Taxol

Kat11 said:

I had AC then Taxol. AC was
I had AC then Taxol. AC was harder for me than Taxol was. Remember everyone is different. Taxol I was good for a day or two then tired and kinda like the flu for a day or two the back to what ever normal is while on chemo. It's doable. Food was a problem. Funny taste or just did not want to eat or drink.Nausea really was not a problem. Always take your drugs. I ate vanalla waffer and potatoe's Ice tea or lemonaide all the way through chemo. Thats all I could stand. There may have been something else here or there just had to do a hit or miss kind thing. All in all for me I made it through, I think it's doable, not a something I would want to do again but we do what we have to right. Eat what you can, rest when you can, let you body tell you what it can do. Good luck.
Kathy

Taxol
For most people, Taxol is easier on the system than A/C. At first, the worst part was the steroids they give with Taxol. They made me sleepless, irritable, etc. Gradually, as the drugs built up in my system, the side effects of Taxol got worse: fatigue, headaches, numbness and tingling in feet, bad taste in mouth, mouth sores, etc. etc. But by the time these got to be a problem I was almost finished and now, two weeks after my last treatment, things are repairing themselves. I still have numbness and tingling but it's not getting worse. The bad taste is the only other lingering side effect, and it is improving. The last mouth sore is 90% healed. I am still irritable (but I can't blame that entirely on steroids) but I overslept twice this week and started setting an alarm for the first time in many months. I also cut my Ambien (prescribed a couple of months ago when I was not sleeping at all) in half, and expect to be off of it completely by the end of next week.

Others on this site have suffered side effects of Taxol almost immediately. My chemo nurses were always asking how I was doing and the oncology dept. pharmacist was always there ready to help. If you have any problems, tell your medical team. They will do everything they can to help you get through the side effects so you can benefit from the treatment.

We're all so different!
For me, Taxol was much worse than A/C. With A/C, I was only a bit tired on 2 days with each infusion but it was only a bit tired and a nap/rest would help. No nausea or pain even with the Neulasta shots - they just put me to sleep for 2 hrs almost to the minute 2 hrs after injection. (I have been told that it is believed that rather or not you get nausea may be somewhat linked to rather or not you had Morning Sickness - I had absolutely none with either of my Sons.)

Taxol was nasty though - it was complete and utter EXHAUSTION all the time - I lived in bed or on the couch in front of TV. Rest did not help at all but sleep didn't come either. Ambien did let me get some sleep. By week 10 Dr T. said I could stop if i wanted to as by then it had done 85% - 90% of what it could do. I didn't think twice about it - no way was I going to tell Hubby and Son (adult) that I had 'wimped out' when they had done so much to take care of everything so all I had to do was fight the Monster - so I toughed through it. (What was 'right' for me though isn't necessarily 'right' for anyone else.) One week after the last Taxol, I started feeling better by the day even though I started Rads on that day.

It seems to me from what others say - if you had a 'hard' A/C - Taxol will be 'easy'; if you had 'easy' A/C - Taxol will be 'hard'.

Just my thoughts/experiences.

Susan

Rague said:

We're all so different!
For me, Taxol was much worse than A/C. With A/C, I was only a bit tired on 2 days with each infusion but it was only a bit tired and a nap/rest would help. No nausea or pain even with the Neulasta shots - they just put me to sleep for 2 hrs almost to the minute 2 hrs after injection. (I have been told that it is believed that rather or not you get nausea may be somewhat linked to rather or not you had Morning Sickness - I had absolutely none with either of my Sons.)

Taxol was nasty though - it was complete and utter EXHAUSTION all the time - I lived in bed or on the couch in front of TV. Rest did not help at all but sleep didn't come either. Ambien did let me get some sleep. By week 10 Dr T. said I could stop if i wanted to as by then it had done 85% - 90% of what it could do. I didn't think twice about it - no way was I going to tell Hubby and Son (adult) that I had 'wimped out' when they had done so much to take care of everything so all I had to do was fight the Monster - so I toughed through it. (What was 'right' for me though isn't necessarily 'right' for anyone else.) One week after the last Taxol, I started feeling better by the day even though I started Rads on that day.

It seems to me from what others say - if you had a 'hard' A/C - Taxol will be 'easy'; if you had 'easy' A/C - Taxol will be 'hard'.

Just my thoughts/experiences.

Susan

I had 12 weekly Taxol
and it was not too bad, much easier than the FEC that I had afterwards. I had them cut my steriods in half after a week or two because I was too jumpy and couldn;t sleep.

Laura

sudawilson said:

Taxol
Hi: I just finished with A/C and also start Taxol in early September. Maybe we can keep in touch via email and check on each other to compare notes. I am in Houston going to MDA and also have 12 weekly Taxol infusions. I was not HER2 positive so not doing herceptin (thank God). You can email me at sudawilson@yahoo.com. Good luck to us both.

Taxol
I had AC and now on my 6th week of Taxol and Herceptin. I have had tingling in hands and feet,joint and muscle ache/pain; fatigue, and blurry vision. My oncologist nurse said the Taxol will start building up in your body. So I still have 6 more to go before I have surgery.

Had a real hard time on AC...this is better but I still have side effects. I have a little hair on top but not much and no eyebrows or eyelashes. Waiting for it all to come back.

Kim

Rague said:

We're all so different!
For me, Taxol was much worse than A/C. With A/C, I was only a bit tired on 2 days with each infusion but it was only a bit tired and a nap/rest would help. No nausea or pain even with the Neulasta shots - they just put me to sleep for 2 hrs almost to the minute 2 hrs after injection. (I have been told that it is believed that rather or not you get nausea may be somewhat linked to rather or not you had Morning Sickness - I had absolutely none with either of my Sons.)

Taxol was nasty though - it was complete and utter EXHAUSTION all the time - I lived in bed or on the couch in front of TV. Rest did not help at all but sleep didn't come either. Ambien did let me get some sleep. By week 10 Dr T. said I could stop if i wanted to as by then it had done 85% - 90% of what it could do. I didn't think twice about it - no way was I going to tell Hubby and Son (adult) that I had 'wimped out' when they had done so much to take care of everything so all I had to do was fight the Monster - so I toughed through it. (What was 'right' for me though isn't necessarily 'right' for anyone else.) One week after the last Taxol, I started feeling better by the day even though I started Rads on that day.

It seems to me from what others say - if you had a 'hard' A/C - Taxol will be 'easy'; if you had 'easy' A/C - Taxol will be 'hard'.

Just my thoughts/experiences.

Susan

Taxol & Herceptin
I finishe 4 rounds of AC...had a real hard time on it. Now I am on my 6th week of Taxol and Herceptin. Its different in away but I am tired all the time, ache, joint/muscle pain and blurry vision.

I have 6 more weeks of T/H. Then I will have surgery.