Folfox vs. Folfiri

They both have side effects.  I did 3 rounds of folfox before liver resection surgery and 11 rounds of folfiri+vectibix after.  My oncologist is Dr. Nancy Kemeny at MSK who, in my opinion, is an absolute genius so if she's okay with folfiri it must be okay.  With folfox I had issues with eating/swallowing (first bite, throat spasms with cold stuff, etc).  With folfiri I had a really strange nauseous feeling for an hour or two after infusion - almost like I was incredibly intoxicated.  My hair thinned a bit on forfiri, but not enough for other people to notice.  Not sure if the folfiri or vectibix caused it, but my lower eyelashes fell completely out and my upper eyelashes grew so long I had to keep cutting them (I mean ridiculous long).

mountainhiker

I lost more hair on Folfox than folfiri. Before my surgery, 4 rounds of Folfox shrunk my tumors by almost half. After my surgery, I had a reaction to oxaliplatin, so switched to folfiri. There was no way to tell if it was working because I had the surgery to remove my tumors. But, at my 6 week scan, I had two new tumors in my liver. I am currently in the hospital getting desensitized to oxaliplatin so that I can take it since we know it shrinks my tumors. About to leave, had no reaction.

I had a lot of hair on my head, lost about 2/3rds but still have enough that no wig. My lashes did thin out. Lost all my leg, underarm, and arm hair. My head hair started growing back right after I stopped chemo, but still don't have to shave. My eyelashes also just grew back. Guessing that this next round will make me lose the rest of my hair. Just had a visit from the wig lady.

I had almost 50 cycles of FOLFIRI  My hair did thin out but it wasn't that noticeable because I wear it in a quarter-inch buzz cut. The fatigue was the most troublesome side-effect.

I am currently on FOLFOX, the FOLFIRI having lost its effectiveness, and have gone through 5 cycles. I have not noticed any hair loss. I do have First Bite Syndrome, painful tears, and some cold sensitivity. No peripheral neuropathy so far. My oncologist is thinking of stopping the FOLFOX after six cycles and putting me on a maintenance chemotherapy regimen. If I still don't have signs of neuropathy, I might try to convince him to go for a little more FOLFOX. My cancer is incurable, so if a couple more rounds can beat it back a little more, I'm willing to go for it.

Rich

I lost most of my hair, all over.   

I remember feeling my skin, it felt like silk when the hair was gone. 

And, not all of the hair grew back. My legs and armpits, and my lady parts are all pretty light on the hair, now.  My head hair grew back thick and curly, then that fell out, and I have less - but enough - hair, but it is dead straight. My hair was never straight. Oh well! Rather have straight hair than no hair. 

I have permanent neuropathy in my hands, legs and feet.  

FOLFOX was definitely harsh on my body, but I have been NED for over four years. 

Good luck! 

Tru

I think it is really effective because it also shrunk my lung met last year to more than half when I still had the met.  I wanted to avoid the oxy this time but doing mop-up chemo now to avoid another recurrence and so far the side effects are quite manageable--just loss of appetite and numbness of hands that go away after infusion (the hardest side effect I have to deal with is mental torture but as they say, the side effects differ from person to person).  My doc mentioned about folfiri but since I still work, I want to preserve the hair so I just went with the folfox combo.  Good luck on whatever combo you choose and good luck to your succeeding treatments.  We can do this!

And oh, my doc mentioned that the folfiri is as effective.