TAXOL

emamei
emamei Member Posts: 146
Hi. I'm new to the forum. I was diagnosed in Sept. 2010 with Stage 2 IDC Breast Cancer. I've had lumpectomy and axillary node dissection in Oct. 2010. I have had 5 of 8 rounds of chemo so far. I'm currently on TAXOL. I've had a horrendous time on chemo - every side effect in the book. I'd like to hear from others on how they have or are coping on TAXOL.

Comments

  • natly15
    natly15 Member Posts: 1,941
    I had 4 rounds of A/C and 1
    I had 4 rounds of A/C and 1 1/2 rounds of taxol and then we switched to taxotere because I could not handle the taxol. Had a severe allergic reaction to it with the 2nd infusion. After the first taxol infusion I had debilitating muscle pain. The a/C was much easier for me. I did have nausea with the A/C but taxol and me didnt agree.
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    Taxol = NASTY
    The 4 A/C weren't bad at all (considering it was Chemo) but the 12 weekly Taxol were NASTY. I was completely and utterly exhausted by it. I lived those 12 weeks on the couch or in bed. The good part was that the exhaustion started wearing off a week after the last infusion. As exhausted as I was sleep would not come without sleeping pills - had never before taken any.

    There are many who say that Taxol was easier for them than A/C but definately not for me. We are each so unique in how we/our body that there is no one way of knowing how we will react.

    Susan
  • emamei
    emamei Member Posts: 146
    Rague said:

    Taxol = NASTY
    The 4 A/C weren't bad at all (considering it was Chemo) but the 12 weekly Taxol were NASTY. I was completely and utterly exhausted by it. I lived those 12 weeks on the couch or in bed. The good part was that the exhaustion started wearing off a week after the last infusion. As exhausted as I was sleep would not come without sleeping pills - had never before taken any.

    There are many who say that Taxol was easier for them than A/C but definately not for me. We are each so unique in how we/our body that there is no one way of knowing how we will react.

    Susan

    TAXOL is debilitating...
    I had four rounds of the AC drugs and it was a horrendous experience for me. I'm on a Dose Dense protocol, meaning I receive my chemo every two weeks, not three and I also receive an injection of NEULASTA the day after each chemo treatment to boost my WBC. NEULASTA itself causes bone pain, but OMG, combined with the TAXOL the bone pain I have experienced after just one round of TAXOL has been excruciating. I have likened the pain to that of pressure building up within my bones with little to know where to escape, and the bone pain in my lower back bones, hip and pelvic bones is not too dissimilar to that of being in labour trying to give birth. My TAXOL round was last Thursday, by Saturday I was on the phone to my Cancer Agency's on-call oncologist begging for pain relief. He prescribed a pain med called Gabapentin that actually made the pain more intense and that I had an allergic reaction to. I called back yesterday, Sunday and the oncologist then prescribed Tylenol #3 with a prescription strength Ibuprofen (Advil). Finally I have some pain relief, provided I take the meds every six hours, otherwise I'm in agony. All in all, chemo has not been kind and I've had the worst of every side effect. I have three more rounds of TAXOL to go and I'm counting the days.
  • emamei
    emamei Member Posts: 146
    A C Chemo Drugs
    Chemo has not been kind to me at all. I've had every side effect there is, especially with the A C drugs. Chronic extreme nausea, vomiting, digestive and gastrointestinal issues, mucositis, and a feeling of being weak, exhausted and sick all the time. I was told things would be better with the TAXOL, but again, I'm having extreme side effects and the bone pain associated with TAXOL has been debilitating. I have three more rounds to go and I'm counting down the days.
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    emamei said:

    TAXOL is debilitating...
    I had four rounds of the AC drugs and it was a horrendous experience for me. I'm on a Dose Dense protocol, meaning I receive my chemo every two weeks, not three and I also receive an injection of NEULASTA the day after each chemo treatment to boost my WBC. NEULASTA itself causes bone pain, but OMG, combined with the TAXOL the bone pain I have experienced after just one round of TAXOL has been excruciating. I have likened the pain to that of pressure building up within my bones with little to know where to escape, and the bone pain in my lower back bones, hip and pelvic bones is not too dissimilar to that of being in labour trying to give birth. My TAXOL round was last Thursday, by Saturday I was on the phone to my Cancer Agency's on-call oncologist begging for pain relief. He prescribed a pain med called Gabapentin that actually made the pain more intense and that I had an allergic reaction to. I called back yesterday, Sunday and the oncologist then prescribed Tylenol #3 with a prescription strength Ibuprofen (Advil). Finally I have some pain relief, provided I take the meds every six hours, otherwise I'm in agony. All in all, chemo has not been kind and I've had the worst of every side effect. I have three more rounds of TAXOL to go and I'm counting the days.

