Axitinib / Inlyta

Eskimo lily said:

Radiation and Inlyta

Neil,

 

Are you doing your radiation therapy at the same time that you're taking your daily Inlyta dose?

 

Mom was just on everolimus but has stopped because of a new bone met. Our oncologist has referred us to see a radiation oncologist (who we are seeing on Thursday) and said to make an appointment when we're done with radiation. The next drug they want to try is Inlyta but there was no mention of anything to help with the new bone met. It seemed unsettling to me for mom to put her on hold from starting Inlyta for so long...it's been exactly a week now that mom her stopped taking everolimus so I believe the "wash out" period should be over. I was thinking this was maybe because she couldn't be on Inlyta and radiation at the same time but it seems as though you are on both. I hope the pain has been feeling better!

 

Virginia

Hi Virginia.  Yes, I am still taking Inlyta - 7mg twice a day.  I am also in the middle of undergoing radiation treatments to bone lesions on my left femur.  As far as I can ascertain there should be no restrictions on your Mom trying Inlyta while also undergoing radiation treatments.  Of course there may some other medical issues with your mom that may be dictating otherwise.

There are a few additional things that I am doing to (hopefully) help the radiation treatments work more effeciently.  One is that I am taking the minimum dosage of Metformin.  There are several studies that show that Metformin can help whenever undergoining radiation treatement.  Another is that I follow a low carb/high fat diet.  Finally I make sure not to take any anti-oxidants while undergoing radiation.  This last item is a bit controversial - not everyone  concurs - but I feel there is enough evidence not tempt fate.

Today I will go in for my 5th treatment (of 12 total).  Unfortunately, the pain is still present.  However I was told not to expect any relief until I had undergone at least 5 or 6 of these treatments.

NanoSecond said:

Inlyta and Radiation

Hi Virginia.  Yes, I am still taking Inlyta - 7mg twice a day.  I am also in the middle of undergoing radiation treatments to bone lesions on my left femur.  As far as I can ascertain there should be no restrictions on your Mom trying Inlyta while also undergoing radiation treatments.  Of course there may some other medical issues with your mom that may be dictating otherwise.

There are a few additional things that I am doing to (hopefully) help the radiation treatments work more effeciently.  One is that I am taking the minimum dosage of Metformin.  There are several studies that show that Metformin can help whenever undergoining radiation treatement.  Another is that I follow a low carb/high fat diet.  Finally I make sure not to take any anti-oxidants while undergoing radiation.  This last item is a bit controversial - not everyone  concurs - but I feel there is enough evidence not tempt fate.

Today I will go in for my 5th treatment (of 12 total).  Unfortunately, the pain is still present.  However I was told not to expect any relief until I had undergone at least 5 or 6 of these treatments.

Hi Neil,

What type of radiation are you on right now?

After our appointment with the radiation oncologist tomorrow, I'm going to call our oncologist's office to make an appointment to see if we can start mom on her Inlyta at the same time. From what I've been reading, I don't see a reason why she wouldn't be able to do both. Our oncologist will be away for a few weeks and our next appointment with him isn't until March 11th, which I think is ridiculous! 

My mom is actually on Metformin XL 500mg twice a day. She started taking this because her blood sugars were high whilst on Everolimus. Since she has stopped taking everolimus, her blood sugars have come down significantly and they want her to remain on the same dose. I've read a lot about your posts on Metformin here on CSN and on SP and I'm very happy that mom is taking Metformin!

I hope all goes well today and that you start to feel some relief after this 5th treatment.

NanoSecond said:

Inlyta and Radiation

I am getting some sort of IMRT.  Each dose is about 3.6 Gy and I will have 11 of them in total.  This dosage is higher than "traditional" 2 Gy radiation treatment but less than SBRT's 5 Gy (and will take twice as many days).

I just got back from my 5th treatment and I am happy to report that the pain does seem to be very slowly dissappating.  I do hope it keeps up...

While I was there I met with my radiation oncologist and asked whether there was any necessity to suspend taking Inlyta during these kinds of treatments.  She told me she could not come up with any reason.

I think that your Mom already being on Metformin is terrific.  After all the recent research that I have read I really don't know what to make of those therapies that may work to raise blood glucose as a side effect.  This is one big reason that I try to avoid all steroids if it is possible - as well as any statins.  Regardless, it sounds like your Mom's oncologist was very forward thinking by putting her on Metformin to help her deal with this issue while she was taking Everolimus.

Hi Ron, sorry to hear about all you have been through!  Looks like the higher dose is going to do the trick for you. Hopefully your strict food intake and close watch will help keep the side affects at bay. I was wondering if they would decide to treat with both meds, Sutent and Inlyta, as I have heard others were on both, with one week on one and one week on the other. Have you heard about that?

Why is it that you avoid steroids? They want to put mom on it, it seems the Votrient caused pulmonary Fibrosis.  She is doing ok now but in April they want to start her on that.  I have her using some homeopathics for that and it is doing well for her.  I rather her not go the steroid route if she doesn't need it!

Hope all goes well for you and the pain is totally gone once the treatments are done!  

I continued Inlyta at 3 mg/2xDay and it did absolutely nothing for me. The cancer basically exploded.  That's the best way I can describe it. New mets in abdominal wall, new mets in subclavical lymph nodes, increased several tumor sizes in lung. Next up-- sutent + gemcitibine trial.

Phoenix Rising said:

Goodbye Inlyta

I continued Inlyta at 3 mg/2xDay and it did absolutely nothing for me. The cancer basically exploded.  That's the best way I can describe it. New mets in abdominal wall, new mets in subclavical lymph nodes, increased several tumor sizes in lung. Next up-- sutent + gemcitibine trial.

Hey Phoenix,

I'm sorry about the Inlyta news. I hope the Sutent trial is a winner. Thinking about you, I know how that kind of news hurts.

Take care, David

sewmommy said:

will do! im almost hoping my

will do! im almost hoping my bp goes up, just to tell me im getting the drug and not placebo... are you in a blind trial?

Best of luck, I hope you kick some ****.

GSRon said:

Hi Sewmommy...  ouch..  so

Hi Sewmommy...  ouch..  so far, from what I hear, all the adjuvent therapies have failed..  I wonder why they keep doing these..?  Some of us feel that is a waste of a good drug... Maybe it will work for you, but then how would anyone know..?

Ron

I think they are buying time with these drugs until the good stuff becomes available.

This is the first scan since I started Inlyta but it includes a 26 day span without any meds while I moved off of Votrient and waited for insurance approval for Inlyta. So, that makes 3 months since the last scan and roughly 2 months on Inlyta.

1. Bilirubin is 1.5, that's GREAT for me! ALT and AST are also great! My liver and Gilbert's Syndrome seem to like Inlyta.
2. Abdomen and pelvis scan still remains clear of mets.
3. Lung mets are mixed. They follow 3 mets as markers, there are many more smaller ones but here are the 3 markers:
    A. 9mm x 6mm - is now 9 x 8mm
    B. 1.4 cm x 1.2 cm - is now 1.2 cm x 1.0 cm - this one was ACTIVELY growing in the fall
    C. 1.1 cm x 8mm - is now 1.2 X 1.2 cm
Those are in the 20% margin of error status, so he considers it stability especially with a month without meds.

Echocardiogram was good!

We are raising the meds from 7mg 2x per day to 10 mg 2x per day (max dose for Inlyta). We'll see what side effects that brings. I'm not having any side effects except fatigue now, so we will see. I'm super happy that my liver is tolerating Inlyta.

I feel better than I have felt since IL2, we'll see how things go with the dosage increase...Celebratory long bike ride today!

David