Cytoxin question

    • Anonymous
      March 19, 2009 at 4:02 pm

      I Had my first cytoxin treatment last month (Feb 16th) for CIDP and only felt a bit nauseated for two days afterwords. This month (March 16th) really socked me – yesterday (Wed) was the worst. I could barely eat anything, had the dry heaves, and just felt so nauseated. Today is a little better, but not much. Is this normal? Can I expect next month to be even worse?

      Thanks

      ken

    • Anonymous
      March 19, 2009 at 4:37 pm

      Hi Ken,
      Having gone through Cytoxin for 14 months, I can tell you that some months were worse than others. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it was. One month I’d be okay, the next month I’d be nauseaus for a week or two.
      That is why the doctors keep me well supplied with anti-nausea meds.
      I am allergice the the group of anti-nausea meds of phenothiazines, (Compazine, Phenergain, etc.). So, they keep me well supplied with Zofran, (an anti-nausea med specifically for people going through chemo.), and Tigan.
      I find the Tigan helps me greatly, and when it doesn’t work, I take the Zofran on top of the Tigan after an hour or so.
      For very bad nausea, where I cannot even swallow a people without puking, I have Tigan suppositories.
      —
      This is just the side-effect of the chemo. Some people lose all their hair as well–I only lost half of it. I lost have the hair in my beard, but unfortunately I still had to shave—lol, I had wished that that hair on my face would disappear…
      One note–when they administer the chemo, they also administer 32mg of Zofran via the IV, as well as Mesna for the bladder side-effects, and Dextrose.
      Keep a “stiff upper lip”, guy…
      Kedaso

    • Anonymous
      March 20, 2009 at 12:34 pm

      I received cytoxin with some other chemo drugs and I can tell you my experience was a little different each time. I found that eating cold foods, sucking on hard candy and ice chips helped. I also received decadron before my infusion that seemed to help as well. Zofran is a good antiemetic. Being nauseated is tough. Good luck with future infusions.

    • Anonymous
      March 23, 2009 at 12:37 pm

      Thanks Kedaso and JanB,
      Yes, I’ve had the week from HELL. Finally feeling normal today. I was taking Zofran every 8 hours but it wasn’t helping much. Hopefully next month it won’t be so bad.

      Ken

      [QUOTE=JanB]I received cytoxin with some other chemo drugs and I can tell you my experience was a little different each time. I found that eating cold foods, sucking on hard candy and ice chips helped. I also received decadron before my infusion that seemed to help as well. Zofran is a good antiemetic. Being nauseated is tough. Good luck with future infusions.[/QUOTE]

    • GAVol
      March 26, 2009 at 4:29 pm

      Ken,
      I was on cytoxin for 10 months and had the same side effects as you and others. Medications did not help me with nausea or up-chucking. I initially felt bad for 2-3 days but at the end it was more like two weeks for me. Did not see any benefits in slowing my CIDP so I stopped and went to a different treatment protocal. Did not lose any hair thought. But everyone responds/reacts differently to the various medications and hopefully cytoxin will stop your CIDP in its tracks. Hang in there.
      Fred

    • Anonymous
      March 26, 2009 at 11:41 pm

      I received massive infusions of cytoxan for 9 months. I was so weak & ill at the time anyway, that I don’t remember any specific ill side effects from it; but I was infused with solumedrol at the same time & also given Zofran. I did lose all of my hair from the chemo. I have to say it was well worth it for me though, as I did get a lot of function back permanently & have not had any treatments at all for my CIDP since Sept of 2003; it really did arrest my severe case of this illness.
      Pam