    I did dense dose A/C also
    I did dense dose A/C also (every 2 weeks). Neulasta CAN cause pain but doesn't to everyone. I never had any pain from the Neulasta (had 4 of them) - the only SE I had was that 2 hrs almost to the minute after injection, I went to sleep for 2 hrs.

    How many Taxol are you doing?

    Susan
  • Gabe N Abby Mom
    Gabe N Abby Mom Member Posts: 2,413
    emamei said:

    TAXOL is debilitating...
    I had four rounds of the AC drugs and it was a horrendous experience for me. I'm on a Dose Dense protocol, meaning I receive my chemo every two weeks, not three and I also receive an injection of NEULASTA the day after each chemo treatment to boost my WBC. NEULASTA itself causes bone pain, but OMG, combined with the TAXOL the bone pain I have experienced after just one round of TAXOL has been excruciating. I have likened the pain to that of pressure building up within my bones with little to know where to escape, and the bone pain in my lower back bones, hip and pelvic bones is not too dissimilar to that of being in labour trying to give birth. My TAXOL round was last Thursday, by Saturday I was on the phone to my Cancer Agency's on-call oncologist begging for pain relief. He prescribed a pain med called Gabapentin that actually made the pain more intense and that I had an allergic reaction to. I called back yesterday, Sunday and the oncologist then prescribed Tylenol #3 with a prescription strength Ibuprofen (Advil). Finally I have some pain relief, provided I take the meds every six hours, otherwise I'm in agony. All in all, chemo has not been kind and I've had the worst of every side effect. I have three more rounds of TAXOL to go and I'm counting the days.

    I had TAC, so no taxol for
    I had TAC, so no taxol for me. So I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to say welcome. I hope the next three weeks go very quickly for you.

    Hugs,

    Linda
  • emamei
    emamei Member Posts: 146
    Rague said:

    I did dense dose A/C also
    I did dense dose A/C also (every 2 weeks). Neulasta CAN cause pain but doesn't to everyone. I never had any pain from the Neulasta (had 4 of them) - the only SE I had was that 2 hrs almost to the minute after injection, I went to sleep for 2 hrs.

    How many Taxol are you doing?

    Susan

    Taxol Chemo Treatments
    I have three more chemo rounds using Taxol left.
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    emamei said:

    Taxol Chemo Treatments
    I have three more chemo rounds using Taxol left.

    3 weeks isn't that long
    I know - it can seem like a long time but in the end it really isn't. I saw Dr. T. before I had my 10th Taxol and complained about how exhausted I was - he said that I could stop them as they had already done about 85% - 90% of what it could do - no matter how exhausteded I was I was going to do that last 10% - 15% - had already done 9 of them in 9 weeks so 3 more to get the 3 infusions would be do-able. The 'good' part is that the bad effects started wearing off 1 week after last one.

    Hang in there - You can do it!

    Susan
  • dbhadra
    dbhadra Member Posts: 344 Member
    emamei said:

    A C Chemo Drugs
    Chemo has not been kind to me at all. I've had every side effect there is, especially with the A C drugs. Chronic extreme nausea, vomiting, digestive and gastrointestinal issues, mucositis, and a feeling of being weak, exhausted and sick all the time. I was told things would be better with the TAXOL, but again, I'm having extreme side effects and the bone pain associated with TAXOL has been debilitating. I have three more rounds to go and I'm counting down the days.

    on my 7th week of 12 weeks of Taxol
    and have been really fortunate with side effects so far. No nausea, no vomiting, just LOTS of weight gain from eating so much from steriods. Will try to cut back steriods by half this week.

