Etopiside anaphylaxis shock

[Emkins]

Hello!

My mum is on her second cycle of chemo. First cycle went really well, but yesterday she reacted badly to the Etopiside infusion.

She could not breath and thought she was dying, so we had to stop. Now I’m worried that she’s missed out on her treatment and wonder how we will even proceed?

She has sclc and don’t want it to keep growing without the right chemo

Any similar cases? Any advise appreciated greatly

Many thanks

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear Emkins

Sorry to hear your Mum had a hypersensitive reaction to the medication, albeit a rare occurrence this can be very alarming for everyone, thankfully the medical and nursing teams are well trained to deal with this.

It is understandable that you are concerned about what other treatment may be available, perhaps discuss this with the lung cancer nurse specialist or ask for an appointment to speak to the Oncologist.

Your Mum may wish to consider asking if there are any clinical trials available that she would be eligible for.

If you wish to discuss anything you can call us on our Freephone nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200.

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team

[Babydolltina]

Emkins, so sorry you have this worry. My wife has SCLC and is undergoing the same chemo. Did the hospital give your mom the steroid infusion first? My wife has missed several dates on her chemo and this has made breaks of 4 weeks or so. It has then been carried on as usual. Her tumor has shown signs of shrinkage after just two cycles but a second tumor has just been found. The hospital are trained for all circumstances and your mom is in the right hands. Things will come right! Dont panic! God Bless you all.

[Emkins]

How is your wife doing??

[sebbi21]

My husband had same reaction to same drug on his first cycle, very scary! Staff were brilliant and he was able to have same drug next day and for 5 more cycles, they infused it over a longer time and he had loads of antihistamine first and didn’t have any other reactions. He was lucky to have had surgery to remove his lung first and chemo was adjuvant. Doing really well now, no sign of cancer. Hope it’s going well for your mum now.