cjolaw Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Does anyone have any experience with alimta? My mother stage IV NSCLC, malignant pleural effusion, had the first round of chemo--cisplatin and taxotere plus avastin, then moved to avastin as a single agent therapy for three months--it shrunk the tumors and helped with the pleural effusion. Now 3 months later new and more aggressive tumors are back. The onc wants to use alimta as a single agent therapy... Any experiences you will share with me while on this drug? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recce101 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Hi, welcome to the LCSC! I don't have any personal experience with Alimta "yet," but it and a couple of others are waiting in the wings for the day Avastin stops working for me, as it very probably will at some point. There are a number of discussions about Alimta on onctalk.com, a terrific resource run by Dr. Jack West, a Seattle oncologist who posts here when his time permits and answers several questions every day through his own site. You can type Alimta in the search window on his home page, or for starters you might look at this introductory article and discussion on the drug: http://onctalk.com/?p=274 You don't have to register to browse through the site, but you do if you want to ask a question. A lot of us have registered with the same usernames on onctalk as here. You'll get more responses when our mainland friends wake up. Aloha, Ned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palves Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Hi my dad had Alimta - not a favorable response - he is now on Tarceva Paula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 Alimta helped my husband but it was hard on him, terrible fatigue. It shrunk the cancer though so I hope it does the same for your mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j ross Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 My husband had significangt shrinkage on Alimta {together with Avastin) side effects were tolerable. Flue like symptons for a few days. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadstimeon Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Had Alimta and only problem I had was fatigue. It did work and to me it was worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineladysue Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Alimta kept hubby stable for a while, but it caused extreme fatigue and breathing issues. He developed pneumonitis while on it. Several have had from mild to extreme issues with breathing and lung infammation with Alimta... be aware of any increase in SOB and report it to the doctor immediately. Best of luck. It has been helpful to many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWest Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Ned already gave you a bit of the run-down from my oncologist perspective -- thanks, Ned. Alimta's definitely among the more active drugs in lung cancer, and often well tolerated. I've encouraged people to log their experiences with various chemo agents and combinations and other treatments in a folder at OncTalk so that people can find the reviews when needed. Here's some comments on Alimta as a single agent: http://onctalk.com/bbPress/topic.php?id=444&replies=10 Good luck. -Dr. West Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.