going for a PET later this week to hopefully determine whether or not there the remaining mass is actively cancerous. On the positive side, I never really had much nausea nor did I lose my appetite or sense of taste and/or smell. I actually gained about 10 pounds..lol I did experience fatigue and my hair started to come out after the first treatment. As everyone else has pointed out each person will respond differently but I hope your Mum has an experience equal to if not better than mine! :)

David in N.C.  

Thankyou for all of your responses.

mum starts chemo on 3 weekly cycle on monday, hopefully the side effects will be minimal.

Gemma

On 6/17/2007 Gemma wrote:

please can you help.....

My mum has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and is due to start chemotherapy with taxol and carboplatin next week. In herself she feels well apart from slight tiredness/breathlessness. The side effects of this combination sound awful, mum is worried,as i am too. We understand everyone reacts differently to these drugs but would appreciate if anyone could let us know their experiences.

Many thanks in anticipation of any experiences/help/advice

Gemma

I have squamous cell cancer. I am 69.

I have had 4 operations, 2 bouts of radiotherapy and am currently in the third cycle of three of a Carboplatin/Taxol chemotherapy. I 3lected to have three cycles of three weeks. The doctor explained all of the risks and I elected to get it all over as quickly as possible. At the beginning of the treatment I was as fit as a 69 year old could be.

Most of the side effects have been mild compared to what I was prepared for, after reading all of the information. I hve the numbness in the hands and feet and the unbelievable tiredness. I suffer from dizzy spells all of the time. I had the full range of the preventative drugs, steroids, anthistamines, anti nausea immediately after the injections. They worked quit6e well. Watch out for the constipation, it is a killer.

I had two large tumours at the beginning of the treatment and both have shrunk away.

My blood counts all stayed above the danger zones.

My only worry now is a statement by the doctor that I may have to have another series and another series. His logic is that the C and T treatment can only get 20% of the micromestases each treatment. Therefore if I wish to minimise the risk of a recurrence I should have the additional treatments.

I am not so sure. He also recommended additional radiation treatments at the tumour sites. I have decided not to have these radiation treatments.

I will probably not have the additional chemo and will wait and see what the results are first. 

If you have any comments please contact me.

PeterG

Hi,

My father in law was diagnosed with stage 3b or 4 lung cancer.  He just took his 1st chemo treatment of taxol/carboplatin.  This was yesterday, and so far he still has had no side effects.  I know they can occur later, but I'm hoping not.  It sounds like alot of people didn't have too many side effects with this.  He is 75 and also has emphazema and copd. He will be moving in with us next week or the week after.

It was interesting to read all the replys.  I'm glad I found this site.  I will keep you all posted with his treatment, side effects and benefits.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I'll be praying for your mom, and any others who would like prayer. God bless you all,

Chris

On 6/17/2007 Gemma wrote:

please can you help.....

My mum has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and is due to start chemotherapy with taxol and carboplatin next week. In herself she feels well apart from slight tiredness/breathlessness. The side effects of this combination sound awful, mum is worried,as i am too. We understand everyone reacts differently to these drugs but would appreciate if anyone could let us know their experiences.

Many thanks in anticipation of any experiences/help/advice

Gemma

Hi,

My father in law was diagnosed with stage 3b or 4 lung cancer.  He just took his 1st chemo treatment of taxol/carboplatin.  This was yesterday, and so far he still has had no side effects.  I know they can occur later, but I'm hoping not.  It sounds like alot of people didn't have too many side effects with this.  He is 75 and also has emphazema and copd. He will be moving in with us next week or the week after.

It was interesting to read all the replys.  I'm glad I found this site.  I will keep you all posted with his treatment, side effects and benefits.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I'll be praying for your mom, and any others who would like prayer. God bless you all,

Chris