Nasty Carboplatin and Taxol!

Well, I have to say C&T are not a fun treatment by any means.  It's been so hard on my mom, that she now is at the point only after 2 treatments to say "I can't go through this".

Her first treatment started out with leg pain (severe) and then she wasn't eating/drinking but she got through it.  Her hair fell out before her 2nd treatment.

Then came the 2nd treatment.  Not good at all.  The night after chemo she was terribly ill with vomitting and bowel problems.  It was so sad to see her, and I didn't know what to do for her.  We were managing the pain to a tollerable degree but all of this other stuff lasted 4.5 hours.

By the 3rd day, I was getting her to eat soft foods, nothing that would cause her great difficulty. She wasn't sick, but she had bowel problems.  4th day - eating light seemed ok.

BUT THEN day 5 was bad - dry heaves and major headache/dizzyness.  By day 6 she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance - Severely dehydrated and in starvation mode.  She didn't eat or drink when I was not there for days 5/6 and she never recovered from the first night of vomitting.  She ended up in the hospital for 10 DAYS!  She was on a 24 hour drip of 6 different meds.  They thought they might have to operate on her bowel as there was a blockage - thankfully it moved and she was on the road to repair (not recovery).

She is so discouraged by this, that she does not want to go through that again.

Has anyone else had such a bad reaction the 2nd treatment?  And honestly, do the others that are "supposed" to follow get stronger?

Please know it is possible to get through the chemo.

Antinausea meds are key. Also need to keep hydrated by IV treatments (ringers lactate) weekly fluid injections to go along with the chemo.  Chemo is dehydrating by nature. Use prune juice or other slow acting natural laxitive to keep the bowel free, chemo causes wicked constipation and stopages and you go through wild swings of stopped up and too loose if you use a harsher laxitive. Benefiber or others are good, experiment with which type works for you mom.

Check to see what her antinausea meds are and ask about Aloxi. It is the only one that worked for my wife, if not for this drug she would not have survived chemo, and she had massive doses of chemo 8 treatments of carbo taxol and 125% of the std dose.

http://www.aloxi.com/Aloxi/AloxiDifferent.aspx

Aloxi, or Aloxi +Emend and Ringer's lactate and Gentle laxitive.

Hope this helps you.

Allan

Are you sure it wasn't the bowel blockage causing her to be so sick?  I had C&T for 18 rounds and had no effects.

I feel your pain (literally). I was on carbo/taxol for 6 rounds. It is ESSENTIAL that you increase your water intake, as the chemo AND the antinausea drugs are very constipating. I almost wound up in the hospital d/t blockage, luckily I am young and was able to use (dynamite) to get it out!

The leg pain is very bad, and I found it too hard to take the million capsules of L-glutamine that "may or may not help." I would lay down and elevate my legs, and take warm epsom salt baths. Ask your doc if there is anything she can prescribe for the restlessness. All I took for the pain was advil, but it was annoying as heck.

Tell your mom she WILL get through this. They are very harsh drugs, but it is essential that she keep eating and drinking to keep her strength and her immune function up!

The last thing I will recommend, because it worked so amazingly well for me (and I didn't believe in it prior to) is Acupuncture. I had NO nausea throughout my treatment, was able to eat regularly, and it boosted my immune system so I could actually function. Give it a shot, what have you got to lose!

On 3/2/2009 what2do wrote:

Well, I have to say C&T are not a fun treatment by any means.  It's been so hard on my mom, that she now is at the point only after 2 treatments to say "I can't go through this".

Her first treatment started out with leg pain (severe) and then she wasn't eating/drinking but she got through it.  Her hair fell out before her 2nd treatment.

Then came the 2nd treatment.  Not good at all.  The night after chemo she was terribly ill with vomitting and bowel problems.  It was so sad to see her, and I didn't know what to do for her.  We were managing the pain to a tollerable degree but all of this other stuff lasted 4.5 hours.

By the 3rd day, I was getting her to eat soft foods, nothing that would cause her great difficulty. She wasn't sick, but she had bowel problems.  4th day - eating light seemed ok.

BUT THEN day 5 was bad - dry heaves and major headache/dizzyness.  By day 6 she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance - Severely dehydrated and in starvation mode.  She didn't eat or drink when I was not there for days 5/6 and she never recovered from the first night of vomitting.  She ended up in the hospital for 10 DAYS!  She was on a 24 hour drip of 6 different meds.  They thought they might have to operate on her bowel as there was a blockage - thankfully it moved and she was on the road to repair (not recovery).

She is so discouraged by this, that she does not want to go through that again.

Has anyone else had such a bad reaction the 2nd treatment?  And honestly, do the others that are "supposed" to follow get stronger?

