I just had my first Docetaxel treatment. Then followed one day of grace ("Gee, maybe these treatments won't be so bad".) and two days of pure Hell (I'm a ghost, with a vise on my head, flames in my joints, I feel like I ate 12 boxes of Cheese Puffs, horrible, just horrible). Third day (today) life is worth living again. So I'm through first treatment. I am told it gets worse!
I did have two kinds of anti nausia meds, 10 mg prednizone, Lorazepam, plus some "plug up meds and bust loose meds"
Any suggestions how to make this process more tollerable? Heroin pills?
Thanks,
Craig
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Depending how you tolerate docetaxal, you may have to add other buffering agents to survive. I ended up with docetaxal, pednisone .fosoprepitant dimegumine,palonosetron hcl,dexamethasone sod phosphate, diphenhydramine hcl, hydrocortisone sod succinate andmethylprednisolone sod succinate all in my introveinous dose ,Adding mystatin 500,000 un mix when my tongue shed it's covering. Expect to have to do some juggleing of drugs depending on your hypersensivity reactions. Some guy have way less, and some worse good luck with your treatments.and expect to join the hairless club, especially if on ADT drugs as well. ,
In addition to water (excellent advice), exercise is important. I made myself walk 1-2 miles per day - even during the few ‘bad’ days. Nothing too strenuous. It really helped my energy level. Plus it takes your mind off of sitting around thinking about how you feel.
You will also better understand what to anticipate for the upcoming rounds, so you can mentally prepare for it.
We are pulling for you! And you are already 16% complete (assuming 6 rounds)...next round and you are already 1/3 finished!
My husband just finished his 6 rounds. I highly recommend icing! He didn't get the problems normally associated with hands, feet and mouth. We didn't ice his head so he's sporting the sexy bald look. My plan going in was to stack our deck as best we could and be prepared to go with the flow. We had no idea how it might effect him, 54 dx stage 4 Gleason 9 with lymphnode involvement. We also met with the nutritionist for suggestions and you can never go wrong with more water. Remember your minimum water intake goal, should be 1/3 your weight in ounces. Oh and meditation can be helpful.
I just finished 13 treatments of docetaxal. So as it builds up in your body becomes more toxic. So drinking lots of water helps a lot. I also use pop cycles which adds more liquid and helps with the dry mouth that I get. I use aquafure to minimize rash. Tylenol Arthritus strength if my bones start to ache. You'll likely get tired about the 2nd or 3rd day from your treatment, so just plan it into your schedule. I go to the gym everyday, 5 days per week. Once you've identified the side effect that you'll likely get, you can plan and prepare for them for the next treatment which helps to minimize the side effects or even eliminating a particular side effect.
Good Luck, the Chemo is tuff, but I think we are all survivors.
The gym that we go to is spacious, so there is plenty of space between me and other users. I also sanitize the equipment as I use it. Usually if I am in a crowded environment, I'll put a face mask on. Hope this helps.
I just completed round 17 today. It's not my favorite drug, but with me I feel it has saved my life and I trade those 2-3 bad days for the other 18 where I feel halfway decent, and some days like I am not sick.
I do the following, and a few other brothers here have taken the time to make extensive posts and replies on the subject, please search and read their suggestions.
The following are my critical items for dealing with Docetaxel side effects.
1. During infusion AND on your way home, I drink sips of sprite with crushed ice continuously for about 2 hours. This prevents your mouth, tongue especially, to get burnt taste buds and other sensing cells harmed by the chemo. The first pass in the blood for the drug is the strongest, hence the pre-meds for the nausea. Same dynamic with the mouth. You are basically creating temporary frostbite in your mouth and cutting down on the number of cells killed on that first pass by the chemo. To me the worst of chemo was before I learned this trick here, and nothing tasted right for 2 weeks. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes and gravy.
2. Biotene products for your mouth.
3. Miralax every other day starting the night before. Keep the crap rolling. There is no male pain like an impacted chemo butt with 4 or 5 days of intake. There will be pain from the poop eventually as 90% of Docetaxel is exhausted in manure. It is a poison, and it burns coming out, and the less you are backed up the easier it is.
4. Last and most important...stay hydrated. I have filtered water on my fridge ftom our deep well, and keep a 16 oz bottle cold and next to me all day, constantly drinking.
The other 10% is expelled through urine, so the more you drink the more it flushes.
Good luck with your treatment. You will be fine. It's not fun. But it is highly manageable.
Did 8 rounds. Exercise (Spinning) every 2. Day through out the hole period took away a lot of the side effects to me. Exercise is hard to do in the days right after chemo but gets better during the days until the next chemo treatment.
