Zometa news out of San Antonio....

Thanks Sherry. What I find surprising is that my oncologist used Zometa before in order to prevent the spread of cancer and it is only now that she has changed her mind, at least for me. I will ask her again a few months from now.

Kim40- how are you feeling after your infusion? I had a severe reaction & am afraid of the next one in April.

Spoke to my onco's office and I guess he changed his mind and they have sent in for approval of Zometa.  Now it is wait and see if my insurance approves it or not.

Just had appointment with 'gold standard' MO, who said if it was her, she'd want the Zometa, too. She knows about *all* of the studies but feels that the ABC trial is significant for premeno ER+ > 40 years. She also stressed that it needs to be Zometa, nothing else, because trials have been done on other bisphosphonates and the same results have not been noted. Zometa is the way to go. HTH.

PlantLover,

I can't comment specifically on the bisphosphonate which you are currently on, but can tell you that my MO said that in order to receive the protective effects against mets, it needs to be Zometa. Her reasoning: another clinical trial was conducted with a different bisphosphonate and no improvement was seen. Also, the clinical trials demonstrating reduction in mets have used Zometa...the other bisphosphonates are unproven in this area. She told me it must be Zometa or else nothing. Ask your MO to show you the studies proving that Pamidronate does exactly the same thing.

Hth,

PLJ

PLJ ... Thanks so much for the response. 

I called my onc today and talked to the PA.  She said that my onc feels that Pamidronate provides the same benefit that Zometa does & that Zometa was just the drug used in the studies.  I asked if there were any studies using Pamidronate and she said she's not aware of any and that if I wanted to switch to Zometa then that's what we'll do.  Of course we have to make sure there's no problem with insurance covering the switch.  Guess I'll find out when I go for my next infusion in May.

Hi there - I had my infusion this past Tuesday morning and felt great afterwards and the next day.  I didn't need to take any tylenol or advil or anything, I just drank loads of water the day before and the same day and it seems to have done the trick for me.  The only time that I had any SE's was the next day after my very first infusion.  I felt I was hit by a truck!  But then again, I didn't know I had to drink a lot of water either   Lesson learned.

Had my first treatment this past Friday and it went well and I have  had no SE's

Winnie, I had an infusion in December. I will have my second one in March. Don't know the dosage. MO wants me to have an infusion every 3 months for 2 years. I did feel flu like the day after treatment. Do follow instructions and take the Benadryl and Ibuprofin (I didn't and paid).

do you need a port for this infusion?  How long does it take?

I saw my dentist today (actually had my children in to see him).  I asked him his thoughts from a dental prospective on the Zometa.  He said I had excellent dental health and he would go for it.  I see my onc in early March, and think I will do Zometa. 

I am having dexa scan (bone density) next week, I expect this will be normal.  Any of you have difficulty with insurance paying for Zometa with normal bone density?

What type of self premedicating have you all done?  I will try and schedule for a friday, so if I feel abit off  I won't need to worry about work.  If I did 6 rounds of chemo, I surely can tolerate the zometa.

My MO office has me taking a claritin and pepcid the day of and the next two days following Zometa along with good hydration.  I can't take ibuprofen because I am allergic so they had me taking tylenol.  They said hydration was the key to keep the kidneys flushed out. Mine was done IV and took about 30 minutes.

I get Zometa once a month. Haven't had any problems besides normal aches and pains. But  about a week ago I started to get a little bit of jaw pain.I'm suppost to get my 3rd infusion this Thursday, I called my ong. she told me to go to the dentist before Thursday, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I was wondering if it could just be a sinus infection my ears hurt and I've had a sinus headache for the past couple days plus my jaw doesn't hurt that much. I would hate to have to go to the dentist every time as I don't have any dental insurance.

Winnie that is what I read in the trial and that is what my Dr. has me on.

My onc and insurance had no problems putting me on it.  I was put into menopause (hyster/ooph) and on an AI, and onc seemed to think insurance would not even give it a second thought.  He was right.  I did have the bone density done and came in with osteopenia, but onc seemed to think that that didn't matter as much as the fact that I was menopausal and on an AI at age 38.  I hope the zometa is working--on both ends (cancer and bone density!)  Onc won't do another density scan until 3yrs out (said reason is that the results wouldn't change his treatment choices during these 3 yrs--At 3 yrs he will reevaluate things).  Does anyone else have more scans? Thoughts, ladies?