Chemo Side Effects

[Iber]

My husband received his first cycle of docetaxel 4 days ago and so far his only side effect has been fatigue. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and watching for side effects. He’s also on prednisone and nubeqa, as well as his injection of Zoladex. Wondering if anyone else can shed light on their experience with chemo and if side effects get worse with each cycle of docetaxel?

[ELOfan]

I am so relieved to hear his chemo went well. I am in line behind him to start it . I just found this calming video for chemo and posted it when I saw your post.

youtu.be/YjMed9F2Ng4?si=imk...(Not working as expected?)

[leebeth]

My husband had no side effects from docetaxel other than hair loss. Even my brother tolerated it, when he was 81. He was only going to have one dose, to qualify him for Pluvicto, but he had 5 doses because he tolerated them so well.

[SouthFrance]

I have had 5 shore, fatigue gets a little worse, otherwise okay.

[SouthFrance]

Should read shots not shore, autocorrect!

[RoseDoc]

The effects are cumulative. Y the 4th treatment I had severe fatigue the week after each dose. Felt good by the third week, then another dose. I used the ice mittens Snd socks which helped pre ent neuropathy.

Glad all went well the first round. I continued to work the entire time. Takes about 4-5 months to recover after the last treatment.

Good luck

[Yellowtail33]

I’ve had 2 cycles and picked up infections both times, so get him to keep an eye on his temperature. Other than that and fatigue, not too bad. 3rd cycle this Friday with a reduced dose so fingers crossed.

[London441]

The fatigue from the Zoladex and darolutamide is usually worse than the chemo, but there is some, and of course everyone is different.

The great equalizer is exercise. It fights fatigue like nothing else. Any amount at all is vastly better than none, and a bit more is better still.

[Chubby42]

Fatigue like most after the first one not too bad but by the 2nd dose It felt like I had the worst cold ever for about a week and this continued after each dose, also the horrible taste everything had a metallic taste to it.I lost nearly 2 stone over the 18 weeks.

The thing to be careful of is to make sure he doesn't get any viral infections this could be really nasty and turn sepsis.

But I guess that should have been explained before your first treatment.

Good luck hope he continues to have mild side effects.

[Iber]

I spoke too soon! Last night he started experiencing extreme bone pain in his lower back and joints. Waiting to speak to his oncologist.

[Collarpurple in reply to Iber]

Will keep prayers going🙏. Hope they can give something for pain🙏

[Samrecan in reply to Iber]

I too had severe bone pain in 1st cycle of Docetexel which went away after a couple of days - Advil helped.

Interestingly, I had no such pain in 2nd cycle.

[EdBar]

Thing for me got pretty tough after 2nd and third round.

Ed

[Hawk56]

My experience...the side effects were generally consistent throughout the six cycles with one exception, the fatigue. For whatever reason the 4th infusion brought on pretty severe fatigue, My oncologist ran labs to try and determine what was going on, didn't show anything. With the 5th and sixth infusion, fatigue was back to "normal."

Some of the side effects are progressive, losing hair, finger and toe nails discoloring....

Kevin

[carguy]

Hello, I’m glad all is going well so far. I completed 10 rounds of Docetaxel. One week after my first infusion, I developed a fever due to low white blood count. I was put on Neulasta for the duration of the chemo. So, keep an eye out for fever. Besides that, I had slight nausea that got worse with each infusion. The nausea usually lasted a week. Neuropathy in my left foot developed after the 8th infusion. I religiously iced my hands and feet which I believe helped prevent significant neuropathy. Best of luck to you.

[JohnInTheMiddle]

Hi Iber!

Maybe I can give you and your husband a little encouragement. I have some comments about Docetaxel and also some material just about my overall experience after diagnosis.

Over 2 years ago I was diagnosed with a not dissimilar situation with your husband. My PSA was even significantly higher, although your husband is quite high. And I had mets from my hips all the way up to my ribs and several compromised vertebrae. Stage 4 and an emergency situation.

And I was fortunate to end up with a medical oncologist that suggested triplet therapy - which at that time was not even standard of care. And I've done very well on that since then to the point that last winter I said to my wife that I felt sort of normal. She laughed of course. Most of my metastases "have gone to sleep" and don't show up on a scan now. It's possible although not guaranteed, sadly.

