Zometa

carkris
carkris Member Posts: 4,553 Member
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
anyone doing Zometa? I will be doing an IV infusion twice a year to help prevent recurrance. dont hear many people mention this.

Comments

  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #2
    Hi Carkris
    Before doing Zometa you need to see a dentist for check up and explain that you are going to have Zometa. You need to do dental work because it can affect your gums and crowns.
  • carkris
    carkris Member Posts: 4,553 Member
    #3
    New Flower said:

    Hi Carkris
    Before doing Zometa you need to see a dentist for check up and explain that you are going to have Zometa. You need to do dental work because it can affect your gums and crowns.

    thanks
    yes I did this, it can also rarely cause jaw necrosis. if you have major dental work during treatment my doc is putting many of his patients on it.because of the promising results in the studies.
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #4
    carkris said:

    thanks
    yes I did this, it can also rarely cause jaw necrosis. if you have major dental work during treatment my doc is putting many of his patients on it.because of the promising results in the studies.

    Thanks
    I am going to discuss Zometa with my dentist, unfortunately I do need some dental work. My gums are still recovering after Chemo, even one year after it was finished. I know several people are on Zometa I am sure they will respond.
  • meena1
    meena1 Member Posts: 1,003
    #5
    New Flower said:

    Thanks
    I am going to discuss Zometa with my dentist, unfortunately I do need some dental work. My gums are still recovering after Chemo, even one year after it was finished. I know several people are on Zometa I am sure they will respond.

    I have been on Zometa for
    I have been on Zometa for almost 2 years. I had bone mets when I was initially diagnosed with breast cancer. I have been getting the zometa ever 4 weeks since then. It does cause some body aches, but nothing major. I have recently had a reoccurence, not sure how that happened. I have not had any dental work and do not have any problems with my teeth. Do you have bone mets, or are they giving you zometa to prevent reoccurence. I do have a friend that was on zometa and had a tooth pulled and had the jaw necrosis, so you do need to very careful.
  • greyhoundluvr
    greyhoundluvr Member Posts: 402
    #6
    In Zometa Trial
    Carkris - I am in the Zometa clinical trial for early breast cancer so I am getting it also. My onc wanted me involved in this so badly that my surgeon and plastic surgeon both came in on their day off so I could have my surgery on the last day of eligibility (Jan 29th) and then I had to have my first infusion within a week (monthly for 6 months and then every three months). The way I understand it is a clinical trial with the biphosphonates had been previously done to evaluate the effectiveness of the drugs in treating bone metastasis. And while they were found to be effective for that use, the study also showed an unexpected reduction in the recurrence rate and the development of additional metastasis. So an new clinical trial was set up with early breast cancer patients to look at this piece.

    When I saw my onc for the second time, she had just attended a Breasts Cancer seminar and some preliminary studies were out which showed reduction in recurrence and distal metastasis with the biphosphonates. My dentist did not want me to participate because he said he could see having to pull a tooth in 10-15 years and was concerned about the side effect of the osteonecrosis of the jaw. While he said it was OK for me to take the oral biphosphonates, the initial results showed there was reallyno difference in occurence of this condition with one type vs. the others. And both of my oncologists thought I would be crazy to miss out on this opportunity. So I will be finishing my monthly treatments this week....
  • laurissa
    laurissa Member Posts: 773
    #7
    Hi carkis
    I'll be starting in 2 weeks, but mine will be monthly for a year. He says it will only take 15 minutes. And he said to take tums for 3 days after. Hope it does well. In 6 months, I'll be scanned again. I hate waiting that long.

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