extreme fatigue

A1pena

Hi There,

My mom has pretty much been in chemo non-stop for 2 years. She had to take a break due to a brain met (that was successfully treated with gamma knife). During that break, she was prescribed dexamethasone, which is an immunosuppresent among other things. Her cancer went wild and dramatically spread throughout her abdomen She is currently on daily oral etoposide, a blood thinner (they also found a blood clot in her lung) and bi-weekly cisplatin. She usually takes chemo remarkably well, doctor said "like a 20 year old" but not this time. Her abdomen is really swollen, can barely eat, when she does eat, her stomach gets hard and more swollen and is experiencing extreme fatigue. I understand her situation is pretty unique, however have any of you taken a blood thinner while on chemo? Did it make you more tired than other chemo combos? Oh, and he also wants to add avastin this Friday. Im just worried that all the drugs are affecting her blood- that cant be good. Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Amanda

whiterose

Blood Thinner
I've been on Lovenox for 9 months. I've taken it all along in conjunction with my chemo. I don't seem to have had any side effects from it, or none that I've noticed. It's a pain to have the shots, but supposedly necessary. I started a thread below if you'd like more information.....Good luck.

LaundryQueen

whiterose said:

Blood Thinner
I've been on Lovenox for 9 months. I've taken it all along in conjunction with my chemo. I don't seem to have had any side effects from it, or none that I've noticed. It's a pain to have the shots, but supposedly necessary. I started a thread below if you'd like more information.....Good luck.

Barely eating?
Amanda: I think your mom may be sicker than you realize. Talk to the doctor about her food intake. She may need IV feedings to keep her strong. The ascites will increase if your mom is malnourished.

Your mom's situation is not unique. Ovarian cancer survivors are at high risk for blood clots.

antcat

Your mom
Amanda, I've been also on non stop chemo for the last 17 months and have been on and off chemo since 2006. But being on chemo for 17 months has made me very tired, in fact now I'm anemic. I've also been on blood thinners since 2010, not that I have a blood clot anymore but drs. don't seem to want to take me off. I had the shots, I couldn't bear them, I found them painful and my stomach was so black and blue that it looked like a mine field, so I asked my dr. to put me back on coumadin. I have to have my INR checked weekly but it's no big deal and he just adjusts my coumadin. I do have some restrictions as to what I can eat, but I'd rather have that then have a shot in my stomach.

As far as Avastin, I was on it for 6 months and sorry I did it. Once the dr. stopped Avastin, the tumors seemed to grow larger, I guess because Avastin kind of chokes the blood supply to make the smaller. Dr. didn't think it was working, so he stopped it, plus if you get Avastin, you have to get the shots in your stomach & after 6 months of that I couldn't take it, I was running out of places because I was in constant black and blues. I did tell the oncologist I read somewhere & I could kick myself for not saving the article that once someone goes off of Avastin, if the tumors aren't completely shrunked, they come back faster. I usually save the articles, but he insisted I was wrong. Well apparently I wasn't in my case. But this is only how I feel, there are alot of women out there on Avastin & it's worked for them. I just think it's hard getting multiple drugs. Good luck to you and your mom.

carolenk

antcat said:

Your mom
Amanda, I've been also on non stop chemo for the last 17 months and have been on and off chemo since 2006. But being on chemo for 17 months has made me very tired, in fact now I'm anemic. I've also been on blood thinners since 2010, not that I have a blood clot anymore but drs. don't seem to want to take me off. I had the shots, I couldn't bear them, I found them painful and my stomach was so black and blue that it looked like a mine field, so I asked my dr. to put me back on coumadin. I have to have my INR checked weekly but it's no big deal and he just adjusts my coumadin. I do have some restrictions as to what I can eat, but I'd rather have that then have a shot in my stomach.

As far as Avastin, I was on it for 6 months and sorry I did it. Once the dr. stopped Avastin, the tumors seemed to grow larger, I guess because Avastin kind of chokes the blood supply to make the smaller. Dr. didn't think it was working, so he stopped it, plus if you get Avastin, you have to get the shots in your stomach & after 6 months of that I couldn't take it, I was running out of places because I was in constant black and blues. I did tell the oncologist I read somewhere & I could kick myself for not saving the article that once someone goes off of Avastin, if the tumors aren't completely shrunked, they come back faster. I usually save the articles, but he insisted I was wrong. Well apparently I wasn't in my case. But this is only how I feel, there are alot of women out there on Avastin & it's worked for them. I just think it's hard getting multiple drugs. Good luck to you and your mom.

You are not wrong
I have read the article about the "rebound effect" that can happen after Avastin use. It depends on how resilient the cancer is. There are several pathways that tumor can use to create new blood vessels. Avastin only blocks one of the pathways. Research is being done on new agents that block multiple pathways.

I will look for the article. If I find it, I will post the link even if it is just an abtract. I guess oncologists are doing the best they can & aren't perfect. I think they are frustrated by the way cancer seems to outsmart their best efforts.

One of the several oncologists that I consulted with said the risks with Avastin didn't outweigh the benefit. I'm inclined to think that the women in remission after using Avastin would have been there anyway.

carolenk

carolenk said:

You are not wrong
I have read the article about the "rebound effect" that can happen after Avastin use. It depends on how resilient the cancer is. There are several pathways that tumor can use to create new blood vessels. Avastin only blocks one of the pathways. Research is being done on new agents that block multiple pathways.

I will look for the article. If I find it, I will post the link even if it is just an abtract. I guess oncologists are doing the best they can & aren't perfect. I think they are frustrated by the way cancer seems to outsmart their best efforts.

One of the several oncologists that I consulted with said the risks with Avastin didn't outweigh the benefit. I'm inclined to think that the women in remission after using Avastin would have been there anyway.

Clarification of Avastin Benefits in Ovarian Cancer
Here's a link that may help:

http://www.onclive.com/publications/Oncology-live/2012/february-2012/Benefits-of-Bevacizumab-in-Ovarian-Cancer-Clarified