Any good experiences with Nexavar?

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My father has primary liver cancer and the doctors are talking about putting him on Nexavar. I've read so many bad things about it.

Awful side effects and I know it is very very costly.

Would love to hear from anyone with experience taking this med.

Thank you.

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AndyH

I've been on Nexavar for about 7 months and personally I don't think the side effects are all that bad, especially when compared to other types of chemo. I find them quite manageable.

Of course I guess it depends on your perspective. I hear about so many people in these forums who seem close to giving up in the battle against this disease. I seems like their main concern is how treatments affect their quality of life I suppose this may be the overiding consideration to some, depending on age, how bad their cancer is, etc. But I don't plan to give up, period.

Having said all that, it is expensive. I think the retail price is around $4000/month. But then most cancer treatments are pretty expensive.

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Buggie

My husband was diagnosed 12/31/09 with HCC. He has been on Nexavar for 5 weeks. So far so good. The only side effects I see is that he is cold all the time and tired more than usual. His blood pressure is in check, the hand/foot syndrome seems to be a non event. He started using Udderly Smooth cream about two weeks before he started the Nexavar. I was worried about this since his skin is relative dry to start with but so far his hands and feet are smooth. One thing that he is experiencing is leg and foot cramps. The Nexavar nurse along with his oncologist both said they can't pin it down to the drug. To overcome this he is eating more potassium rich fruits and drinking gateraide. That was the nutritionist recommendation. Seems to be helping a little. Each person reacts a different way to the drug so you have to just try it and keep positive. Good luck

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AndyH

That's extremely interesting. I have never seen the cramp issue in any of Nexavar's "official" literature but I have had the same problem. I get all sorts of muscle cramps. The worst are leg cramps in the middle of the night. My PCP prescribed Lyrica for this which works pretty well.

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