My PSA levels have risen to 5.74 from 2.74,. 2 months earlier. Onc decided to start me on chemo instead of radium. I was starting on Docetaxel. After reading all your many posts i expected to have a safe infusion. Within to mins of infusion i had a severe reaction all coming within 1minute.
Severe pain in my stomach ,rising to my chest where i had difficulty breathing, to my chest where i though i was going to have a heart attack to my pressure taking odd. My onc nurse swiftly disconnected the chemo and gave me an infusion of steroids. Within a few minutes pains eased.
everything discontinued until i see my Onc on Monday. Has anyone been through this experience? If so what did you or your Onc did? Looking forward to your advise. Pretty shaken!!
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Did they give you pre-meds before chemo? For exmaple: Steroids (usually 8mg of Dexamthesone) along with something similar to Benadryl for allergic reactions plus something for nausea. These premeds are infused before the chemo and generally will prevent reactions like the one you had.
Yes-DH had an allergic reaction soon after the beginning of the first infusion. Sweating, flushing, & chest pain happened so quickly, but so did the nurses’ and doctors’ response. They Immediately discontinuation the chemo & tried to draw it back out of the port, then quickly gave him a bag of Benadryl and a bag of steroids. His doctor decided to rechallenge it about 1/2 hour later. We were not convinced that was a good idea, but it went fine. Had they waited a week to rechallenge it, we would have had time to mull it over and probably would have refused . IV Benadryl and steroids were given first at each subsequent infusion. No further reactions happened.
My husband had a terrible reaction to Docetaxel which is pretty harsh on your body.
Your PSA level seems to be low, I just wondered whether you have done the Foundation One genetic mutation report. That should give you some alternative treatment options.
Then, my husband went to Germany for LU 177 treatment in 2019. Apparently, a lot of Europeans skipped the chemotherapy and opted for Lu 177.
I am not sure where you reside, But I heard Dr. Eugene Kwon is a great cancer advocate doctor and has connected his patients for Lu177 and Act 225 treatments inTurkey per my readings from HU.
One cannot actually be “allergic” to something your body has never been exposed to before. So it was more likely some non-specific reaction or likely a panic attack in a very high-anxiety situation. The steroid and Benadryl pre-treatment will very likely prevent it repeating so he can move forward and that the cancer if that is the best choice of treatment.
thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. I did take the steroids suggested and was pretreated with required drugs before infusion. I believe they will have to mix a milder dose and increase the steroids. Keeping the faith that they will get it right this time.
Hubby had the same reaction on his third infusion. Doctors and nurses came running. They gave him some more steroids and continued the infusion after a while at a slower drip. He was given extra steroids to take prior to the next infusions to prevent another reaction. His 4th infusion was given at 1/2 the speed without any reaction so they continued with 5 and 6 at the regular speed. All went well afterwards.
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