Folfiri tips

my experience
Everyone reacts differently. For me, it was not bad. (I did with Avastin). I had mild nauseau, mild fatigue from the Folfiri. No side effects from the Avastin. I did have hair loss from irinotecan (boo hoo) -- kicked in quite late. My hair did grow back. I was able to keep working but I have a flexible job -- can work from home some. I had a nap every day (still do!). Good luck!!

Tara

I was a little opposite. I
I was a little opposite from some of the others. I had folfox for the first 3 months then was switched to folfiri. The folfiri made me feel much worse in different ways than the nasty neuropathy of folfox. I was very weak, tired and nausea most of the two weeks, then it was time for the next dose. I was always pale after infusions, and the diarrhea was terrible. Hair loss was a little hard to handle, but it's growing back. And differently. I was not able to work while on treatment. Mainly because I just couldn't do it. I slept most of the time, like the first 4 days. Good luck to you.

plh4gail

I've done Folfox and Folfiri - by far, the Folfiri was the worst drug that I have ever taken and I had a horrible time with it. I was different than most folks (no suprise there) and I was sick about 24 out of 30 days of the month with it.

With Folfox, I got sick for only about 4 days, but had to contend with the neuropathy issues and that drug compromised my immunity system, do we had to discontinue.

But Folfiri sucked the life out of me - it was no life at all. I did it because it looked like we could get back to another watch and wait state, so I went for it. My last dose, I knew that my mind and body had taken enough - at least for awhile. I cannot stay on this type of drug indefinitely.

Slept and napped a bunch. Extremem fatigue, some nausea, d was not too bad for me. It was just very harsh on me. And of course, I had done 2 cycles to start off - then we stopped to do 30x rad treatments with 5fu pump for six-weeks - and then we started Folfiri right back up.

So, I was pretty whupped from the radiation and then I had to absorb the chemo, so that might have made it worse for me, don't know.

I actually was able to work on Folfox, missed a couple of days each cycle.

This last time, I returned while still in chemo treatment. I was so sick, I could barely make the day and the drive home. I subsequently had to go back out to finish off the remaining treatments and then come back to work.

So, I can't say if you will be able to work - other than to say YOU WILL KNOW once you've done it.

I did Avastin took for about 9-months and am one of the few that developed a little heart murmur or "catching your breath" or "trying to put your heart back into rhythm" from that treatment - though the docs disagree that anything could have happened.

Best of luck with the treatments.

-Craig

laurettas said:

Hi Rebecca
My husband did three months of FOXFOX and then three months of FOLFIRI. He is retired so I can't say for sure, but I think he could have worked at a not too physical job during all of his treatments. He does stuff on our little farm most days. Almost never is he too ill to go outside and do things. That being said, people react very differently to the drugs. He has had no diarrhea with any of them so he doesn't have to try to counteract the loss of energy from that.

Good luck with your new treatment and hope it gets rid of those last pesky mets!!

It's not too bad
I have done both, previously 6 treatments of Folfox and current finished my 3rd treatment of Folfiri (7 more to go). I'd take the Folfiri any day over folfox. I feel about the same overall; however, I do not have to deal with the cold sensations of the Oxi in Folfox, plus my taste buds were more messed up on Folfox.

With Folfiri, I do experience tiredness. I typically get my treatment Wednesday morning and it takes about 3-4 hours. I then come home with a portable take-home treatment that I wear for an additional 46 hours. I get disconnected from that on Friday around noon. The day of disconnect and the following 24 hours is my worst with regard to fatigue. I also experience some nausea but have never thrown up. I do have a problem with getting a mouth ulcer every treatment that comes on day 5 and lasts for about 3 days.

I work full-time (did through both treatments) although I do have an office job overseeing a staff of 7 professionals. If I had a physical job, I would most definitely need a few days off during the treatment cycle. Best of luck to you.