Side effects - first chemo treatment

My husband had his first chemo treatment for NSCLC last Thursday.  He had diarrhea the night of the treatment, and then it was over. After two days, however, he got extremely tired, and felt like he could barely move. His voice has been very husky, almost like he has laryngitis. Now, tonight, he feels like his mouth is very sore, and the food doesn't taste right. His chemo, by the way, is Taxatere and Cisplatin.  He will be seeing his onc. on Thursday, but would like some feedback from you folks on whether or not you have experienced similar symptoms. Anything you can share is most appreciated!! Thank you

Mary Ann

On Oct 28, 2009 1:10 AM teachoz wrote:

My husband had his first chemo treatment for NSCLC last Thursday.  He had diarrhea the night of the treatment, and then it was over. After two days, however, he got extremely tired, and felt like he could barely move. His voice has been very husky, almost like he has laryngitis. Now, tonight, he feels like his mouth is very sore, and the food doesn't taste right. His chemo, by the way, is Taxatere and Cisplatin.  He will be seeing his onc. on Thursday, but would like some feedback from you folks on whether or not you have experienced similar symptoms. Anything you can share is most appreciated!! Thank you

Mary Ann

I hv bad experience when I am on cisplatin + alimta . I feel nausea ; tire ; feel heavy on my head and no appetite to eat .

Chk with two doctor and both told me it is because of Cisplatin .

The last round of chemo , I do away Cisplation and use only Alimta, I am okay with it . ( But , always remember that every patient react differently to the chemo drug )

I was with my onco on Monday and ask for advice for other type of chemo drug that I shud take ( so far I hv treated with Carboplatin + Taxol , follow by Tarceva , follow by Ciaplatin + Alimta , follow by Alimta only , and my condition is only classify as stable . because there is no changes of the quatity or size of my tumor )

My onco did mentioned about Taxotere , but, he told me , he prefer to keep it as last option, as Taxotere is very toxic in comparing with other chemo drug that I hv taken.

Maybe you can ask the Oncologist for other type of drug . But, it is good to hv your husband body system recover before start with another type of chemo drug ( If his condition allow him to take few weeks rest from treatment , so that he can get recover from the existing side effect ) . If not, it is very difficult to identify the cause of side effect, if he still hv bad effect after switch to another type of drug.

Anyway, i am stage 4 NSCLC since end June last year.

SK

Hi, SK

Thank you for sharing your experience. I know each person is different as to how they react to the different drugs.  When we met with the Physician's Assistant last week, she had Joe take Imodium whenever he had diarrhea, and that helped a lot.

Actually, he has been feeling quite good for about five days in a row now.  He is eating well, gaining back some weight he had lost, and his voice is coming back. He has more energy, and has been able to leave the house to do short trips to the grocery store, restaurant, etc.  I am so happy to see him feeling better.

It sounds like you have been through a lot since June! Wow! What a lot of different treatments you've had. I am glad you are stable. That's a good thing.

Joe will have his 2nd chemo next Thursday, Nov. 12. They will give him the same two drugs, then do a  CT scan to see if the chemo is working. I'll let you know what we find out.

Good luck with your treatment. Thank you for responding to my message.

Mary Ann

Great to know that Joe manage to cope well now and we just hv to be positive and glad that there is so much informations and support from everyone in these message board .

SK