Everyone experiences the treatment differently. For my husband, the first three rounds he felt like he had the flu for a few days. Round 4,5 &6 were a breeze pretty much with feeling a little tired on day 3&4. He kept up on his nausea pills. I would suggest keeping a journal of your symptoms. This way you can see any patterns that develops. My husband did suffer neuropathy in his finger tips and toes - even after icing them during treatment . This is permanent.
I have docetaxel No 4 next thursday. First one I had was bad for 5 days but then I recovered and by 10 days was able to be normal. No 3 was OK, best tolerance yet, and have been able to cycle 120km from day 8 to day 21, and I'll probably cycle 19km to / from hospital to get No 4.
BUT, Psa has gone from 12.0 at just before Chemo 1 to 36, 26, 27, 30 and maybe 36 tomorrow during last 11 weeks, and I am thinking the chemo is quite useless, maybe they give me Cabazitaxel instead, and also I want them to refer me to a doc who can give me Lu177 or whatever he thinks will work.
Most hair fell out, but so far have no loss of finger or toe nails. I look so well, riddled with countless bone mets, but no pain yet. I am fairly fit, resting HR 50, BMI 25, waist 99cm at 71 yo. I know others who got a lot of soft tissue met reductions, but bone mets don't react so much.
I don't know many who'd beg for heroin but I heard of a guy who had an implant for slow release of mixture of Fentanyl and Targin for pain, and he sounded alive in his email to a group, and I guess he's well addicted, and maybe has no way back to normal.
I could be dead in 2 years, but life goes on until it don't and I have a lot to keep me busy, and I still enjoy simple wonderment in life.
Craig. Get lots of sleep, take the anti nausea pills even if you are not sick at the time. Eat anything you can stand to eat so you can keep up your weight. Forget the pills for your bowel. Just take a large spoon full of miralax every morning with your drink. Drink lots of water, protein drinks are good. I’m sure there was more. But have forgotten them. It does get better. Ask your doctor or nurse about the specific pains it does get better. Mine was after the 3-4th chemo. The Neulasta shot put me down no way around that one if you get it. Fight the good Fight
Everybody is different and their reactions to drugs vary depending on factors like body strength and positive attitudes. Chemo is a funny word as it means different things to different people. Most in this group experienced Taxotere and or a second line drug. This is how I got through chemotherapy in 2004.
In my case I had 9 infusions of Taxotere alternated with 9 infusions of Adriamycin over a 24 hour period. Each infusion was accompanied by either Ketoconzale or Erustamine and Prednisone Daily all given within a six month period.
I took Zofran for nausea, drank a minimum of eight glasses of water daily, cut out tea, coffee, and Cokes. I shunned all negativity. If someone talked about how terrible chemotherapy was, I walked away. I simply did not want to hear horror stories second and third hand about the poison being dumped into my system.
Yes, I was sick. I felt like crap. I was on a short fuse. I was irritated. I drove myself thirty miles one way to the infusion center weekly. I worked two days a work. So glad that my wife, family, and circle of friends understood and forgave some of my actions. All went out of their way to insure that I stayed positive and helped to remove negative influences in life. My thought process boiled down to without chemotherapy, I would die from metastatic prostate cancer within two to four years. I accepted good thoughts, well wishes and prayers from all religions, cultures and areas of the world. Knowing that people cared went a long way in my healing. And, as such, any side effects and discomfort which I experienced, was nothing; and in the larger scope of things unimportant. I have many people to thank.
I want to wish each and all a blessed day. You can get through this minor chapter in your life.
I had to literally force myself to exercise & keep active even through the bad days and I found this helped a lot with the pain & feeling of having your head wrapped in wool & under water. Plenty of water as well & eat little but often to overcome that nauseas feeling. Sucking on some boiled sweets helps with the taste buds as well. Good luck & all the best
Lots of ice water; my tastebuds were screwed up so the water actually had taste - which was good. Also a sugar-free sports drink; at least one glass a day. That's because any time you are heavy hydrating, you're flushing electrolytes out of your blood stream and you need to replace them. That will help with the fatigue also.
Hugs and kisses from your caregiver are essential also.
I did 6 rounds. Swam laps for 30 minutes even through the chemo. Worst day was 3rd day after chemo...spent most of that day in the recliner. Other than days 3 and 4 after each cycle I continued to work but was exhausted by the end of the day. I like the "Sparkling Ice" zero-calorie fizzy, flavored water to stay hydrated and keep the groceries moving. Miralax the first week helped a lot, then the second half of the 3 week cycle I dealt with the opposite problem. Those no-calorie Ricola drops are a big help when you get that metallic, dry taste in the mouth.
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