Taxol Rarely Triggers Fatal Reactions

This article and the follow up below it are shocking.  Dr Valero, one of the doctors who is mentioned in the piece, wanted me to take weekly taxol.  I don't understand why if he knows it is not adding to the bottom line, he would still be prescribing it as a weekly regimin.  What is going on here?  Where are our translational doctors, who are supposed to be specially focused on noticing these connections?

paclitaxel (Taxol®), docetaxel (Taxotere®) are two different drugs. I just wanted to clarify this as some posts are indicating they are one and the same.
I just came off 4 rounds of Taxotere/Avastin. I had just about every side effect down the pike. I did not however get any of the symptoms at infusion.
Hugs
Janet

I did taxotere x4, 21 days apart.

Hello all,

I did 12 weekly treatments of Taxol. I had a couple of reactions each time I got the infusions. I would get really hot and I would start to get tingles up the back of my neck into the back of my head. Each time this happened the nurses would stop the Taxol and give me saline for a while. Then they would start the Taxol back up again. Last summer, every Wed, I was at the treatment center for 8 to 10 hours getting Taxol. It was the longest 12 weeks of my life.

Dear Pam,

I personally feel you did everyone a service by posting the information. As you know I had posted it previously, as well.

I believe everyone here knows that the ultimate decisions will always be made based on discussions with their medical advisors. I don't believe anyone is relying on anyone's post to make such decisions.

Nevertheless, I feel all of us must be our own advocates to a certain extent and it is healthy to question, as I did, e.g. an oncologist "do you have a crash cart in your office if my daughter has a reaction to the TAXOL." Others here may not want to ask that question..that's fine..but there is no harm, in my opinion, to have the knowledge that RARELY there can be serious side effects..

We live in a world where advice changes and often dramatically..I suffer from kidney stones (my latest CT scan showed 3) and when I have passed them, in the past, I have had excruciating pain. I was told to take a heavy dose of Vicodin. In this morning's press a panel recommended that Vicodin be banned-

"ADELPHI, Md. – Government experts called for sweeping safety restrictions Tuesday on the most widely used painkiller, including reducing the maximum dose of Tylenol and eliminating prescription drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet.

The Food and Drug Administration assembled 37 experts to recommend ways to reduce deadly overdoses with acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually. About 200 die each year."

and guess who came out vociferously about the panel's findings about changing the Tylenol dose?...why surprise, surprise Johnson & Johnson,
manufacturers of Tylenol..

My point is that I have AFIB so I can't take other pain killers so what should I do?...I will speak to my urologist and find out what he thinks and at the end of the day I will rely on his judgment and that is what everyone here should do as well...rely on your physician's judgment..BUT I still feel it is important for folks here to be their own advocates...try to learn, ask good questions, present new studies to their oncologists, don't be afraid to seek a second opinion, ask for genetic counseling/testing re: BRCA, or ask for a second pathology report.

To me, Pam is an absolute blessing to this site...she puts her heart and soul into efforts to help all of us, as does Nancy...and if she posted information about something that rarely happens well I think we are all savvy enough to know that there are side effects with many drugs and if the deaths come too often the drug will be withdrawn but it is valuable to know it's there.

and as I said..I posted in April about the same side effect..and a violent reaction did happen in my daughter's oncologist's office. I believe it is a service to all of us to have the knowledge that if someone feels really weird getting their first TAXOL infusion you need to tell them to STOP.
and also with certain patients..certain preliminary steps need to be done prior to taking the drug..

So, if you want to blame anyone, please blame me because I posted it first..Please, please do not blame Pam. She has one agenda here-to support, nourish, bring knowledge to the women with TNBC and I believe she loves us all. I actually have no idea how she is able to post so much information for all of us.

so in closing (I hear some "it's about time" comments...nice, no respect ) I want to say one thing-

Pam, I have only known you for about two+ months, but I have come to cherish our relationship and yes, I believe, in some mysterious way I have come to love you as the magnificent, generous, compassionate, bright woman you are. Please be kind to yourself and let's all concentrate on the good that Pam has done, is doing and I hope will do for all of us. Let's move on. I think we all get it about TAXOL. It has side effects as every chemo does,
but hopefully it has helped save my daughter's life and hopefully it will do the same for others here. I understand why you apologized. I personally feel it was not necessary for you to do so. There was nothing malicious about what you wrote. Just your effort to help as was mine.

There is no perfect in the TNBC world...including PARP inhibitors(although hopefully they will help)...just a nasty, aggressive cancer that we are trying to deal with and hopefully, in the future, there will be other options that do not rely on the poisons
that the lovely women here are advised to take.

What is perfect in my view is Pam's commitment to TNBCF. Let's cherish that and let's move on. Please.

all the best,

Steve



Edited by steve - Jul 01 2009 at 4:03pm

Your postings are very eye opening.  Ten Thousand Thank You's.

Dear Pam,

Pam, Thank you for your post. I am trying to figure out why my Onc. thinks the weekly taxol is only for when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. He wants to do 4 every two weeks. It seems to me a lot of people here get it for 12 weeks weekly with only node involvement. I am seeking a Dr. at Mayo clinic here in MN for a 2nd opinion. Thanks to Steve's help. The bad part is I can't just do a copay, I have to do the out of network stuff. But it will be worth it for peace of mind.

Good morning everyone,

Edited by trip2 - Jul 02 2009 at 4:48am