Anyone have experience with Irinotecan / Erbitux

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Devasted
Devasted Member Posts: 185
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My husband starts Irinotecan / Erbitux tomorrow. Any suggestions, ideas or experiences to share would be appreciated.

Thanks

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  • damama24
    damama24 Member Posts: 174 Member
    #2
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    iriontecan
    I am currently on iriontecan and vectibix(similar to erbitux). So far the side effects have been minimal. One of the side effects is diahrrea, but it hasn't been a problem so far. I have yet to develop the skin rash, just a few spots here and there on face and back. This has been much easier to tolorate than the folfox was. Have scan next week to see if it is working. I'm hopeful, my CEA took a major nose dive over the last 6 weeks so am incouraged. The one thing I can say is drink a lot of fluids and keep your skin moisturized. I hope this combo works well for your husband. Blessings to you.
    Deb
  • chicoturner
    chicoturner Member Posts: 282
    #3
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    I was on the irrinoteacan.
    I was on the irrinoteacan. It is important to drink lots of water and let the onc know if you have lots of diarreha as that can be a serious side affect if not watched. Otherwise, I had little problems with it!! Jean
  • ktlcs
    ktlcs Member Posts: 358
    #4
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    damama24 said:

    iriontecan
    I am currently on iriontecan and vectibix(similar to erbitux). So far the side effects have been minimal. One of the side effects is diahrrea, but it hasn't been a problem so far. I have yet to develop the skin rash, just a few spots here and there on face and back. This has been much easier to tolorate than the folfox was. Have scan next week to see if it is working. I'm hopeful, my CEA took a major nose dive over the last 6 weeks so am incouraged. The one thing I can say is drink a lot of fluids and keep your skin moisturized. I hope this combo works well for your husband. Blessings to you.
    Deb

    Erbitux
    No experience with irinotecan, but Hank has been on erbitux since Feb. Dry skin and skin rash are his main issues. The rash can be itchy and painful and will sometimes bleed. We learned early to stay on top of it, as his spread into his eyes and that was not good. Dr prescribed a topical gel (clindamycin) and and antiobiotic (doxycycline) antiobiotic cleared his eyes right up and gel keeps the rash bearable. Be sure they prescribe you something to have on hand before it becomes bothersome

    Best of Luck

    K
  • vhtqm1
    vhtqm1 Member Posts: 107
    #5
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    i'm currently on this exact chemo
    of course not everyone is the same but this is what i've experienced.

    initially when getting home after my first treatment i was okay until about 9 or 10 o'clock when all of a sudden i felt very cold and began getting a headache. be respectful of the temperature and if you feel this overwhelming coldness don't be afraid to turn the heater on and or heat of a blanket in the dryer. get some non alchohal based lotion. after a few treatments i began noticing my finger tips and areas of my feet would crack. so have a good lotion handy and use often. some people get diarrhea right away and others get it almost 10 days out. when i'm having treatment they give me Atropine so i'd have to say that it works because that issue really hasn't surfaced. i get very nauseated and yes vomiting. today i'm doing rather well. even though i got up this morning getting sick i still exercised and tried eating a little something.you can feel just horrible and seconds later you feel absolutely fine. my back and chest is breaking out with acne and some on my face. they can give you medication for this if it gets out of control and or bothersome. you need to watch out for infection with this. i'm currently on this regimen due to recurrence of metastasis to Liver, (2) lesions. they will check your blood often and so far the only blood result which has interfered with treatment is Platelets. however, i just wait one week and it seems to bounce back. hope this helps.

    ed
  • Geetar_Dave
    Geetar_Dave Member Posts: 7
    #6
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    vhtqm1 said:

    i'm currently on this exact chemo
    of course not everyone is the same but this is what i've experienced.

    initially when getting home after my first treatment i was okay until about 9 or 10 o'clock when all of a sudden i felt very cold and began getting a headache. be respectful of the temperature and if you feel this overwhelming coldness don't be afraid to turn the heater on and or heat of a blanket in the dryer. get some non alchohal based lotion. after a few treatments i began noticing my finger tips and areas of my feet would crack. so have a good lotion handy and use often. some people get diarrhea right away and others get it almost 10 days out. when i'm having treatment they give me Atropine so i'd have to say that it works because that issue really hasn't surfaced. i get very nauseated and yes vomiting. today i'm doing rather well. even though i got up this morning getting sick i still exercised and tried eating a little something.you can feel just horrible and seconds later you feel absolutely fine. my back and chest is breaking out with acne and some on my face. they can give you medication for this if it gets out of control and or bothersome. you need to watch out for infection with this. i'm currently on this regimen due to recurrence of metastasis to Liver, (2) lesions. they will check your blood often and so far the only blood result which has interfered with treatment is Platelets. however, i just wait one week and it seems to bounce back. hope this helps.

    ed

    Started yesterday
    I started this chemo cocktail yesterday. Did feel urpy and gassy during treatment, but Atropine and Ativan helped. Downing the Compazine for the nausea like M&M's but so far not much else is a problem.