And triplet therapy makes a big difference! As you probably know by now, the theory is "let's hit those nasty cancer cells with everything we've got, all up front!" And not sequentially one after the other waiting for each therapy to fail.

The statistics on how much time we have are kind of misleading - because they still include a lot of people being treated with older therapies. But if you look at the people just on the new therapies including triplet therapy, the numbers are better and not even all in yet. Which is not to say of course that we can escape the thing.

I did the six rounds of Docetaxel at 85%. And I don't remember a lot of nasty side effects except fatigue. I did have hydromorphone pills which I took after each infusion.

I also had the anti-infection injection (which my wife did so we didn't have to go into the hospital) - I assumed that this was standard, but apparently it's not. Probably should be.

You can read about the use of ice; whether it works or not I don't know but I did not get any neuropathy.

And then there's fasting as well, I did a day before and the day off. There's a theory it makes the cancer cells more vulnerable and at the same time possibly helping to spare normal cells.

I'm going to share here now some previous notes I have collected. You can scroll up and down from the original reference note too. Some of the notes are older and might be out of date. And these topics of course are by no means comprehensive. There are lots of great notes hiding on this forum, although sometimes they're hard to find.

CHEMO & DOCETAXEL

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

CHEWING ON ICE

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

FASTING

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

JOURNEY

The Beginning Of A Metastatic Prostate Cancer Journey - Part 1 of 2

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

The Beginning Of A Metastatic Prostate Cancer Journey - Part 2 of 2

healthunlocked.com/advanced...

A big success for your husband! And in figuring out all this daily of information. And the impact on one's normal way of life!

John-in-the-Middle

[Iber in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

Thanks John. I was hoping to hear from you. Your journey ( I hate this overused word lol) is very inspiring. I will share this with my husband.

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to Iber]

That's great Iber! FYI, I had trouble posting and kept getting blocked and was corresponding with technical support. And today they suggested getting rid of the dotted lines that I used to separate different sections. So I was unblocked again. And this time it worked! I'm glad to be inspiring, and I'm glad I can be inspiring! And there are many inspiring people that I have been inspired by, on this forum! Lots of inspiration, and we will add you and your husband now too! 😃

[ELOfan]

Iber, How are you and your husband doing this weekend after Docetaxel? Did the bone pain decrease?

[Iber]

Hello. Yes the bone pain decrease! Initially the doctor had him on hydromorphone but now he just takes Tylenol as needed. Other than fatigue, he’s eating well and is still quite active. Thanks for asking.

[Iber]

Good luck to you!

[LVMonsoon]

Hi Iber:

I just finished my 6th round of Taxotere. I also presented with Stage 4b PCa in March, 2024, PSA was 54 but as my MO told me, I had a ‘heavy load’ of Mets from my pelvis up the spine, lymph nodes, right leg, etc. from the PSMA Pet scan. I had done a lot of research and started noticing quite a few references to triplet therapy so was happy to hear my MO give me the option. I went on Orgovyx, Nubeqa and Taxotere in April/May, 2024. I started the Orgovyx then Nubeqa in April (minimal SE) the Taxotere in May. Generally I had the expected SE, tired, about 75% hair loss, loss of taste, but maybe 50% which slowly came back towards the end of each round. It was progressive for me in each round, each round a little bit worse. One thing you didn’t mention is whether he was given a shot of Nulasta the day after the Taxotere treatment. Generally the white blood cell count crashes after Taxotere (mine did) which would open one up for infection. The Nulasta cranks up the white blood cell count to counter act this. One of the big SE for Nulasta is bone pain between 2-5 days after the injection. They told me to take a Claritin daily for a week to counter act this which seemed to work for me though the Nulasta really made me super tired for about a week after the injection. Otherwise, the only SE I found irritating other than the general tiredness was watery eyes, feeling of getting a cold but not quite getting sick. One thing they don’t tell you is around round 5-6, there is a higher than normal chance of getting edema (swelling), which I got in round 6 and still have to some extent 45 days after the last Taxotere injection. My MO told me it will eventually pass, which it seems to be doing, though I also gained 15 lbs, it’s slowly going down. So far, my PSA went from 54 to .09, so far, so good. I also highly recommend writing down a short synopsis of each day’s events , not for anyone else but yourself. I found it very helpful personally that I could refer back to compare how I was feeling in previous rounds. Best of luck…!!!

