taxol/taxotere

tyler3 said:

I am not sure if they are the same but, I too am just experiencing a recurrence. I opted for weekly taxol after a bi-lateral mastectomy. I am in my sixth week of three months of taxol and than i will be doing three more months of another chemo. I sure would like to hear how you are doing . So far I amdoing okay fatique is starting to set in and Losing hair daily. But seem to be holding my own.

I had 12 rounds of taxotere and they were once a week. i could have gone the 4, 3 weeks sessions but my doctor decided the 12 would go easier on me so . .
Symptoms- I lost most of my hair and shaved the rest it was so sparse. I had no mouth sores but I did have the nails that turned dark and felt like a 50 lb weight was dropped on them. I experienced a rare sideeffect of blisters (large) coming up from the inside on my hands and feet. it caused me to stop work and Chemo for 2 weeks to cover my hands with liquid Vitamin E and take B complex vitamins. I finished with almost no taste to anything. Weekly I lost sweet tastes, then some metallic but mostly nothing had a taste. i read here to try Cherry coke and I did enjoy cherry diet cokes at Sonic and LOVED icees. i did find the fatigue was cumlative as with all chemo. it took a couple of days to hit so I set mine up for Wed pm and by Sat i was a couch potato! By Mon I began to feel better and Tues went well. Chemo lasted about 1 1/2 hours and that afternoon I was able to run my weekly errands thanks to the steroids. So, now 6mths later- everything but the watery eyes and nail ends dying off has subsided. Hopefully this helps but as with all things it seems to hit differently with each individual in some ways. Good Luck and may this time banish the cancer for good! God's Blessings- C Oh seems like someone her told me to go to taxotere.com and I read up on it there? ?

They are both from a yew plant - taxol is the oldest discovered here - taxotere was developed by the French. There was a report recently in the papers after some studies and determined that taxotere had a slight edge of several percentages being more effective but generally was more difficult in the quality of life issues.
However, to reassure you, I know a woman in her late 40's who had taxotere after AC and just sailed thru without any problems worth mentioning. It's so individual. good Luck!
What kind of recurrence are you having, if I may ask and not seem too nosy ;-)
Hugs, Jean

No hun,they are not the same.They r diff drugs.