Avastin Help

my husband started on avastin tuesday, he has colon cancer with liver mets.  he was constipated yeasterday and today. today when he had a bowel movement he passes a lot of blood.  if this bad, he had colon surgery in early april.

kim

Hi, I was on Avastin myself for 6 months (along with Folfox).  Not to scare you, but definitely contact the Dr. right away because Avastin has a very rare side effect of causing a perforated bowel.  I certainly hope and pray this is not the cause of his bleeding, but you definitely need to check it out. The bleeding certainly could be as simple as hemorroids from straining while constipated, perhaps- but please have them check it out right away. I would get constipated the first couple of days after Avastin infusions, but I don't think the constipation was from the Avastin- it was from the antinausea meds they ran into me each time.  It was usually 2-3 days of constipation, then I'd have a couple of days of diarrhea to follow.  I'd have actually a couple of days of normal bowel movements right before I'd start the process all over again (every two weeks).  I didn't have any colon surgery, though, so what's normal for me may be quite different for your husband. 

The only big side effect I had from Avastin was high blood pressure, which I went on medication for- it controlled it some, but it was still high.  Now, 3 months later, my blood pressure has returned to what it was before I ever started chemo.

Best wishes and prayers,

Lisa

thanks for your message, i am trying to get him to go ahead and call doctor.  Like you said it could be hemmorids but he said it has never been this bad with the blood

what kind of cancer did you have and how are you doing now that you are off the avastin,, do you think it helped,, i read you said you did not have colon surgery

thank you kim

Hi Kim,

I have rectal cancer, which had metastasized to the liver and lungs.  I had a very good response to the Folfox and Avastin in that I was not considered a surgical candidate because there were too many tumors in liver and lungs.  The chemo brought them down to nothing showing up any more on the PET scan.  I still had 3 tumors that showed up on the CT scan and one in my right lung still on the CT.  That means they went away and the remaining ones showing on the Ct only were "dead", according to my oncologist.  After this good response, my Dr. decided to go ahead w/ the radiation/chemo combo to work on my rectal tumor, which had shrunken some but was still there.  After 6 weeks of radiation and chemo combination, the sigmoidoscopy and biopsy showed that my rectal tumor disappeared completely.  This is why I didn't have the rectal resection surgery.  I did just have a liver resection, however.

I'm grateful to God for giving doctors wisdom with all these new chemos- my husband was originally told that I could have easily not been here 4 or 5 mos. after my diagnosis.  It's been 10 months now & nothing shows up on the PET anywhere in my body & the only remaining thing that should show up on a CT at this point(but not the PET) is a 1 cm nodule in my lung.  Hang in there & let your husband know how successful things were for me.  I know hearing other success and miracle stories really helped me believe I could get well again!

Lisa

Kim

It sounds like one of the side effects of AVASTIN.  AVASTIN really isn't as targetted as we think.  It goes after the VEGEF receptors and guess where they are located.  The stomach.  So it could be the AVASTIN.

If side effects concern you then you should totally check out DAVANAT.  It is mixed with the chemo to target the cancer cells.  Very few people know about it but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.  A friend of mine is taking it and had miraculous results.  The CT scan came back today with significant tumor reduction after just 4 cycles. To give you some background she was on major pain medication before starting.  She was in bad shape and turned around in about 5 days.  She hasn't had one side effect.

Research it - feel free to ask me questions.

 Mike Sheikh