hi , has anyone had the combination of Carboplatin and gemcitabine . This may be my next course of treatment with Carboplatin plus gemcitabine one week, then gemcitabine only the second week with the 3rd week off.
Gemcitabine seems to have some nasty side effects!!!
I’d appreciate any comments .
x x x
I found this combo quite tolerable (had it twice). The issue with gem is its effects on the bone marrow, so bloods tend to be afffected leading to treatment delays. The day 8 gem treatment is often dropped. Gem can also be brutal on the veins, so I recommend a port.
Thank you . That’s good to know . The alternative is 3 weekly Carboplatin. and I am it’s that option but I shall be guided by the oncologist as to what might work !
X x
Hi....it was years ago but my wife had gem/carbo and thankfully tolerated it well. If was effective in lowering her ca125 significantly & whilst she was only meant to have 6 rounds of it, they did another two because it was working well. I appreciate everyone is different, but good luck.
Hi there
I’m on this combo currently but only had cycle 1 so far. Nausea and constipation have been the main symptoms so far.
When do you start?
Yes, just finishing a course of carbo/gem. The Gem was problematic for me because I have lung problems, and it aggravated those, so I ended up on antibiotics after almost every treatment with subsequent delays to the chemo. After 3 cycles, they reduced the Gem to half dose and tried giving me anti histamine tablets. Although they helped, I still got a chest infection, so now they're just giving me carbo for the last two treatments. I also had a problem with platelets, which rose to ridiculous numbers like 1300 following gemcitibine, but I am already on blood thinners so it didn't cause any clots, and levels have returned to normal since. Apparently, 10% of people have this reaction to the drug - trust me to be one of the 10%, so although this drug was effective, its not a great drug for me. No problems with veins, but I did find nausea a bit of a minor issue after the single Gem only treatment on day 8 because they don't give you steroids or anti sickness beforehand, though it was easily resolved by taking domperidone. The combination of carbo/gem was pretty effective though, it significantly reduced my CA125 and visible areas of disease had shrunk by half at the mid way scan. Good luck with it
I'm currently on this combo & just finished round 1 of 3. No problem with nausea but constipation as usual with carbo. Round 2 delayed due to low neutrophils. Looking forward to a good result after treatment is finished. 👍💜
I have been on that combo, but had to stop the Carbo after the first treatment because I got a hive and they were worried that another treatment could cause problems. That being said they put me just on the gem. Because of that, it really didn’t do much for my CA, 125 and it made me very exhausted. . I lost 20 pounds because I wasn’t eating or drinking. I hope you have much more success with this. I was bummed out that I couldn’t tolerate the carboplatin because that sounds like it’s quite effective for most people. Good luck to you.
I had carboplatin with paclitaxel, then gemcitabine with avastin for a recurrence. I found it quite tolerable. I had the usual fatigue, aches and pains, but I attribute a lot of that to the Avastin. I didn’t lose any hair, either. Best of luck to you with this combo!
Unfortunately it crashed my platelets after just 1 session, they went down to 5 so had to have emergency platelet infusion. But it seems like looking at the responses you've had most people were ok with platelets and I know that chemo is very hard on my bloods for me as my oncologist says and im always having blood transfusions do prob just didn't suit me!! All the very best to you x
A huge thank you to everyone for your replies. Looks like I will be in Cisplatin / gem as I am as allergic to the Carboplatin. Having said that , I was fine with Carboplatin with the desensitising routine . I must confess to being very apprehensive about this combo— but I guess I just have to give it a go . 🤞🙏🙏❤️
I’m interested in this because I’m on carboplatin alone for second recurrence. Yesterday was my second and I had the beginnings of a mild allergic reaction at the end. My lungs tightened up on exhale, I had back spasms, but not as bad as with taxol, and my lower legs felt swollen. They descended on me with all kinds of treatments and I was fine. But my doctor said next time could be severe. I go back o Dana Farber and they have a desensitization unit. I guess I will have an allergy skin test. But if you did okay on desensitization why can you do that again?
Hi I’m currently on my 2 cycle which the dose had to be dropped due to neutrophils dropping to 0.2 for 3 weeks. I had felt a little sick and tired but not too bad. Hair has already started to thin. My biggest side effect was the gemcitabine stung really bad going in and left my veins very swollen, bruised and lumpy. They have now started using glucose along side it to help ease the pain. I’m booked in for a port in my chest to help.
Hope this helps and good luck on your journey.
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