    It's all doable. Life goes on.
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #7
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    lomotil for diarhea
    When I was on irinotecan, I found that it caused a lot of diarhea. It didn't usually set in for me until the 3rd or 4th day. I'd actually often be constipated for the first 2-3 days because of what they put in my IV to counterract the diarhea. Then, the dam would slowly break loose, then watch out. At first, over the counter immodium helped, but it got to the point where I needed something stronger. Lomotil did the trick.
    It might be good to have on hand- I now still use it even though I'm taking something else. I take it when I go out in public or out to eat, so i'm not caught out somewhere needing to find a bathroom asap.

    Hope it works well for you-

    Lisa
  • Erinb
    Erinb Member Posts: 293
    #8
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    My husband has had 4
    My husband has had 4 treatments and it has been tolerable. He usually vomits a little during days 1-3, and has to use the bathroom a lot from days 4-8 and he's very gassy. He has tried lomotil, immodium, increase the fiber for more productive stools, zofran for nausea, pepcid, tagament for acid.
    Well then the erbitux caused him to have an acne like rash and now two of his nail beds are inflamed and filling up with fluid. He has also experienced hair loss so he shaved it off.
    A good side effect- his CEA went down from 4 to 2. I'm not sure how his liver mets are responding yet.
    It is really hard to see the side effects from chemo on the person you love with all of your heart. I try to rub my husband's feet with Bag balm each night. I'm not sure if it works, but I feel like I'm helping out a little.
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #9
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    Are you experienced?
    I've been on Irinotecan and Erbitux for a very long time (4 years or so?) and have had very good results with it. Unlike others, I tend to get constipated. I also get fatigue, nausea (if it's legal try pot for that...works the best by far IMO), skin rash which gets less the longer you're on are Erbitux. Also dry skin issues. I've found that Bag Balm works pretty good but I've found nothing that is 100% effective for the dry skin. Swimming has helped me in the past too.

    Many people have had very positive results with that protocol, myself being one of them. I hope your husband responds well as well...
    -phil
  • Devasted
    Devasted Member Posts: 185
    #10
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    PhillieG said:

    Are you experienced?
    I've been on Irinotecan and Erbitux for a very long time (4 years or so?) and have had very good results with it. Unlike others, I tend to get constipated. I also get fatigue, nausea (if it's legal try pot for that...works the best by far IMO), skin rash which gets less the longer you're on are Erbitux. Also dry skin issues. I've found that Bag Balm works pretty good but I've found nothing that is 100% effective for the dry skin. Swimming has helped me in the past too.

    Many people have had very positive results with that protocol, myself being one of them. I hope your husband responds well as well...
    -phil

    Thanks to you all
    My husband has had 3 treatments, one each week, and so far things seem to be tolerable. Terrible acne developed after five days after first treatment but has a gel and antibotic that are helping, slowly.

    Do the side effects get worse (like Folfox seemed to accumulate over time)?


    Thanks so much for your help.

    Phil, we are hoping for positive results but the onc. says it works in about 30% of patients, ever heard that number? We are trying to forget that number....
  • hobiec
    hobiec Member Posts: 6
    #11
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    PhillieG said:

    Are you experienced?
    I've been on Irinotecan and Erbitux for a very long time (4 years or so?) and have had very good results with it. Unlike others, I tend to get constipated. I also get fatigue, nausea (if it's legal try pot for that...works the best by far IMO), skin rash which gets less the longer you're on are Erbitux. Also dry skin issues. I've found that Bag Balm works pretty good but I've found nothing that is 100% effective for the dry skin. Swimming has helped me in the past too.

    Many people have had very positive results with that protocol, myself being one of them. I hope your husband responds well as well...
    -phil

    Swimming
    Phillieg, you say swimming helped in the past. Did you swim in a pool? My reason for asking is my doc says that the chemicals in a pool may affect my skin rash. I am taking Erbitux, 5Fu, and Camptosar (spelling?) I may be getting a break after the next cycle and it would be nice to be able to swim.

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