Dealing with Taxotere

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debko8
debko8 Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am having severe reactions to taxotere and my doctor gave me the choice of taking or not taking it. What can I use for the pain? I do not want codeine.

debko8

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  • inkblot
    inkblot Member Posts: 698 Member
    #2
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    Hi deb:

    I'm sorry to hear of your problems with Taxotere.
    I never had this drug so cannot share any personal experiences. Just a few questions and some food for thought:

    Since you're having severe reactions, then you must try to determine if any permanent nerve damage or anything else is likely, etc. even if the pain can be brought under control.

    Getting a 2nd opinion, should be helpful. Also, try google.com or another good search engine and find out all you can about reactions, what happens, etc.. (I did a quick check and Google has lots of links for Taxotere) Hopefully the info there will shed some light.

    Your doc left the choice up to you but what did he/she say about other patients who've had a reaction similar to your own? What happened with them re pain following completion of tx? Was the pain controlled with the person remaining functional, during treatment, etc.? What are the choices for pain control, if you do decide to continue tx? Seems that he/she should have shared some of this kind of info with you in order to help you make your best informed decision.

    Good luck and please keep us posted.

    Love, light and laughter,
    Ink
  • inkblot
    inkblot Member Posts: 698 Member
    #3
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    Deb, forgot to include this link. It's likely more indepth than what you may find on general searches:

    www.nci.nih.gov Go to breast cancer and then treatments. Hope this helps.

    Love, light and laughter,
    Ink
  • epgnyc
    epgnyc Member Posts: 137
    #4
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    I've read that Taxol has fewer side effects than Taxotere and yet is still one of the Taxane drugs (same class of drug). You should ask your oncologist if that would be a solution - to switch you to Taxol. Good luck.
  • Ronee33
    Ronee33 Member Posts: 25
    #5
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    I had 4 rounds of taxotere. What are your side effects and maybe I can offer help/advice? I took Tylenol for pain (because Taxotere does cause joint pain) and that did help. As well as heat pads. You can buy the ones that stick on. I think that its important that you fight this aggressively. You want to live.
  • DeeNY711
    DeeNY711 Member Posts: 476 Member
    #6
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    In order to minimize reaction to taxotere, I received Dexamethasone twice the day prior to treatment, twice the day of treatment and twice the day after treatment. Deb, it is not an easy course, but it has a beginning, a middle and an end. While receiving taxotere, I did have severe aching pain in hips and low back, but my liver function tests were kerflooey, so I did not take pain medication. When LFTs were better, if the pain was bad enough to wake me up and prevent falling back to sleep, I tried a few things, and to be honest, none of them really relieved the discomfort. It is something you manage to get through. However, the greater issue may be whether or not you ought to insist on obtaining a second opinion, obtaining a pain management consultation which may be very helpful to you, and/or switching to a different physician.
    Love,
    Denise
  • sharonos
    sharonos Member Posts: 2
    #7
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    Hi debko8, I just had my 3rd taxatere treatment today and my doctor has been real good about treating the reations. I have been taking neurontin 100mg three times a day and it keeps the pain under control. The first treatment I had severe pain and the nurse had me take 2 vicodin until it stopped and then the doctor seen me and put me on the neurontin and I take it all the time between and during treatments and have had zero pain since. I have RA and the treatments also trigger it and make it worse and I have stopped taking the arthritis meds because the neurontin works on it also. Do you have lots of other reactions also? I had so many and the doctor has been real good at treating them all.
  • debko8
    debko8 Member Posts: 2
    #8
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    sharonos said:

    Hi debko8, I just had my 3rd taxatere treatment today and my doctor has been real good about treating the reations. I have been taking neurontin 100mg three times a day and it keeps the pain under control. The first treatment I had severe pain and the nurse had me take 2 vicodin until it stopped and then the doctor seen me and put me on the neurontin and I take it all the time between and during treatments and have had zero pain since. I have RA and the treatments also trigger it and make it worse and I have stopped taking the arthritis meds because the neurontin works on it also. Do you have lots of other reactions also? I had so many and the doctor has been real good at treating them all.

    THank you for your answers. My doctor has not been sympathetic saying, "This is chemotherapy. It feels like a bad flu." I had such bad pain in my joints and it felt like it was going through my boodstream as well. My blood count dropped, which didn't happen with the a/c treatments and he says he'll give me something for that this time. I also had the redness in my hands and sore feet bottoms, which I can live with. I had trouble getting to this doctor (I am in an HMO and he comes highly recommended and is associated with a cancer research center at a nearby hospital). It helps to know there are others who know what I'm going through and truly care. Thanks for responding.
  • Roshawn
    Roshawn Member Posts: 2
    #9
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    Hi I just read all your comments about Taxotere. I am on my last of 4 rounds of Adremincine and am getting ready to start Taxotere. How long does the side affects usually last for Taxotere? The AC side affects made me sick for about 3 to 4 days

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