    Just this previous week started to feel a bit lousy and now it seems like after my Friday infusion I feel really tired and kind of unspecified yuckiness Sat, Sun, and Mon. Now it's Tues and this morning I woke up feeling normal. So wonder if this is the new pattern for the next 5 weeks - 3 yucky days and 4 good days...or if the yuckiness will accumulate more as the treatments continue. As someone else wrote, I am determined to make it until the end for 100% of the treatment!

    But so far, so good, much easier than I expected when starting.

    Laura
  • Hippiechick58
    Hippiechick58 Member Posts: 320
    dbhadra said:

    on my 7th week of 12 weeks of Taxol
    and have been really fortunate with side effects so far. No nausea, no vomiting, just LOTS of weight gain from eating so much from steriods. Will try to cut back steriods by half this week.

    Just this previous week started to feel a bit lousy and now it seems like after my Friday infusion I feel really tired and kind of unspecified yuckiness Sat, Sun, and Mon. Now it's Tues and this morning I woke up feeling normal. So wonder if this is the new pattern for the next 5 weeks - 3 yucky days and 4 good days...or if the yuckiness will accumulate more as the treatments continue. As someone else wrote, I am determined to make it until the end for 100% of the treatment!

    But so far, so good, much easier than I expected when starting.

    Laura

    I have the taxol terrors!
    I have the taxol terrors! After 4 rounds of DD A/C I was doing okay. Nauseous, but okay. Took all the amazing anti-nausea meds and was doing fine.Then i started DD taxol with neulasta the next day (the same as A/C) OMG the pain from the taxol brought me to my knees. Then after the neulasta, I was bedridden with excrutiating pain. I have one more tx to go on 3/2 then I can begin the rads.

    If you are on taxol, I wish you well. Everyone is different, so maybe you will just sail through with no problem.

    "May you be at Peace; May you be free of Suffering."
    Dianne
  • canoegirl
    canoegirl Member Posts: 169
    emamei said:

    TAXOL is debilitating...
    I had four rounds of the AC drugs and it was a horrendous experience for me. I'm on a Dose Dense protocol, meaning I receive my chemo every two weeks, not three and I also receive an injection of NEULASTA the day after each chemo treatment to boost my WBC. NEULASTA itself causes bone pain, but OMG, combined with the TAXOL the bone pain I have experienced after just one round of TAXOL has been excruciating. I have likened the pain to that of pressure building up within my bones with little to know where to escape, and the bone pain in my lower back bones, hip and pelvic bones is not too dissimilar to that of being in labour trying to give birth. My TAXOL round was last Thursday, by Saturday I was on the phone to my Cancer Agency's on-call oncologist begging for pain relief. He prescribed a pain med called Gabapentin that actually made the pain more intense and that I had an allergic reaction to. I called back yesterday, Sunday and the oncologist then prescribed Tylenol #3 with a prescription strength Ibuprofen (Advil). Finally I have some pain relief, provided I take the meds every six hours, otherwise I'm in agony. All in all, chemo has not been kind and I've had the worst of every side effect. I have three more rounds of TAXOL to go and I'm counting the days.

    my experience was similar to
    my experience was similar to emamei's. Luckily the Neulasta shot didn't cause me much grief, but the weekend after the taxol/herceptin treatments was terrible. The pain was unbearable in my legs and ankles after the first treatment. My dr put me on some pain meds and I had a reaction to those also. By the 2nd taxol treatment, I had the pain a little more in control, but still it was pretty bad for a few days. I had a friend with the exact same chemo as me and she didn't have any pain from the taxol, so we are all different. I just kept counting down the treatments and assuring myself that I could get through it.
  • jennytwist
    jennytwist Member Posts: 896

    I have the taxol terrors!
    I have the taxol terrors! After 4 rounds of DD A/C I was doing okay. Nauseous, but okay. Took all the amazing anti-nausea meds and was doing fine.Then i started DD taxol with neulasta the next day (the same as A/C) OMG the pain from the taxol brought me to my knees. Then after the neulasta, I was bedridden with excrutiating pain. I have one more tx to go on 3/2 then I can begin the rads.

    If you are on taxol, I wish you well. Everyone is different, so maybe you will just sail through with no problem.

