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Anecdotal Reports Relating to Chemotherapy   Taxotere   Author: Howard Hansen Date: 1 May 2008, updated 30 June 2010 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) Usually of short duration; Use Colony stimulating factors; antibiotics Edema (fluid retention) Monitor patient weight; diuretics Diarrhea Loperimide (Imodium A-D) Lacrimation Stenting of tear ducts Nail bed changes Nail polish, immersion of fingertips in cold Fatigue Intermittent therapy (for a subset of patients). 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 %). Patient 4: 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. Patient 5: 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?   Patient 6: One answer posted 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.   Patient 7: Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 8:13 PM To: hrpca@yahoogroups.com Subject: [hrpca] Update after 2nd Taxotere treatment 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.  Patient 8: 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.   Patient 9: LP writes about his experience with taxotere 75mg/m2 every 3 weeks. A few comments from my experience: constipation - I was prescribed Sennekot and Docusate which I needed. Since then I have found out that Metamucil is much more stomach friendly and absorbs the toxins - I mix it in shakes or soup (great thickener). I had VERY cold gel mitts to wear on the hand to protect the fingernails. Also recommended is a clear nail strengthener coating to keep nails from cracking. Recently I found Barielle Nail Strengthener Cream which should help also. Next time, I will also cool the soles of my feet as I now have PN several years later. By the 3rd cycle, I got ice and freezes to suck on - helped greatly with taste but main advantage prevent thrush from growing in my mouth - next time I will bring my own as I contract a throat infection that was going around at the time. Need to apply a lot of cream on the skin - better still crack a vitamin E capsule and spread it on the skin - worked great for me. My neurophils dropped to ZERO within the week and spent 6 days on IV antibiotics - next round I was on Neulasta - no problems with WBC. Next round my hemoglobin dropped so I was on Aranesp which slowly brought up my RBC. Patient 10: I have had three Taxotere infusions 75 mg/m2 on a three week cycle, each week the side effect are less.   Week one - Bright red skin color to face, slight nausea (2-3 min), light headed, taste off with some foods, mucus membrane in mouth started to take on a leather like texture, fatigue, constipation with bloody stool, 2nd degree burn like symptoms on both hands (thumb to forefinger) skin on hands, cracking and pealing, finger nails chipping and breaking, blood work; red, white and platelets down.   Week two - On and off constipation with bloody stool, fatigue, hands healing but skin peeling off.   Week three - On and off constipation with bloody stool, fatigue.   Fatigue and the burns to my hands are the worst effects. Meds have helped with the other side effects.     References Dealing With Taxotere Side Effects by Richard Lam, MD.     Side Effects of Taxotere   Updated 30 June 2010   [Top]

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