DEXAMETHASONE

T-Bird
T-Bird Member Posts: 25
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hi everyone!

Wondering if anyone out there who has taken Dexamethasone (4mg) got "antsy" while on this drug - I just can't sit still for more than a few moments and it is literally driving me crazy! I do know that the drug contains a steroid and it is highly likely that is what is causing my "antsiness".

Anyone else have this problem and if so, was there anything you took to eliviate it?

Thanking you so much for any help (or relief) you could offer!

Hoping everyone is having a peaceful evening!

Teresa

Comments

  • NikiMo
    NikiMo Member Posts: 342
    #2
    Antsy husband
    Hi,

    My husband is on dexamethasone, he was very antsy when he was taking 4mg twice a day. He took Ativan as well and that seem to chill him out a bit. He was more hungry than antsy. He had his esophagectomy in September and had no appetite, he began the dexamethasone during post op Chemo and he couldn't get enough food, it was a nice side effect. He had a very scary episode when he missed a dose. Had a migraine aura without the headache and thought he was hallucinating he was also very lethargic. Be careful and don't miss doses. Right Now he is on a step down program to come off of the drug, you can't just stop taking it or you can go through withdrawal. Maybe ask your doc about Ativan.

    Niki
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #3
    My husband, Rickie, was on
    My husband, Rickie, was on both drugs as well while he was having radiation for his brain mets. During the day it was not so bad, but come night time he was constantly getting up and wandering around the house. Several times he was also saying crazy things. He was weened off of it to where he only takes 1/2 tablet a day and he has not really had any more episodes like that. He still gets up in the night but mainly to take his pain meds. I know this doesn't give you any help, but it may make you feel better to know others have had the same problems.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie, dx stage IV EC, Oct. 2010
    Mets to bones and brain
  • AngieD
    AngieD Member Posts: 493
    #4
    NikiMo said:

    Antsy husband
    Hi,

    My husband is on dexamethasone, he was very antsy when he was taking 4mg twice a day. He took Ativan as well and that seem to chill him out a bit. He was more hungry than antsy. He had his esophagectomy in September and had no appetite, he began the dexamethasone during post op Chemo and he couldn't get enough food, it was a nice side effect. He had a very scary episode when he missed a dose. Had a migraine aura without the headache and thought he was hallucinating he was also very lethargic. Be careful and don't miss doses. Right Now he is on a step down program to come off of the drug, you can't just stop taking it or you can go through withdrawal. Maybe ask your doc about Ativan.

    Niki

    Dexamethasone
    My husband gets Dexamethasone in the IV before they start each Oxaliplatin/Xeloda round. Then he takes 8mg for each of the next 2 days, then a day of 4mg, then 2 mg, then off til next round. I wouldn't say he's antsy the first 3 or 4 days, but definitely more energetic than usual. Then he's really fatigued for the next few days after coming off it, then back to normal. I read someone's description that said when she was on it, she felt like she could lift a small car. And when she came off it, she felt like she had been hit by one.
    Angie
  • T-Bird
    T-Bird Member Posts: 25
    #5
    cher76 said:

    My husband, Rickie, was on
    My husband, Rickie, was on both drugs as well while he was having radiation for his brain mets. During the day it was not so bad, but come night time he was constantly getting up and wandering around the house. Several times he was also saying crazy things. He was weened off of it to where he only takes 1/2 tablet a day and he has not really had any more episodes like that. He still gets up in the night but mainly to take his pain meds. I know this doesn't give you any help, but it may make you feel better to know others have had the same problems.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie, dx stage IV EC, Oct. 2010
    Mets to bones and brain

    Good Afternoon everyone -
    Good Afternoon everyone - thanks for your replies!

    I am back on this drug (Dex) as I am back on another chemo regiment - 3 weeks on, 1 off of IV infusions of Cisplatin (Platinol) and Epirubicin (Phamorubicin) and Xeloda pills. I don't recall being THIS antsy before and yes, Angie, I have heard that saying before "felt like she could lift a small car. And when she came off it, she felt like she had been hit by one." - I refer to this as my crash & burn state.

    Thanks Nikie for the warnings about coming down off the stuff and about the Ativan - I actually do take Atvian before my IV infusions - makes me sleep during the long 4 hour treatment sessions. If you can imagine, I had once asked my RAD oncoogist for a prescription for Ativan and he wouldn't give it to me - apparently too addictive, yet, in the same breath, he told me I was terminal - like, seriously?

    Thanks to Cheryl for your thoughts as well - its always good to hear of other peoples stories and what they go through! Its what holds us together around here!

    Hoping everyone is having a good day! :)
  • Anita Sandall
    Anita Sandall Member Posts: 1
    #6
    Dexamethasone
    My husband was on it for years: it was combined with many many other chemicals that he was constantly given by his consultant, but I must say this was truly vile and caused a big disruption to family life. (We had a young daughter at the time and it really was the most painful experience watching our daughter grow up watching her father in such a terrible place, and for so much of her life as a small child).

    I have never understood why the medical profession sit there and repeat like parrots, over and over, 'there are no side effects', when you sit there and relay the horror of some of the meds.

    The travesty of course is that the senior consultants believe that patients are so dumb that that they will not notice that this is not the truth: professional arrogance that is finally and thankfully being challenged by the internet.

    No two patients will experience things in the same way, but I am very glad that these forums exist and for patients to share experiences and to feel some comfort in that way. Effectively being told that you are lying, on top of going through hell on earth at home, is not a great combo.

    Good luck out there; and I hope there is new paradign shift occurring with these forums whereby the medical profession is forced by such a platform, to start questioning its relationship as the dispensing arm of the multi-billion pound pharma industry.

    Take care
    AS.
  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #7
    no notice of antsy
    I take it I take 2mg no antsy here at all. I also take Xanax I recommend adding it highly!!
    May be no relation I started at 5mg and it was too much for what it's for, but everyone is different....
    Eric
  • rmitchell
    rmitchell Member Posts: 94
    #8
    Dex
    My husband is on this drug too. I haven't noticed any bad side affects. He is on a lot of pain medication and does get drowsy at times.

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