    "May you be at Peace; May you be free of Suffering."
    Dianne

    I had the exact same
    cocktail as you - the dense dose a/c, then taxol. (4 rounds each, every 2 weeks) I certainly felt different on each one. A/C caused alot of nausea but I took all the meds for that. The taxol was tough but manageable. Keep resting inbetween and just know with 1 down and 3 to go you can make it! Do you have radiation after the chemo?
    I'll keep you in my prayers - for gentle peace during those taxol doses.
    much love,
    -Jenny
  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member

    I have the taxol terrors!
    I have the taxol terrors! After 4 rounds of DD A/C I was doing okay. Nauseous, but okay. Took all the amazing anti-nausea meds and was doing fine.Then i started DD taxol with neulasta the next day (the same as A/C) OMG the pain from the taxol brought me to my knees. Then after the neulasta, I was bedridden with excrutiating pain. I have one more tx to go on 3/2 then I can begin the rads.

    If you are on taxol, I wish you well. Everyone is different, so maybe you will just sail through with no problem.

    "May you be at Peace; May you be free of Suffering."
    Dianne

    Opt out of taxol
    I did 4 DD A/C and 1 taxol. I had a bad reaction to it--so sick, and such pain. My oncol. gave me the option to stop as it only gave me a 2-3% benefit. I hope the rest goes well for you.

    Sher
  • pinkkari09
    pinkkari09 Member Posts: 877
    Taxol kicked my butt :( I
    Taxol kicked my butt :( I want to first welcome you to the board you never wanted to join but will be so glad you did :) The experience here is unbelievable and the caring kindness is priceless.
    4 rounds of A/C
    12 rounds of Taxol (we quit at 11) The A/C was tough but I got through, however; neulasta was a pain, but I got through that as well. Gabapentin is an anti-convulsant that was prescribed to me for hot flashes, I'm glad you got something stronger for pain. I took hydrocodone the entire time and it did the trick. I only made it through 11 rounds of Taxol because the neuropathy was so severe they had to stop it. My advice would be to watch out for numbness and tingling in your hands and feet, make sure you let your doctor know if you have this. I was exhausted with Taxol as well, it just wiped me out. Not everyone is the same and some of our warriors have sailed through Taxol so I'm wishing you all the best. Drink lots of water and be gentle on yourself.
    Miles of Love and Big Cyber Hugs,
    ~Kari
  • Kylez
    Kylez Member Posts: 3,761 Member
    emamei said:

    Taxol Chemo Treatments
    I have three more chemo rounds using Taxol left.

    Welcome Emamei! Sorry about
    Welcome Emamei! Sorry about the Taxol. Wish I could offer advice, but, I wasn't on any chemo.


    Good luck,

    Kylez
  • BMS
    BMS Member Posts: 127

    Taxol kicked my butt :( I
    Taxol kicked my butt :( I want to first welcome you to the board you never wanted to join but will be so glad you did :) The experience here is unbelievable and the caring kindness is priceless.
    4 rounds of A/C
    12 rounds of Taxol (we quit at 11) The A/C was tough but I got through, however; neulasta was a pain, but I got through that as well. Gabapentin is an anti-convulsant that was prescribed to me for hot flashes, I'm glad you got something stronger for pain. I took hydrocodone the entire time and it did the trick. I only made it through 11 rounds of Taxol because the neuropathy was so severe they had to stop it. My advice would be to watch out for numbness and tingling in your hands and feet, make sure you let your doctor know if you have this. I was exhausted with Taxol as well, it just wiped me out. Not everyone is the same and some of our warriors have sailed through Taxol so I'm wishing you all the best. Drink lots of water and be gentle on yourself.
    Miles of Love and Big Cyber Hugs,
    ~Kari

    Taxol
    I did 4 rounds of TCH, once every three weeks. The Taxotere screwed up my liver so bad that we took a break for it to recover. Had my lumpectomy and am now doing 6 rounds of weekly Taxol with Herceptin every 3rd week. So far the only side effects have been the joint pain, which seems to kick in 3 days after treatment and last for 2 days. So, after heaving my guts during the TCH, this is a cake walk! I do take Advil for the bone pain and prescription painkilers at night to help sleep for those couple of days.