Adriamycin

Hi!

Adriamycin + Cytoxin can be rough on your heart. Before beginning treatment with AC, you should get a heart scan, to give your doctor a baseline to compare to later heart scans.

If you have a pre-existing heart condition, AC might not be for you. AC can also be tough on your veins. My oncologist only delivers AC through a port.

Your age and overall physical condition can affect how well you tolerate AC. I was 46 and healthy when I began AC, and I didn't have many problems. But, if I had been 66 and in poorer health, this regimen might not have been a good choice.

There are other regimens, like Taxotere + Carboplatin, but they have their own side effects. For example, TC is associated with gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea and constipation.

Good luck!

I did dose-dense (every two weeks of AC instead of the expected 3) since it seems to help a bit more against recurrence in early stage BC--and did fine. I lost about 12 pounds, could smell every molecule of anything for miles away (it was like being a dog! ), lost my hair, but did great--I worked throughout chemo. Those infusions was followed by 10 rounds of Taxol.

Remember we hear about the problems with chemo because many of us need information about how to deal with the problems or want to hear from others that might have the same problems-but the majority of us do fine and simply don't drop in here to post how great we did. I was healthy when I started chemo and was healthy when I finished.

Claire in AZ

I did four rounds adriamycin and cytoxin and then four of taxol. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The main side effect was fatigue. I barely felt any nausea, and generally recovered fairly quickly. Give yourself time to heal and rest.

I think one of those meds, adriamycin or cytoxin, has been implicated in heart complaints, and so you may be asked to do an echocardiogram or some other test to check the health of your heart.