Help! I'm alergic to Taxol

[Lori51]

Hello Everyone,

Three weeks ago I had my first treatment that Taxol was a part of. They had problems with it the first time, too. My eyes swelled, I began to itch, I exprienced tighening in the chest and my oxygen levels in my blood went down. However, they were able to administer the dose by giving me large doses of steriods and benadryl and stretching the treatment out from 3 hours to 5.....yowsa.... This time around I wasn't as lucky. The same type of things happened again despite diluting drug, slowing the drip, etc. etc. They decided it wasn't in my best interest to continue. Sooooo today I have a 9:00 appointment with the Onc who is supposed to have confired with my Onc at Dana Farber.....

Has anyone out there experienced this????? What was the outcome???? I'm scared because know I feel like I won't be getting the best "first line" treatment. The other drugs I'm taking are carboplatin and avastin; they seem to be OK. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Hope this finds all of you out there doing well, thinking positive and securily on the beat the beast band wagon.

Hugs and prayers all around,

Lori

[EastCoastLadi]

Lori,

It is coincidental that you are having this problem because my husband started taxol for the first time last week. He had a mild reaction, but it worked out ok. when we were learning about taxol, we were told that this kind of reaction you had while uncommon, can happen. Now w/ my husband they said that if something like that were to happen, what they do is very slowly administer it. The NP also said that in some cases they will hospitalize a patient and administer taxol extremely slow. Please don't get discouraged, remember everyone is different when it comes to chemo. and if you don't get back on taxol there definitely will be other options.

I hope you definitely get down to a resolution very soon. Keep the faith.

Grace

[ztweb]

Urgh!!! Lori, I am so sorry. Worry not...I am sure there are plenty of "lines" out there you can use. Many people here go through many...so keep that chin up and stay strong!

God bless,

Jen

[blaze100]

Hi Lori, Just a few drops of taxol made me stop breathing but benadryl brought me out of it.

Your docs are doing the right thing not to repeat the taxol. They will find another chemo drug that hopefully will work even better. Best of luck.

Barb

[tnmynatt]

My husband was severely allergic to Taxol and was switched to Gemzar for first line treatment with Carbo. He had a good response with the Gemzar. Research shows Gemzar is similar to Taxol in effectiveness. It's just that Gemzar has to be given weekly rather than every 3 weeks like the Taxol.

There are other options, too. The dr. will have a good plan. Take care.

[Tom K]

Lori,

After my Onc laid out the plan for my treatment, I went for a second opinion. The second opinion agreed with my Onc with one exception. He recommended Taxotere instead of Taxol. He said it was less toxic and just as effective. When I mentioned it to my Onc he said they normally start with Taxol and switch to Taxotere in the unlikely event the patient can not tolerate Taxol. Here is a link to a site that describes most chemo drugs.

http://www.chemocare.com/

[kamataca]

Yikes! What a frustrating experience! I hope they can work out a plan you feel comfortable with. I would not focus too strongly on one line of chemo being the 'best'. As you can tell by folks' signatures here, lots of people have had all kinds of success with many different treatments. It makes my head spin sometimes, trying to keep them all straight.

Hopefully you will get some answers soon! Good luck with that.

Kelly

[marym]

Sorry to hear your problem. There are a number of approved first line options available. My first line was gemcitibine and carboplatin and I had 10 cycles. I was taken off due to poor blood counts.

I believe Taxotere can also be a first round option with carboplatin (although I' taking it stand alone as second line treatment).

Good luck. There are other options that are effective. Hope you find the right one.

Mary

[Welthy]

Lori,

Please don't worry -- there are many other avenues of treatment. I freaked when my husband had a "going into shock" reaction from Carboplatin. The reason I freaked was I thought "Oh no -- first line treatment is OVER!!! Second line is not as effective!!!" Wrong, wrong, wrong was I. He finished 12 cycles of Taxotere/Gemzar and I think that worked even better than the Taxol/Carboplatin. He also had a taxol reaction in the early treatments, but they were able to control it by meds and slowing the drips. Sorry yours wasn't overcome by that. I understand the concern though, but there are other options out there for you. We're heading into the 3rd line treatment soon after a reaction to long term taxotere use and I'm much calmer now than before.

Welthy

[Lori51]

You guys are the best! I'm so glad I found this site. The love and support of others who've traveled the path before you is so important. I know the fear of the unknow would be so much more overwhelming without you. God bless you all.

Lori

[myrnalu]

I was allergic to taxol also,I only got a few drips and my chest tightened up,I couldnt breathe,Started shaking.They gave me an antidote immediatly.Switched me to taxotere the following week and it was fine.

taxotere is a cousin drug to taxol i was told.She also said its the solution its mixed in that we are allergic to.I had a rapid heartbeat too.Thought I was dying right there.Sure was scary

Marie

[ursol]

lori,

i'm sorry to hear you are having trouble with taxol. I just completed my second dose of Taxol yesterday and also am allergic. Week one I experienced tightening of the chest early on in the process and could hardly breathe. I was scared to death. They gave me lots of benadryl and a slower drip and I got through it. Yesterday for week two they increased the amount of Benadryl in my pre-meds and I got over 3/4's through the Taxol before having a reaction. They gave me more Benadryl and some Atavan. This time the reaction was coughing and tightening in my throat. I got through it again. Next week they plan to add sreroids to the mix. I plan on plowing through this if I can.

It sounds from the others that their are other drugs we can try if necessary so stay positive. I'll be thinking about you.

Lilly