 

Hi - I am so sorry your mom is so sick.  It is so difficult to see our loved ones go through the HELL of this disease.  My husband had 10 rounds of carbo/taxol.  It is a piece of cake compared to the 37 radiation treatments.  The Dr. sent him home with anti-nausea meds for around the clock for three days and he was never real real sick.  He did get constipated and that was the worst of it.  I agree with the other post - maybe it was the bowel problem that caused the problems.  It is important to stay on Senocot or something of that nature and drink losts of water.  Also, fluids through the port was a help also.  You are in my thoughts and prayers.  Please let us know how your Mom is doing now.  Cheryl  Oklahoma City

Hello-

So sorry for your Mother's difficult time. I do hope you let her doctor know the minute she had the pain, vomiting, & diarrhea. They do have meds for everything. Sounds like she was a special case. I did have that pair of chemos but mostly had foot numbness. I guess I was lucky that way. I am on my 4th kind of chemo and have been fighting a recurrence in lymph nodes. I am grateful for a forum like this so that people can help each other. Also support groups that meet face to face have been incredibly valuable to me now and 9 years ago when I had Breast Cancer...all gone now.

Best to you in the Good Fight,

Ann

Hi,

I know that everyone reacts differently to chemo.  I wanted to share with you my mothers nausea meds.  She just finished 6 rounds of carbo/taxol and did not get nauseous one day.

Chemotherapy Medications

1. Decadron (Dexamethoxone) – 5 tablets the night before Chemotherapy.  Steroid pills as pre-medication only if given Taxol treatment.  For nausea. Take with food.  Might make jittery.

◊And take Decadron 1 tablet 2x/day on Days 2, 3, 4 (1 pill 2x/day) of chemo. Don’t take late in the day- Take 4-5 in afternoon.  If keeps up at night then can take 2 tablets in morning instead. Can cause leg cramps.

2. Zofran 8mg (Ondansetron) – Take one tablet every 8 hours as needed for nausea.  Most effective for relief of nausea or vomiting.  1 tablet every 8 hours.  Can cause constipation.

◊Take 1 tablet 2x day on days 2, 3, 4 of each cycle.

3. Ativan 1mg (Lorazipan) – Take one tablet every 6 hours as needed for nausea.  In case STILL has nausea (3rd line of defense, can be used as 2nd line per Silvia Brady/pharmacist).  Can be dissolved under the tongue.  Also can be used for anxiety. 

4. Compazine 10mg (Prohlorperazine) – Take 1 tablet every 6 hours (or 4x/day) as needed for nausea.  If having breakthrough nausea or vomiting. As needed for more nauseous.  May be more sensitive to sunburn. 

5. Neupigin Injection Stimulates production of white blood cells and help with infection.  Can cause bone pain because stimulates bone marrow to produce white blood cells.

Kaiser will give injections everyday starting on the 10/25 and ending on 10/31.

Constipation:

?Docusate Sodium (1-2 gel caps 2x/day) – Stool softener - does not stimulate the colon to push the stool through.

?Milk of Magnesia (1/2 dose) to start.  If doesn’t work, take a full dose 2nd day.  Other alternatives: Dulcolax, Miralax (don’t start with this because pretty strong), Fleet enema. 

Drink lots of fluids-at least 2 liters/day.

Hope this helps,

Caren/Chopps 

Thank you everyone for your replies - I really do appreciate all of your responses.

My mom was on a regiment of Dexamethazone/Zofran/ after chemo and Senekot (8 tabs/day).

She can't take stemitil because she's allergic to gravol and stemitil.

She has great difficulty eating and drinking after chemo - this is a major problem.

While in hospital she was given iv's of: zofran/demerol, magnesium, maxeran, glucose, potasium.  Once the maxeran was given - the (36hour bout of dry heaves and dizzyness seemed to subside).

On 3/5/2009 chickracer wrote:

I feel your pain (literally). I was on carbo/taxol for 6 rounds. It is ESSENTIAL that you increase your water intake, as the chemo AND the antinausea drugs are very constipating. I almost wound up in the hospital d/t blockage, luckily I am young and was able to use (dynamite) to get it out!

The leg pain is very bad, and I found it too hard to take the million capsules of L-glutamine that "may or may not help." I would lay down and elevate my legs, and take warm epsom salt baths. Ask your doc if there is anything she can prescribe for the restlessness. All I took for the pain was advil, but it was annoying as heck.

Tell your mom she WILL get through this. They are very harsh drugs, but it is essential that she keep eating and drinking to keep her strength and her immune function up!

The last thing I will recommend, because it worked so amazingly well for me (and I didn't believe in it prior to) is Acupuncture. I had NO nausea throughout my treatment, was able to eat regularly, and it boosted my immune system so I could actually function. Give it a shot, what have you got to lose!

I had the same chemo in 06 and I still have leg pains. Sometime they are mild and some time are very painful. Do you still have leg pain?

Thank you

Sun Chaser