When I received my treatments for breast cancer I was first given Adriamycin and Cytoxan. Following that I received Taxotere for 4 cycles every three weeks. That was in 2002. Things have changed somewhat now that Taxotere is sometimes given in dose dense quantities (every week for 12 weeks in some cases). I'm not sure if this regimen causes fewer side effects from the Taxotere. I have heard that it does.
I had a side effect called oral thrush resulting from Taxotere. When our immune systems are compromised we can develop oral thrush. I know others do suffer with thrush and are sometimes given a mouthwash to ease the discomfort. My oncologist prescribed Diflucan for 7 days straight after I would receive Taxotere treatments. This worked well to prevent and help with the mouth thrush. I would suggest asking your doctor about Diflucan if the mouthwash or other remedies do not work.
Another tip for Taxotere side effects is to get tissues with lotion in them. I had a terrible time with eye tearing. It is like when you get a sore nose from a cold. The tissues just made my eyes very red from rubbing them. The tissues with lotion in them helped tremendously with the irritation.
My last tip, although odd, would be not to drive when wearing fake eyelashes after a Taxotere treatment!! My eyes started to tear and the lash glue leaked into my eyes. I didn't crash or anything but I had to pull over because the glue formed a white film and I couldn't see! I'm glad a cop didn't pull over to see what was going on. I had black mascara running down my face and two fake eyelashes stuck where they weren't supposed to be. I do remember sitting in the car laughing about how ridiculous I looked.
Cancer treatment side effects (example: yeast infection in mouth!), CAN be ridiculous. Sharing tips among survivors however is smart.
1. Taxotere (Docetaxel) is another widely used taxane drug that is used in the treatment of cancers of the lung, breast, ovary and other common cancers. Despite the broad antitumor activity of taxanes, their clinical usefulness has been limited by common side effects such as painful nerve damage (neurotoxicity), reduction of white blood cell counts, liver damage, allergic reactions, nausea and vomiting, and other toxicities. It is estimated that over 50% of patients receiving paclitaxel experience some form of drug-induced nerve damage.
Some taxane-induced side effects are so common, and in some instances so severe, that patients and their physicians may delay treatment, reduce the dose or discontinue therapy altogether. While medications designed to prevent or treat nausea, vomiting and decreased white blood cell counts are available, there are currently no treatments for other serious taxane-induced side effects, particularly nerve damage.
Taxanes an extremely potent chemotherapy drugs, often producing a number of side effects in patients. Side effects include severe allergic reactions, cardiovascular problems (such as changes in blood pressure), infections developing from white blood cell deficiencies, complete hair loss (apolecia), joint and muscle pain, irritation at the injection site, low red blood cell count, mouth or lip sore, numbness or burning in the hands and feet, and stomach upset/diarrhea.
Now, Bionumerik, in boosting its new drug Tavocept, that is aimed at preventing or reducing common and serious side effects, particularly nerve and kidney damage, associated with taxane and platinum drugs, talks about in their literature that chemotherapy-induced toxicities are common and serious clinical problems that adversely impact both the quality of life of cancer patients and the ability of patients to continue treatment for their cancer. Very little has been accomplished to prevent or reduce chemotherapy-induced toxicities such as nerve damage (neurotoxicity), kidney damage (nephrotoxicity) and hearing impairment (ototoxicity). But now they have another new product.
Posted at 9:06PM on Aug 9th 2006 by Gregory D. Pawelski