[Iber]

Hi LVMonsoon. My husband just finished his second docetaxel treatment and is currently taking Nubeqa and Zoladex injections every 3 months. He had severe bone pain on days 4 and 5 so his MO prescribe dexamethasone ( days 3-6) to relieve these symptoms. He also experienced some fatigue during the first week following his treatment and sore gums. Most of his hair fell out at the two week mark and he seems to be hungry all the time due to the prednisone! He wasn’t given Nulasta. We ( more like me) have been keeping a daily journal on his symptoms and now have a better understanding of what to expect in future chemo treatments. Thanks for the good advice and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you!

[LVMonsoon in reply to Iber]

Hi Iber:

Happy Thanksgiving..! I grew up near the Canadian border with the US and went there a lot, back in the days of no Passport needed…

Before his chemo treatments, do they do CBC bloodwork..? Specifically looking for the white blood cell (WBC) count..? On my first round, I did not get Nulasta and on a subsequent blood test after, mine crashed so I was put on an antibiotic for ‘protection’ from infection until my WBC count recovered. Rounds 2-6 included Nulasta. I suspect that maybe they don’t do Nulasta everywhere because it is, like most oncology drugs, very expensive. At the start of each round, I got an Rx for dexamethasone 8 mg, day before, day of and day after (to cushion the blow of the chemo) plus a 10 mg ‘bag’ before the taxotere IV. It helped for a couple days. For me, the Nulasta was ‘nasty’ but did its job. Usually by day 8-10 I finally started feeling slightly ‘normal’. I had many ‘mini’ side effects, such as heartburn (couple days) during each round, various constpation or diarrhea bouts, but mostly manageable. I also was super hungry and craved things that I usually don’t eat. The fatigue is always there generally, sometimes not so bad, sometimes to a point I needed to take a nap, but never overwhelming, at least for me. I was extremely physically active before this all started but the drugs do sap your strength. By round 5, I actually fell in the parking lot at Home Depot, nothing serious but I had no strength to actually get myself up. More embarrassing than anything else, but even though I still walked 15-20 km per week at that stage, the strength in my legs, at that time, just wasn’t there. He’ll have good days and not so good, during the 6 rounds and unexpected SE’s, at least I did. One thing I told my wife during this time was, when she asked me how I was doing and I said ‘ok’ or ‘pretty good’, my ‘ok’ was not the same as it used to mean… Today for me, is 48 days from the last Taxotere injection, I’m actually feeling ok now, sleep well, strength and hair coming back, tiredness gone, so far so good…

[Iber]

Hi LVMonsoon

My husband does get blood work done the day before each chemo treatment but has not been given Nulasta. He does take dexamethasone the day before, day of, and the day following his treatment, however, due to his bone pain from his first treatment the MO has extended his dexamethasone to include day 3 thru 6 but at a lesser dosage. So far, so good!

[LVMonsoon in reply to Iber]

Hi Iber:

Thanks, the dexamethasone really helps and great that your MO gave him more to get through the bone pain, it sure does help with that kind of thing. Also, in all of my research, I have found a great resource that you may find helpful. It's the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI). They produce some very informative video's (they have a YouTube Channel too) running through pretty well everything anyone would be interested in going through this. The nice thing is they aren't trying to sell you anything, the MO, Dr. Mark Scholz has been specializing in PC for 30 years and has a plethora of information, disseminated in a way that is very easy to understand. (pcri.org). Some of the video's go back 5 years and it's amazing to see how things have changed/advanced in this world over such a short period. Anyway, if you haven't found it yet, I hope you find it useful. Best of luck to your husband, still a way to go until round 6, and hope it's successful...!!!

[Iber]

We will definitely check out Prostate Cancer Research Institute! Thanks again and best of luck to you, as well.