FOLFOX + Avastin

Hi,

My dad's blood pressure went up as the result of the avastin. The doc did prescribe a higher dosage of BP meds (my dad already had hypertension prior to the avastin)and it has kept the BP under control. In addition, my dad had some bloody noses but nothing too serious. He has had a runny nose also, but we are not sure if that is due to the avastin. I was also worried about perforations, but heard that there is a very low risk of this happening. Hope this helps.

-Lee-

Hi Tara,
I just finished 4 sessions of folfox + avastin. I experienced headaches. My onc sent me for a brain MRI because avastin can cause changes in brain tissue. Luckily nothing showed up. I have a colostomy and have had problems with my whole system shutting down, severe cramps and then diarrhea(sp). Diet doesn't seem to make a difference. I was told that avastin doesn't usually cause noticible side effects, but in my case this turned out not to be true.
I had scans this week and am NED so I will be off chemo. I will see my onc the beginning of January to discuss what if anything needs to be done next.
Good Luck! I hope that you don't experience any noticible side effects.
Take care and Happy Holidays!
Jamie

Hi Tara,
My dad was on that for 8 treatments. He was having the numbness on hands and feet. He took some sublingual b-12 and that really helped. He dropped things a couple times. Some diarrhea but nothing compared to the cpt-11, that was the worst for him. Hope this helps.
Carm

goldfinch said:

i don't think i experienced much with the avastin. there were a couple of times, when the oxali was causing elevated liver studies i just got the avastin. I think it may have caused some constipation followed by a little loose stool, but all very manageable compared to the oxaliplatin. I tolerated it real well.
Mary

My bp did go up, but not enough to stop it.

If you are experiencing neuropathy (numbness/tingling/etc) as a result of the oxaliplatin, you might ask your doctor about gabapentin (brand name Neurontin) to help reduce the symptoms. Originally used to reduce seizures,it has also been found to be effective in treating both diabetic and chemo-related neuropathy.

The main problem I found with Avastinin that it GREATLY increases triglyceride levels. Mine went up to almost 1300 (normal is under 500). The good news is that the levels return to normal levels almost immediately after the Avastin is stopped. At the time, this was not something that was documented as a side effect, but I have spoken to Dr. Becera who is at Baylor Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas (he was formerly chief of Oncology at Parkland Hospital) and he told me that this is now a well known side effect. If they haven't checked your triglyceride levels recently, you might ask them to do so, just to make sure there aren't any problems there too. You might also ask your oncologist about Erbitux, which works in a similar fashion, but does not appear to have a lot of the side effects of Avastin. I haven't tried it, but from what I've read, it might be a second option if the side effects become too much for you.

Ron