Gemcitabine

[Di16]

Can anyone tell me how difficult Gemcitabine is to cope with please? I may be

offered a place on a trial that includes Gemcitabine & a trial drug, & I need to decide whether to go for it or not if they say I'm well enough for it. My cancer doesn't respond well to chemo, & at the moment I'm feeling uncertain whether to face it or not. Di

[Caleda4]

Hi Di, I had gemcitabine and carboplatin last year & finished the treatment mid October last year, I found it not to bad,Ann's carried on normally apart from a couple of days when I felt really tired,but I think that was more to do with coming off steroids that are given. Gem, was certainly much easier than paclitaxol which I had first time around. I hope this works for you if you decide to go down that route. Take care.

[Caleda4 in reply to Caleda4]

Sorry that was meant to say and not Anne's .

[Tulips66]

Hi Di16, I only started Gemcitabine with carboplatin recently for first recurrence. One week its both together & 2 weeks later its just the Gemcitabine on its own & that's the way it will be every 2 weeks. I wasn't sick but had very bad heartburn day & night for a few days & the usual fatigue. I am in having my Gemcitabine only as I write this & the nurses have told me my white blood cells are low but they are going ahead with the infusion so 🤞this won't be a sign of things to come & it's only just a hiccup. My oncologist told me before I started this that it is a less severe treatment than my last which was carboplatin /taxol so I will keep you posted. Good luck if you go ahead with X

[Hidden]

Hi there. It's been some years since I had Gemcitabine but I found it the least unpleasant of the chemotherapy drugs I have had ( the others being carboplatin, cisplatin and taxol). The only negatives were that it can be quite harsh on the veins. On the regime I was on I had Gem infusions on Day 1 and 8 and after a few cycles, my veins started to get harder to cannulate and this persisted for the remainder of the treatment. It took a while but my poor old veins eventually did recover. The other side effect was that it was quite harsh on my bone marrow and I had to have white cell boosters from the second cycle onwards. That said, I found it relatively manageable compared to some of the chemo I have had. Hope this helps!

[Ruebacelle]

Everyone is different but I found it affected bloods so make sure if that is the same for you that they give you booster shots for white count. I found platelets stayed good with papya green leaf tea. Red count calves liver all the best hugs from france

[Nadie2018]

Hi Di. I had Carbo, Gemcitabine and Avastin last year and did very well. No side effects to speak of. I felt really good through treatment. So no worries for now. Wishing you all the best and a good response. Nadie