Does your body start to reject chemo after awhile?

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r2424243
r2424243 Member Posts: 51
in Colorectal Cancer #1
My dad has stage 4 colon cancer with mets to liver. He has been doing chemo every 2 weeks since October 2010. He was on Oxyplatin until Feb when he had a bad reaction. Then doc switched him to fu5, lecuvorin, and avastin. He has been doing really well on that. He actually has his life back. He does almost all his regular stuff. The last 2 rounds of chemo have been very rough on him. He gets flu like symptoms and it has gotten alot worse these last 2 rounds and keeps coming back. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this normal? Should I be worried?

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  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #2
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    side effects
    The flu like symptoms are probably from the 5FU, as the same happens to me. Definitely talk to the doctor about the side effects getting worse, though- maybe they need to reduce the dosage or something else can be given to help him.
    You asked about does the body reject chemo after awhile... chemotherapy can affect the blood cell count and/or the liver enzymes sometimes & for some people, their body has a really hard time with this. Not everyone reacts that way, however, as I have been on chemo for close to four years now. I've changed chemos a few times, but I've actually fared pretty well on them, so far as my body not shutting down or rejecting them (the reason I changed was when they eventually became ineffective for me). Sometimes, the cancer cells can become "immune" to a certain treatment and then something else has to be tried.

    Best wishes- try not to worry too much.
    Lisa
  • luvmum
    luvmum Member Posts: 457 Member
    #3
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    symptoms versus effectiveness
    I don't think they have very hight correlation. severe symptoms might not necessarily bring a good result, no symptoms also doesn't mean the drugs are not working.
    My mum had 1 round of XELOX and 5 rounds of FOLFOX and she stopped responding to them already. My mum also has flu symptom. I think Lisa is correct, it is from 5FU. When you stop responding to one regimen, the oncologist will try another regimen.
    Try not to worry (I don't know very hard, as I have never stopped worrying about my mum)
    Best wishes, Dora
  • r2424243
    r2424243 Member Posts: 51
    #4
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    lisa42 said:

    side effects
    The flu like symptoms are probably from the 5FU, as the same happens to me. Definitely talk to the doctor about the side effects getting worse, though- maybe they need to reduce the dosage or something else can be given to help him.
    You asked about does the body reject chemo after awhile... chemotherapy can affect the blood cell count and/or the liver enzymes sometimes & for some people, their body has a really hard time with this. Not everyone reacts that way, however, as I have been on chemo for close to four years now. I've changed chemos a few times, but I've actually fared pretty well on them, so far as my body not shutting down or rejecting them (the reason I changed was when they eventually became ineffective for me). Sometimes, the cancer cells can become "immune" to a certain treatment and then something else has to be tried.

    Best wishes- try not to worry too much.
    Lisa

    Thank you so much! I really
    Thank you so much! I really appreciate all your help and support! You always seem to help.
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #5
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    luvmum said:

    symptoms versus effectiveness
    I don't think they have very hight correlation. severe symptoms might not necessarily bring a good result, no symptoms also doesn't mean the drugs are not working.
    My mum had 1 round of XELOX and 5 rounds of FOLFOX and she stopped responding to them already. My mum also has flu symptom. I think Lisa is correct, it is from 5FU. When you stop responding to one regimen, the oncologist will try another regimen.
    Try not to worry (I don't know very hard, as I have never stopped worrying about my mum)
    Best wishes, Dora

    Very common ! I'm in my 10 th round and has been the worst!
    lots of problems I hadn't before, just a week off chemo and an small reduction of dosage in 5fu seems to be enough!.
    Hope it helps! .
    Hugs!

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