Side affects from Taxol & Carboplatin

dfw2020 said:

Taxol & Carboplatin Treatment
Diagnosed with melanoma on my liver and a spleen. Pet scan showed spread to other part of my body and some bones. Start Taxol & Carboplatin treatment in two days. Insurance refuse to pay to pay for Yervoy (ipilimumab) treatment. Trying to find a Clinical Trials for ipilimumab because the drug shown to prolong the lives of people with stage 4 melanoma cancer.

....looking forward to your feedback

Theodora_F said:

Side effects from Taxol & Carboplatin therapy
Hi Greg,

Thank you kindly for the more in-depth information, I hope your wife is well.

After reading the forum I felt I wanted to share my experience in hope of offering a little help to others and of a possible feedback.

So, on January this year I was diagnosed with pleural cancer (early stage)and undergone surgery and 6 rounds of chemotherapy with Paclitaxel and Carboplatin in a 3 week cycle.
I completed therapy in June and although I went through most of the symptoms other people described here,( like hair loss and severe muscle and joint pain,mild vision degradation,tingling in my hands and feet...)I kind of been having some higher expectations regarding my overall well-being after treatment. I had two post surgery intermediate CT scans so far, and thank God, I was told everything looks fine and clean, which gave me a fantastic psychological boost.
For the last two weeks or so though, the muscle and joint pain intensified, matching or even surpassing the pain I had during the chemo treatment. I noticed the pain seems to be more severe during the weather changes and after prolonged rest periods, especially on my right arm. On occasion, I feel a burning sensation inside where part of my pleura was removed.My oncologist prescribed pain killers and lots of patience.
So all this cancelled out my initial euphoria and fear I may give in to desperation again.I use to be a very active and self reliant person and what drives me crazy to the brink of tears now is the fact that I need assistance even for the simplest things...
So far, thinking that my body took a terrible beating from all those drugs they put into my system, I refrained from taking any more medicine. I learned, reading the forum, that B6 and Magnesium alleviates pain and I am willing to try them out.
What I would like to know is how long this ordeal is going to last, at least in a relative time frame.
Seems like doctors are not so keen in letting out this kind of information. Maybe this approach works for some people who prefer to take things as they come. I, for one, fall into the other category.
That's about it for now.
Thank you for reading this, wish you all a quick and lasting recovery.

Theo

jazzy1 said:

Update
Thought I'd give an update on myself. Since completion of treatments July '09 and starting in Dec '09 with some "minor" lower back pain, finally got worse. Had my 6-month oncologist appt in July and approved an MRI. Results showed -- bulging disk in L5 area and compression of nerve root -- basically called sciatica. Everyone wants to send me off to the neurosurgeon, but surgery is last resort.

Always been a believer in chiropractic and other alternative options, so starting with a new chiropractor who helped a friend with a similar back issue, but his disks were herniated. Figure I'll give her a shot as she has great experience, plus add in some other things such as acupuncture. One thing my chiropractor told me, after 30+ years of running, that really puts a strain on many joints...one being knees and lower back...bingo! Then add on external pelvic radiation, 33 rounds, and I'm even more jolted.

Well as the docs keep telling me, YOU HAVE NO CANCER...BE HAPPY! Guess I should be happy, what's a little pain...hum???

Best to all,
Jan

I have had neuropathy since receiving taxol and cis-platinum for bladder cancer in 1997.

It has slowly gotten worse through the years.

Anybody else out there from before 2000?

Wow you have been fighting this from 1997, you must be one strong person. My first NPC was in 2002, then it came back in 2004, I did more radiation and chemo. But is came back again in 2006, the doctors only gave me 6 months to maybe a year at best if I do more Chemo, but my caretaker and I said No to anymore Chemo. But by God’s blessing I am still here 10 years later. I would love to hear your story.

Tim

At 34 years old, I was diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IIA.  I underwent a right open lung biopsy (thoracotomy) followed (2 months later) with a right pnuemonectomy (lung removal).  Two months after that I started Taxol/Carboplatin and Radiation adjuvant treatment through clinical trial RTOG 9705...it knocked the absolute snot out of me...but I survived.  19 years later I've got the nueropathy that you all have talked about, a case of 'chemo-brain' that has never really gone away, a sensitivity to cold in my hands where holding an ice cold can of soda is painful, Congestive Heart Failure from the chemo/radiation and finally...as of last week...esophageal cancer!

