Weekly Taxol for 23 weeks and steroid mood

Honeybee68 · July 2018

Anyone else here on weekly Taxol for five months (23 weeks)? From what I read, a 12-week course of weekly Taxol seems to be standard. Is a longer course standard for stage IV?

Also, do you find you have mood issues with it - like dark thoughts? I had my first infusion of T along with Herceptin and Perjeta. I did get steriods as one of the pre-meds, so maybe that is what is causing dark moments. I am not like this and it makes me wonder how much worse it is going to get over the next 22 infusions. I haven't read about anyone else here with such a long course of weekly Taxol.

Kjones13 · July 2018

hey honeybee! Sorry you are here but there is a lot of good info. I may not be the best one to give advice since it’s been almost 6 YEARS since I had taxol...but it’s been 6 YEARS so that is a good thing!! From what I can remember, I had 18 weeks. I do remember a lady on the boards who took weekly taxol for many many weeks...until her body couldn’t tolerate it, but I can’t remember who and I think she was in Australia?

Anyway, I don’t remember any dark thoughts but I did have the highest dose of lexapro at the time! I would suggest that an antidepressant is your best friend 😉 and Ativan is your second bestie! It is hard. I did a lot of reading...on here, books, google..everyone copes differently. Talking to a counselor may be helpful or joining a group.

Do the best you can. One day at a time. Best of luck! I’m sure others will be along soon.

susan_02143 · July 2018

I just finished 16 cycles of Taxol. I started with a 3 week on, one week off schedule. The first infusion I was given Benadryl and steroids along with the Pepcid. Since there was no sign of an allergic reaction, we began to reduce the Benadryl. When that was at zero, we reduced the steroids. I think this was over the first five infusions. Oh how much better my life was without those pre-meds! I was able to go to treatments without another adult. I didn't have the steroid crashes. I didn't have the Benadryl hangover. You might wish to talk with your medical team about this option. At my hospital, everyone is given this option, assuming they don't have a reaction, but very few use it. The nurses think that people are scared to change what is working. I can't tell you how much I loathe steroids!

Anyhow, at about cycle 13, we changed my cycle to 3 weeks on, two weeks off as the drug toxicity is cumulative. Sadly, my existing tumors were "smoldering" during my last scan so I have moved on to Eribulin.

I have taken no additional drugs such as ativan or an antidepressant. Just haven't needed them.

Hope this helps.

LoriCA · July 2018

Five months or 23 weeks sounds about right. The standard is six full doses of taxol, but most people at least start with weekly doses and weekly doses are considered "low dose" taxol. They are 1/3 of a full dose, so if you do all of it as weekly that would be 18 weeks plus your "off" weeks. Not everyone can finish the full course due to the cumulative side effects.

I did 12 weekly infusions, 4 weeks on and one week off (originally schedule for 3 on, 1 off, but since my cancer was very aggressive they decided to do 4 on, 1 off), then I was given a 4 week break, and then I did two full doses 3 weeks apart. Started in September and finished the end of February.

I didn't have dark thoughts (although I did have some strange nightmares), but since your DX is new it could also be due to that. My MO put me on an antidepressant for a couple months when I was originally DX'd, and then took me off them when we decided I didn't need them. It's common especially for a de novo DX, so you might want to consider talking to your doctor about it.

Weekly Taxol for 23 weeks and steroid mood

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