Does anyone get taxotere weekly instead of every 3 weeks.

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mary6204
mary6204 Member Posts: 373
edited June 2014 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment
Does anyone get taxotere weekly instead of every 3 weeks.
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  • mary6204
    mary6204 Member Posts: 373
    edited June 2008

    I have had 4 TCH treatments and I get severe nausea from what they feel is the taxotere.  It last for days and I can't take it anymore.  When I called in today to cancel my IV cause I couldn't get out of bed at the time, the nurse asked me if I had ever talked to the doctor about getting it weekly instead of every three weeks.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Does it mean I would be sicker more often just not as bad or what? As sick as I get it does go away around day 9 or 10 and then I feel great until the next time.

    Could I be allergic to it, I want to stop after this last treatment and just continue the herceptin.  That's suppose to be the drug that's more likely to keep it from coming back anyways. 

    If anyone has any insight into this weekly regimen, please let me know.  Mary

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  • sushanna1
    sushanna1 Member Posts: 764
    edited June 2008

    Mary,

    I had 11 weeks of weekly taxotere (following 3 mos. of AC every three weeks) as part of a clinical trial in late 2001/early 2002.  Everyone said that weekly would be much easier because the dosage would be less.  Unlike the AC (Adriamycin/Cytoxin) cocktail, I did not get nauseous from the taxotere.  I don't know whether nausea could be an allergic reaction. I was given steriods to prevent an allergic reaction. 

    Has the doctor given you pills for the nausea?  There are some pretty powerful anti-nausea drugs but they have to be taken at the right time to be effective.  I worked with the chemo nurse to figure out what worked best.  My advise is to continue to complain and ask them to help you beat the nausea.    

    I had minimal side effects for about the first five weekly treatments, but after that there seemed to be a new side effect each week.  Fatigue, breathlessness, sometimes I would get a sharp pressure like pain in my chest that would have me doubled over trying to breath, but fortunately this only happened a couple of times.  Nail problems and mild neuropathy in my fingertips.  Oh and bloody noses and burst eye vessels and clogged tear ducts.  I went from envisioning myself in a taxotere ad to being a walking vision of side effects.  I also began to retain fluid.  My tastebuds disappeared and about the only things that tasted normal were hotdogs, horseradish, coffee (thank heavens) and margaritas.  I do not know which side effects were from the steriods and which were from the taxotere.

    I was supposed to have 12 infusions but was allowed to skip the

    12 th because I was leaving for a trip the next day.  (Trying to cram a short holiday in between chemo and radiation. ) Sorry to go on.  If it works, it will have been worth it.  So I would try to work with the doctor to see if you can figure out a way to tolerate it better before giving up.

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  • laureg
    laureg Member Posts: 21
    edited June 2008

    I had 4 of AC then was supposed to have 4 of Taxotere and Herceptin. After 1st Taxotere I got neutropenic fever  and it was switched to weekly  treatments at one third of the initial dose. What a  change! It's  like a walk in the park compared to AC. No nausea, neuropathy or fluid retention and my hair has started to grow back. Just watery eyes and nose, loss of taste,minor nail changes. I even opted against the steroids because of the effects on sleep, mood and puffed face and increased appetite. I have two more weeks to go. I must mention though that my WBC's have dropped and my Hgb, my bone marrow is just tired after all of this with no rest like it would get with every 3 weeks treatment. I may have to do neupogen shots.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited June 2008

    Mary,

    I never heard of anybody getting taxotere every week..are you Stage IV?  I had taxotere one every three weeks & it was enough.  Taxotere is very effective but it's also very destructive.  If you look at the survival statistics, women who take taxotere die less frequently from breast cancer but they die as often...meaning that taxotere wracks your body in other ways.

    I recently found out that I am now at high risk of bladder cancer because of cytoxan.

    I never heard of anybody taking taxotere so frequently and I would check this out before continuing this regieme unless you have a lot of faith and confidence in your oncologist.

    Miz

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  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited June 2008

    Mary, I found the following published research papers on the weekly use of Taxotere (docetaxel) in breast cancer.  The statements in quotes are from the abstracts of those papers.  I think it's pretty clear that oncos are using Taxotere weekly.  Most of the published research deals with metastatic BC, but it's not unusual for oncos to take something proven to work in metastatic BC and use it "off-label" in BC that's an earlier stage.

    Sparano, J.A., et al.:  "We compared the efficacy of two different taxanes, docetaxel and paclitaxel, given either weekly or every 3 weeks, in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. ... As compared with patients receiving standard therapy (paclitaxel every 3 weeks), the odds ratio for disease-free survival was 1.27 among those receiving weekly paclitaxel (P=0.006), 1.23 among those receiving docetaxel every 3 weeks (P=0.02), and 1.09 among those receiving weekly docetaxel (P=0.29) (with an odds ratio >1 favoring the groups receiving experimental therapy)."  New England Journal of Medicine 358(16):1663-1671, Apr. 17, 2008.

    Rivera, E., et al.:  "A phase 3 clinical trial was conducted in patients with MBC [metastatic breast cancer] who were treated with docetaxel either every 3 weeks or once weekly to determine and compare response rate and duration, time to disease progression, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity. ... There was no statistical difference between the every 3-week and the weekly treatment arms with respect to median PFS ... or OS ....  There was a higher overall toxicity rate ... in the every-3-week treatment arm versus the weekly treatment arm...."  Cancer 112(7):1455-1461, Apr. 1, 2008.

    Eniu, A., et al.:  "Weekly docetaxel and paclitaxel regimens represent valuable therapeutic options for women with metastatic breast cancer and have entered evaluation as part of adjuvant therapy for this disease."  The Oncologist 10(9):665-685, Oct. 2005.

    Raff, J.P., et al.:  "Weekly docetaxel/trastuzumab is an effective regimen for patients with HER2/neu overexpressing metastatic breast cancer.  Weekly docetaxel may be effective in as many as 20% of patients who had progressive disease after treatments with taxanes given every 3 weeks."  Clinical Breast Cancer 4(6):420-427, Feb. 2004. 

    Estevez, L.G., et al.:  "Conclusions:  Weekly docetaxel appears to be very effective in the neoadjuvant setting.  A high pathological response rate was achieved with tolerable toxicity."  Clinical Cancer Research 9:686-692, Feb. 2003.

    otter 

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