Allergy to doxetaxol

[Lulu34]

Hero please dont feel bad.... Its is what it is... And i feel in a better place because i have gotten used to bc being part of my life.... But please remember that recurrence is not the norm even with TNBC most will not have a recurrence and most will survive and these are based on the stats from the last 10 years not the next 10 years when they will have newer and better drugs. So things will still improve.

And even with a recurrence it often will not change your overall prognosis.... My prognosis is a bit less than it was with the primary as its spread out of the breast but even with recurrence my onc says he gives me an 80% chance of survival.

In trial anthracyclines have been found to be pretty good and theres not a great deal of differnece between them and a taxane... Anthracyclines are epirubicin and doxorubicin, which you get in FEC or AC or E-CMF.

In some ways for me it was good i didnt have a taxane for my primary as meant i could get it for my recurrence.

Take care

Lxxx

[hero67]

Thanks Lulu, I'm sorry to hear about your recurrence. I too was node neg with no vascular invasion but who knows what else is lurking beneath? I am so concerned about recurrence I think that's why i'm obsessing about the taxane.
I hope your treatment works for you this time. I have seen your profile and admire you for all you have been through. It makes me feel rather ashamed of myself for wanting to put all this behind me and get on with my life after only 7 months of treatment.
All the best to you.
Hero

[Lulu34]

Hiya hero

I had e-cmf for my primary TNBC no tax given as was node neg but had a recurrence in interpectoral lymph nodes last year and got tax and carbo.... Had a reaction as soon as it was administered like you.... I turned bright red and was having hallucinations of glitter falling out the wall.

The infusion was stopped and i was pumped full of steroids and antihistamines and it was restarted at a very slow rate and was given hydrocortisone and piriton infusions prior to the docetaxel which was always given very slowly over about 3 hours for all six lots of chemo and had no further reaction.

Did get side effects and go a bit flushed looking but no more hallucinations or turning into a beetroot!

Btw my recurrence looked as if it ahd responded to treatment when removed even before the treatment so my onc thinks it was probably there all along and shrunk with the e-cmf but becuase it wasnt surgically removed it grew back. So think the epirubicin was doing its job.... TNBC responds very well to epirubicin as well as taxanes... Its the E in FEC... With E-CMF you have 4 and 4 maybe if id have had 6 FEC instead it would have gone completely who knows.

Anyway best of luck with your treatment.

[hero67]

Jeniffer, It's great to hear that you are 4 years on and ok. Perhaps FEC will do the trick for me as well. I certainly hope it will so that I can put this nightmare behind me and start living my life again.
Hero

[Guest user]

I didn't have TNBC but I had quite a serious one nevertheless. I was scheduled to have FEC-T (3 FEC and 3 Docetaxel).

Like you I had a severe reaction to the 2nd dose of Docetaxel and had to go back to FEC. Even the first dose had left me really really unwell with hellish back pains, so even if I hadn't had the reaction I think it was just too much for my body to tolerate.

Anyway the point is I recovered and am still OK 4 years later.

[hero67]

Thanks Kat, I had to take steroids for a few days before I had the doxetaxol but they didn't seem to help. I was supposed to have 140ml of the drug but my reaction was so extreme after 1ml that they told me it was too dangerous to try it again. My throat closed up, bright red in the face and chest, blood pressure problems and then an almighty pain in my back, apparently my adrenal glands responding. All in all not a nice experience. My oncologist said FEC was almost as good but everybody else with TNBC seems to have had a taxane. Just my luck I suppose.
Hero

[Guest user]

I too had a reaction to my second dose of docetaxel. They stopped it gave me antihistamine and more steroids and then carried on putting it in really slowly. As far as i know i will still have the last dose next time but with antihistamin first. It was a bit scarey i must admit.

[Guest user]

Hi

I had an allergic reaction to my second lot of doxetaxal, so they had to give me steroids and antihistamine etc before giving me it, this helped my body accept it, I've had 3 lots of doxetaxal and now moved not 3 fec. Mind you my allergic reaction was just coming over hot and flushed with heart flutter, so not sure how that compares to yours.

Kat

[hero67]

Has anyone else with TNBC had such a bad allergy to doxetaxol that they had to be switched to FEC? I am worried that I have not had the right chemo for TNBC as I have heard that a taxane is the best chemo for this type of breast cancer.