When we put ourselves through this horrendous treatment regimen, our focus is that 'five year survival number'.  Once we get past that, the oncologists seem to stop caring...hey we're cured right?  Fast forward another decade and serious side effects begin to manifest.  I'm now in a situation where Johns Hopkins is trying to figure out how to perform surgery on my for my new diagnosis but having had my chest cavity violated twice and then radiated leaves me in a bit of a bind.

NOW...let me qualify my previous statement.  YES, I've got a lot of problems from the treatment path I took 19 years ago and am suffering with my decisions to this very day...maybe a better way to say it would be that I'm LIVING with my decision.  Had I not  done what I did, I would have never gotten to be my Son's Best Man in his wedding or walked my daughter down the aisle.  In retropect, I made the right decision.

gdpawel said:

Peripheral Neuropathy
There are three major groups of nerves in the human body.

1. The peripheral nerves that carry information to and from the limbs.

2. The nerves that supply the bowels and other internal organs.

3. The nerves of the head which connect to the ears, eyes, taste buds, etc.

Nerves in any or all of these major groups can be affected by certain chemotherapy drugs.

Nerves are vulnerable to many kinds of damage. They can be damaged by certain cancers. This may be caused by the cancer cells producing a particular kind of biological agent that interferes with the function of the nerves.

Sometimes, they can be damaged by drugs used in chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy drugs that most likely cause nerve damage are the vinca alkaloids, platinum drugs and the taxanes. These drugs have the potential of interfering with nerve function.

You may notice symptoms in different areas of your body depending on which groups of nerves are affected.

Symptoms in the hands and feet happen when peripheral nerve damage happens. The first sign of nerve damage is usually a feeling of tingling and numbness like what you experience when your foot goes to sleep after you've been sitting for a long time in an uncomfortable position.

If the problem progresses further, it often produces weakness of the muscles, resulting in loss of strength at the wrist or the ankle. You will notice difficulty in doing up buttons and picking up coins. You may notice that you will tend to trip while walking up stairs or dragging your feet and tend to have a wide-based gait. In severe cases, the weakness may be so severe that you will need a wheelchair.

When the nerves in the bowel are affected, constipation is the earliest sign. In a few people, the abdomen becomes bloated with a distended bowel that is basically paralyzed.

Some of the nerves in the head can also be affected. Platinum drugs can affect the auditory nerve and cause loss of hearing and tinnitus(ringing in the ears). Vision can very occasionally be affected.

A lot depends on how quickly your cancer treatment can be stopped. Sometimes the need for treatment is more urgent then the residual nerve damage. Sometimes, the balance between benefit from the drug and the side effect of nerve damage is more finely balanced.

Once treatment has been stopped, recovery is usually slow. It may take months to get even partial improvement and often there will be some residual impairment, either a motor weakness or a sensory numbness or both. Recovery is slower in the feet and legs than in the hands and arms.

There is no specific treatment that enhances nerve recovery. There are no drugs that will directly stimulate nerve regeneration or recovery. If you have severe and prolonged pain, then the pain may require narcotics often combined with antidepressants. In some cases, certain types of anticonvulsants would be helpful.

Treatment options are subjects that you should discuss with your doctor, so you have accurate expectations of potential benefits and side effects.

Chemotherapy drugs that can cause neuropathy. NCI lists these as most likely to do so:

Cisplatinum (Platinol)
Carboplatin (Paraplatin)
Vincristine (Oncovin)
Vinblastine (Velban)
Etoposide/VP-16 (VePesid)
Cytarabine (Cytosar, Ara-C)
Hexamethylmelamine (Hexalen)
Suramin
Paclitaxel (Taxol) and Docetaxel (Taxotere)
Other medications reported to contribute to neuropathy include oxaliplatin (Eloxatin), gemcitibine (Gemzar) and thalidomide (Thalomid).

yeah, i have neuropathy my arms still painfull i drink a lot water with turmeric; it get better whilw you are drinking every time. And i am doing physical therapy everyday fitght the numbness, burning and sometimes needles my feet and other arms.