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Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer
Understanding
Treating Maintaining Quality of Life
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Anecdotal Reports Relating to
Chemotherapy Taxotere Author:
Howard Hansen Date: 1
May 2008, updated 27 Dec 2009 Introduction Anecdotal reports provide some indication of what might
happen to one or at most a few patients. At most they provide a starting
point for gathering more information. Not all patients are
impacted by side effects. Their incidence is usually listed in the
prescribing information and the papers documenting the clinical trials
that established their U.S. FDA approval. A short list of taxotere side effects (toxicity) and
ways of combating them are in the following table(every 3 weeks taxotere). Toxicity Mitigating methods Neutropenia (Low Neutrophil
count)
Drugs.com
has a taxotere side effects page that is quite extensive. Anecdotal Reports
Patient Query(wife): My husband will be starting Taxotere shortly. Any ideas on the side
effects?
We are trying to figure out what day is best to do it on. I must add
that he hasn't done well with other things as far as side effects. I was
wondering if he is going to be sick for a few days and if so does it
start the next day or a few days later. Patient1 response: I am prone to
side effects also. I was on Taxotere q21days for 3 cycles only. I made
up a list of side effects for my own reference. Patient2 response: I did eight
cycles of taxotere at the 3 week interval last year. Fatique was worse
for me by day 5 or 6. That is, I had my treatment on Friday morning. I
usually felt most tired on the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Since I normally only work three
days a week, I would typically take Tuesday off on the weeks just after
a treatment. Patient3 response: I am getting
the 75 mg/ m2; once every 3 wks. Have had two treatments so far 4 Jan 08
and 25 Jan 08. Minimal side effects... Nothing for 2 days.. constipated
for 3 days,,, the diarrhea 1 or 2 times for 2 days, not bad at all. I am
having sores/ rash on back of hands, (first wk., now same on tops of
fore arms-- 2nd wk.) Do not itch, but somewhat tender. Hair Loss--
nothing for 14 days, then started coming out in clumps, if I rubbed my
hand on sides or back of head... So I decided to give myself a Buzz
cut.. which looks good & is in style.. Still have some on top of head (
50 %). Patient4: I recently underwent 2 infusions of
Taxotere for my metatastic PC. The side effects were mild. The most
bothersome one was fatigue. I had hints of nausea, but they were so
mild that I did not even take the anti-nausea pills given to me by the
onco. A little hair fell out, but that went unnoticed. Only the
fatigue affected my daily routine.
Another patient(pt 5) asks: How do you deal with the fatigue from
chemo? I’ve had 3 sessions, 3 weeks apart. The PSA results are good
(160 is down to 122) so far. I take 2 dexamethasone twice a day on the
day before, the day of, and the day after chemo and feel fine. However,
after getting off the dexamethasone, I’m super-fatigued for the next 4
or 5 days. After that, I’m good for 2 weeks. Has anyone found a way to
lessen the fatigue?
One answer posted(pt 6) was "I was on the same schedule but my fatigue
was only on days 4 and 5. Due to working full time, I had treatments on
Monday so the fatigue would hit on Friday afternoon and Saturday. By
Sunday I was pretty much back to 100%. I just watched a lot of
movies, read and stayed in the house as much as possible.
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 8:13 PM
Hello All, As I posted some weeks ago , ST had a big drop in psa
after treatment #one (July 6 psa=32.9 down to 4 on July 27 after one
taxotere treatment).
After 2nd treatment the psa continued to fall from 4 to 2.3.
Needless to say we are happy about these drops.
Scott had treatment # 3 last Mon. and only time will tell how much
more it will drop. After the 3rd treatment the psa came back with a
very slight rise of 2.785 from 2.3 after the second treatment.
As for side effects, he has sudden headaches that do go away but are
frequent. He has fatigue but not debilitating. His hair and beard
came out some at first but this has stopped. Side effects so far
very tolerable. He does have the metal mouth. White blood cell
count still OK.
All in all things are going better than we expected. We are
hopefully optimistic.
RT Writes:
Hello, My most recent chemotherapy treatment was calcitriol + taxotere.
I had twelve weekly sessions:
Six weeks of 20 mcg calcitriol & 40 mg taxotere.
Six weeks of 30 mcg calcitriol & 60 mg taxotere
The calcitriol was taken as a 1 mcg/ml oral solution the night before
the taxotere infusion.
The weekly sessions were difficult because there was no time to recover
between treatments.
Things got so bad that I cancelled the thirteenth session.
The treatments did reduce my PSA. References
Dealing With Taxotere Side Effects by Richard
Lam, MD.
Updated 20 Sept 2009
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This information is provided for educational purposes only and does not replace or amend professional medical advice. Unless otherwise stated and credited, the content of this website is by and the opinion of and copyright © 2001-2009 by Howard Hansen. All Rights Reserved. Our policy regarding privacy, right to reprint and contact information are at About Us. We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity.
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