Help with chemo drugs

geriy

My husband will be starting chemo in 4 weeks. 4 rounds over 12 weeks . The drugs are Cisplastin and Gemzar. Anyone ever have theses meds.. He has lung Squsmaous cell, BAC and Carcinoid tumorlet all in his upper left lung..

JohnBinDC

Geriy
I was on the same cocktail for my firsat 2 rounds of treatment. I have since switched to Alimta/Cisplatin because my cancer sub-type has been identified as adenocarcenoma.

I had some pretty significant side effects from the cisplatin. Mt treatments consisted of one week with both drugs, then one with Gemzar alone, followed by a week off. The main side effects were weakness, nausea, and some vomiting. Overall, I felt like I was toxic and all of my body was run-down.

You'll get a lot of good advice from your oncologist and the nurse oncologist. I suggest taking the anti-nausea medication as scheduled, regardless of the feeling of nausea. I also have a host of recommended OTC drugs, including Maalox, gas-x and Prilosec. It is still tough.

Usually, I feel okay after the first few days of treatment, then the side effects kick in. It takes about 10 days or so to get over the side effects. I usually miss about 5 days of work during a treatment round. Some people tolerate it much better and are able to work a regular schedule, but I am not one of those people.

Be sure to hydrate, eat as you can, and try to come up with foods that can be tolerated. I can't eat some of my favorites because everything tastes overwhelmingly salty! Again, this is different for different people.

Chemo is not easy, but I look at the rewards of reduced tumor size and and progress made against cancer and it is worth the discomfort.

One thing I did was to make my own Ginger Ale from a recipe in the "Cancer Fighting Kitchen" cookbook. That seems to help settle my stomach.

Best wishes to you and your husband as you fight this disease. Plese let us know if you have any questions where we might be able to help. I am fortunate to have a terrific caregiver and it sounds like your husband is also fortunate to have you at his side!

Best wishes always.

John

NayPaul

JohnBinDC said:

Geriy
I was on the same cocktail for my firsat 2 rounds of treatment. I have since switched to Alimta/Cisplatin because my cancer sub-type has been identified as adenocarcenoma.

I had some pretty significant side effects from the cisplatin. Mt treatments consisted of one week with both drugs, then one with Gemzar alone, followed by a week off. The main side effects were weakness, nausea, and some vomiting. Overall, I felt like I was toxic and all of my body was run-down.

You'll get a lot of good advice from your oncologist and the nurse oncologist. I suggest taking the anti-nausea medication as scheduled, regardless of the feeling of nausea. I also have a host of recommended OTC drugs, including Maalox, gas-x and Prilosec. It is still tough.

Usually, I feel okay after the first few days of treatment, then the side effects kick in. It takes about 10 days or so to get over the side effects. I usually miss about 5 days of work during a treatment round. Some people tolerate it much better and are able to work a regular schedule, but I am not one of those people.

Be sure to hydrate, eat as you can, and try to come up with foods that can be tolerated. I can't eat some of my favorites because everything tastes overwhelmingly salty! Again, this is different for different people.

Chemo is not easy, but I look at the rewards of reduced tumor size and and progress made against cancer and it is worth the discomfort.

One thing I did was to make my own Ginger Ale from a recipe in the "Cancer Fighting Kitchen" cookbook. That seems to help settle my stomach.

Best wishes to you and your husband as you fight this disease. Plese let us know if you have any questions where we might be able to help. I am fortunate to have a terrific caregiver and it sounds like your husband is also fortunate to have you at his side!

Best wishes always.

John

thanks for the info
John.......

Appreciate you sharing your experience ith alimta/cisplatin. My wifes tumor has started to grow again, so she will end her involvment in her current clinical trial. She is being tested for the alk mutation, and if positive will go on crizotinib. If not then alimta and a platin. So I am trying to learn what I can. Your experience helps.

cb girl

Same drug protocol
My husband was on the same 2 drugs for 6 cycles over 18 weeks. He also has squamous cell. He had tumors in both lungs and the tumors did shrink after treatment,enough so that a surgeon has now removed both the tumors-the RUL on Jan 24th and the LLL today March 25th. My husband did develop some ringing in his ears and peripheral neuropathy in his feet that they attribute to the cisplatin, which may or may not resolve it self. His last chemo treatment was Sept. 2010 and the nueropathy began about a few weeks after he stopped chemo, the ringing started about the middle of tx and he says seems a little better, or could be he's gotten used to it. He didn't get sick, but took zofran and emend to keep nausea/vomiting at bay. He ate a lot, actually gaining weight. he preferred what he thought was simple, stuff food- hamburger helper, stew, noodles/gravy,rice/gravy-no fish which usually he loves. When he couldn't decide if he was sick or hungry he would eat. the hardest part was the fatigue that really hit him hard aftr his first round. never could find a way around that part, except to accept being a zombie for 14 days of month. Hi hair has groan back now and he hasn't had any fatigue flashbacks sine. Now fatigue from surgery, that's another thing.
Good Luck and best wishes as you begin this journey

Ex_Rock_n_Roller

Help with chemo drugs
I had two courses of a Cisplatin/Etoposide combo last summer (IIIb adenocarcinoma). Compared to what I thought it would be, it was basically a day at the beach. I had barely a hint of nausea (they load you up with good stuff during treatment), and I only took about 3 nausea pills over the whole course.

I may have had a small amount of neuropathy and ear ringing, but they were masked by (A) the effects of 40 years of arthritis (neuropathy), and (B) See my username!

One piece of advice, if he hasn't already received it: if he's at all near the lower end of his preferred weight range (I was), he should bulk up before treatment. You want some resources on board just in case.

joep531857

chemo drugs
hi,
My name is joe and i am just past halfway of my 4cycle 12 week course of treatment. i am on cisplatin and vinorelbine. the cisplatin is definitely tough on me, i have nausea starting about 2 days after infusion. My meds hold off most of the vomiting. It also leaves an awful metallic taste in your mouth. I have gone to distilled water (no metals in it), plastic utensils and biotene toothpaste and mouthwash. All seem to help alittle bit allowing me to eat small amounts. You may also experience ringing in your ears, let oncologist know. Biggest thing is it is hard on your kidneys so you must drink lots and lots of fluids for me thats the distilled water. I am not on the other drug so i cant comment on that sorry.
Joe