Hi guys,
I started Cabazitaxel on Thursday 6/17/20 and I’m waiting on “the other shoe to drop”. They are having me take 10 mg of Prednisone every morning, so I no longer feel the 4 pm fatigue, except by habit. Is that the purpose of the steroid, to stave off side effects? We plan to go camping on Tuesday and my wife is worried about side effects kicking in. When I had Docetaxel 4 years ago, the infusion was on Tuesday morning and it “hit” on Friday noon. What can I expect next week?
This link has info about Jevtana including side effects:
rxlist.com/jevtana-drug.htm...
The CARD study found:
"The rates of adverse events, grade 3 or higher adverse events, and serious adverse events were similar in the two treatment arms. Deaths were mainly due to disease progression. The rate of grade 3 or higher infections was 7% in both arms; febrile neutropenia occurred in 3.2% of the cabazitaxel arm vs 0% in controls. All patients receiving cabazitaxel were given prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. "
Side effects are cumulative with the number of infusions. I think following each infusion with an iv fluid infusion a couple of days later is particularly helpful. Steroids reduce inflammation. Claritin and antinausea medication may be helpful. I think Neulasta should be given routinely during the pandemic.
Thanks!!!! Interesting about the fluids I'd like to hear more if you have time -- - he was offered IV fluids at one time (would have meant another foray to the hospital). Is the IV fluid infusion relevant specifically to anemia, which he had, or to weakness, or anything else, or to be done routinely? Is IV better than drinking water and electrolytes? I didn't think of dehydration as a side effect. As a side question, are there other oral things he can take/drink to keep his fluids up if he is reluctant to get the infusion?
The guys I know who have had chemo get it done routinely - they schedule both at the same time. To avoid going to the hospital, a visiting nurse can come to your home to do it. It really helped them a lot with fatigue and brain fog and if his BP is low. The improvement was instantaneous. Much more effective than drinking. Good idea to drink lots of water with electrolytes too. It's not for anemia.
Husband is having a hard time, but I understand that isn't true for everyone. Barry had no reaction to docetaxel, when others had a hard time with that one.
NOTE: Barry also gets Neulasta, and I completely agree with Tall_Allen on the worthiness of that, to keep up your white blood cells.
I had docetaxel four years ago, along with prednisone, and my "hit" schedule was similar. Have not had to do Cabazitaxel, can't comment on that. I had a lot of side effects from chemo, including a bunch that I had not read about. At the time studies showed that prednisone+ chemo was better than just chemo. I stopped Prednisone a month after chemo but my MO wanted me to go back on a few months later. I lasted 2 weeks, hated it. Turns out some of my worst side effects were cased by prednisone: loud ringing in my ears, dizziness, bad incontinence and more. Go figure, I hope I never get near the stuff again.
Good luck, sorry you gotta do more.
No if's and or but's. Chemo is a bitch. Doesn't matter which kind you're getting. 10mg of prednisone prescribed for chemo? You're gonna feel like crap no matter what. Neulasta helped me somewhat, Zyrtec helped with the leg cramps. IV fluids also helped. Do whatever you can to keep your nourishment up. Good luck
I also had terrible side effects from prednisone while on chemo with docetaxel: violent hiccups 24 hours/day for a week after the first two doses. Terrible. Stopped the prednisone for subsequent cycles. Whew! Have tabs of Zofran in your pocket in case of nausea (“Don’t leave home without it.”). But by all means go camping if you can.
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