Cisplatin And Taxitere Side Effects

My husband just started another round of chemo.  First round lasted 4 cycles (12 wks).  He gets Cisplatin and Taxitere the first week and then only Erbitux for the next two weeks - then back to the Cisplatin & Taxitere and so on.  The first week of Cisplatin and Txitere really does a number on him - extreme fatigue, complete loss of appetite (lost 7 pounds in 5 days alone), wasting, vomiting, nausea and diahrrea.  These effecs last about 5 days but takes almost two weeks to recover and then you are back to do it all over again. 

Has anyone had similar results with Cisplatin & TAxitere?  Our doctor has suggested he take a round of Emend (sp) - it's a pack of several pills intended to be taken at the first of each cycle to help with the Cisplatin/Taxitere effects.  This medication is pricy ($400) so I wondered if anyone has any experience with this?  He wasted away so much the last time, I was truly concerned about his survival.  If the medication will help, it's worth it. 

 

got very sick from these rounds of cemo

if you would like to email me at

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 i could maybe give you some idears

good luck

Hi Rose,

I had terrible nausea and vomiting from Cisplatin. The Emend is an antiemetic which  stops vomiting. I had that and Zofran. Although they helped somewhat I found that it worked a whole lot better when I (hang with me here)  smelled orange peels and sucked on dried ginger candy. I'm not kidding, those things worked better for me than the meds alone. I took some orange peels and put them in a plastic sandwich bag and would sniff them when I felt sick. I would also suck on or chew and spit out ginger candy (I couldn't swallow). I got that tip from a doctor from India and it worked great. I think the meds helped stop or slow down the vomiting and the peels and candy helped sooth the nausea. Hope this helps.

Good Luck,

Joe 

 

 

On 5/15/2008 Defjoeb wrote:

Hi Rose,

I had terrible nausea and vomiting from Cisplatin. The Emend is an antiemetic which  stops vomiting. I had that and Zofran. Although they helped somewhat I found that it worked a whole lot better when I (hang with me here)  smelled orange peels and sucked on dried ginger candy. I'm not kidding, those things worked better for me than the meds alone. I took some orange peels and put them in a plastic sandwich bag and would sniff them when I felt sick. I would also suck on or chew and spit out ginger candy (I couldn't swallow). I got that tip from a doctor from India and it worked great. I think the meds helped stop or slow down the vomiting and the peels and candy helped sooth the nausea. Hope this helps.

Good Luck,

Joe 

 

Joe -

Thanks for the suggestions.  Where's a good place to find ginger candy?  My husband will have another round of Cisplatin/Taxatiere next Wednesday so I want to be prepared.  

 

 

On 5/15/2008 rose01 wrote:

 

On 5/15/2008 Defjoeb wrote:

Hi Rose,

I had terrible nausea and vomiting from Cisplatin. The Emend is an antiemetic which  stops vomiting. I had that and Zofran. Although they helped somewhat I found that it worked a whole lot better when I (hang with me here)  smelled orange peels and sucked on dried ginger candy. I'm not kidding, those things worked better for me than the meds alone. I took some orange peels and put them in a plastic sandwich bag and would sniff them when I felt sick. I would also suck on or chew and spit out ginger candy (I couldn't swallow). I got that tip from a doctor from India and it worked great. I think the meds helped stop or slow down the vomiting and the peels and candy helped sooth the nausea. Hope this helps.

Good Luck,

Joe 

 

Joe -

Thanks for the suggestions.  Where's a good place to find ginger candy?  My husband will have another round of Cisplatin/Taxatiere next Wednesday so I want to be prepared.  

 

 

My husband has SCC of the tonsil with lymph involvement. My husband has only had two doses of Cisplatin(one last week and one this week) along with eight sessions of daily radiation. The chemo nurses give him Aloxi IV an anti-emetic before the chemo is infused and it lasts up to 5 days....so far so good with just mild nausea--no weight loss or vomiting. We have prescriptions for Zofran and Phenergan if he has any breakthrough nausea. You guys may want to try a few other drugs if your insurance will not cover Emend because of the cost factor.  Zofran can cause constipation which escalates the nausea problem so a laxative may be needed. Aother option we have been offered is Compazine. Compazine and Pherergan both cause sedation. The Aloxi's has minimal sedative effects but can cause headaches. Another drug that has been used for nausea with a lot of success with chemo patients but is considered anti-anxiety is Ativan. Drug Formularies list Ativan as a good anti-nausea drug for chemo patients. My husband was put on Ativan at the time of diagnosis before he started treatment ---to dull the emotional side of things. Ativan can be dissolved under the tongue if the nausea is too severe to swallow.

I am sorry he is having such severe nausea and vomiting and I wish him well.

DeniseB

my guy had carboplatin, taxotere, 5fu and erbitux combined on week one and weeks two and three erbitux alone.  he took emend during the four drug week..started it the night before treatment.  he also had zofran and reglan.  the emend we didnt have to have filled at the pharmacy- it was given to him at dana-farber (he was part of a clinical trial) the zofran was very expensive and it took awhile to get insurance authorization.  our local pharmacy price was over $1000- but get this...we could get it at dana farber's pharmacy for around $23!!!!  finally insurance picked up the tab for it. he had a regimen of emend, zofran and reglan that he followed for a number of days and then it was reglan if he needed it...followed by zofran if reglan didnt do the trick.  through it all he rarely vomited and was able to keep the nausea at by keeping on top of the drugs.  he did take senna regularly to prevent constipation.  we think all the anti-nausea drugs were worth it...but it pays to shop around for price!

Hi Rose,

If you can't find ginger candy in your local supermarket you might want to try a health food store or an Asian market if you're lucky enough to have one near by.

Good Luck,

Joe 

My husband had 3 rounds of Cisplatin and 5FU every 3 weeks, along with with daily radiation, given over 5 days each due to the nausea.  He had Zofran- helped some, Ativan- helped some, Compazine- didn't help at all.  We finally tried Emend the last 2 rounds- he took it 1 hour prior to chemo and it was the most helpful.  Still nauseated and needed the Zofran and Ativan, but it was much better.

My husband had Cisplatin, they gave him 3 Emend tablets, one before his treatment, and one the next two days. He wasn't sick after any of his treatments, just tired.....(we paid $120.00 for the Emends)......one suggestion the Dr. didn't tell us until later, if you have a gold or silver tooth, pack it with a wod of gum, so you don't get a double dose of radiation, or chemo. My husband had a terrible mouth ulcer on his tongue because of it. That was probably the worst thing he had to deal with for a few weeks...