Perjeta Side Effects

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Upheld
Upheld Member Posts: 71
edited June 2017 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

Hello everyone! I was wondering if anyone can tell me about diarrhea and Perjeta? I have had my first round and have had horrible diarrhea. I'm told by our breast Navigator as well as heard from another woman that the diarrhea doesn't go away during treatment. The lady I know personally says it has not gone away at all. Can anyone tell me their experience and what you have found works? Thank you so much!

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  • burner
    burner Member Posts: 48
    edited June 2017

    Upheld- I got hit with severe diarrhea after my first Perjeta treatment as well. The premeds made me constipated, and the Perjeta gave me diarrhea, so it was a tricky balancing act, but what my nurse recommended for me, which worked somewhat well was: continue taking my stool softener, doubling up on that and the prune juice through the day after I received chemo.

    Then I stopped the prune juice, and the diarrhea would hit me around Day 3 or 4. With the first incident, I took 2 Imodiums and then just one with each episode until things calmed down, which they did in about 2-3 days.

    The severity of my episodes lessened with each Perjeta treatment, if that gives you any hope. I lost a LOT of fluid with the first 2 treatments due to diarrhea, so they will be monitoring that and making sure your hydration is OK. I drank a lot of coconut water to help replenish electrolytes.

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  • illimae
    illimae Member Posts: 5,710
    edited June 2017

    I was on some kind of weird schedule with chemo on Monday. Friday was bone pain/muscle ache day and Sunday was diarrhea day. I just took 1 or 2 Imodium Sunday morning or Saturday night, if I had plans early on Sunday.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited June 2017

    Upheld - I had TCHP, and attribute my diarrhea to the Taxotere as much as the Perjeta. I got it stopped about a week after infusion each time, but still went in between infusions for a bag of saline solution so I wouldn't get dehydrated. After surgery I had to have AC chemo, and the diarrhea was just the same w/o the Perjeta. So annoying.

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  • Beatmon
    Beatmon Member Posts: 1,562
    edited June 2017

    Probiotics helped a little. I eventually had to take lomotil prior to leaving my house then again with any meal I ate away from home. 2 after,first loose stool then 1-2 every couple of hours on bad days. Sometimes added Beniful ? To add bulk to the stool, which worked sometimes.

    What has finally helped after over 2 years....is that now I'm on a Fentanyl patch and has we know narcotics slow down the gut. Unbelievably now I'm taking 4 PerDiem daily to try to keep the constipation at bay....and then usually some Mira lax.

    Cancer just keeps on giving

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  • NotVeryBrave
    NotVeryBrave Member Posts: 1,287
    edited June 2017

    I found the same with constipation for a few days after the chemo (not sure if premeds or chemo or what) and then diarrhea. Unfortunately for me - the diarrhea seemed to get worse each time. Initially I was able to just take one or two Immodium and all would be fixed. Later I was up to taking four and thinking that the only reason that I wasn't still having diarrhea was because there was nothing left!

    I'm still kind of messed up in the bowel department. Nothing like the Perjeta problems, but between chemo killing the intestinal lining and good bacteria and possibly causing problems with digestion of dairy and/or gluten and then the antibiotics around surgery ... no wonder my body doesn't know what to do. I'm currently eating yogurt with active cultures every other day, taking Align every other day, and taking two fiber capsules a day. My MO suggested eliminating dairy and/or gluten, but my problems don't seem to be directly related to what I eat.


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