hello i am about to start cmf after finishing epi can anyone tell me the side effects to expect and the dose they recieved.
Hi Drew,
I had 3 months of epi then 3 months of CMF, I’m sorry but I don’t know the dose off hand. The treatment itself is alot quicker than the epi and the nausia wasn’t as bad.I still got some night sweats and I still got really tired, but I was having radiotherapy at the same time.
My hair started to grow back though, after loosing it all during the epi. All in all it was alot better than the epi.
Good luck with it all and take care of you.
Jo xoxoxox
Hi thankyou thats a great help hopefully then i might have my radiotheraphy aswell instead of at the end. x
Hi,
well I thought the cmf was always the longer part but I know they give it in different ways in different areas. My epi was once every 3 weeks but cmf was 2 visits every 4 weeks so that was 16 weeks long rather than 12 for epi. Iwent on day one and again on day 8 and then 2 weeks off. On each visit I had 1000ml of cyclophosphamide(C),1000 ml of 5FU(F) and 70 ml of methotrexate (M) but I was on a trial so amounts may differ I guess as we had a lot more epi than usual. The M is yellow and weeny and the other 2 were 2 big tubes. I got a common reaction to the C called swimmers nose and had to have it really slowly and piriton beforehand as it made my nose and then head really hurt. I think most people get a slight feeling in their nose only.I was very anxious about having so much more on day 8 when neuts are supposed to drop. They didn’t in fact they went up every time on cmf, which seemed crazy.I was fed up going in twice and blood tests each time but the side effects were mild compared to epi with no days at all on the sofa, no sweats, no nausea, had a sore dry tongue though. I even gradually gave up steroids while on it and realised they were causing most of my problems. You also have a vitamin supplement of folinic acid tablets while on it which I had extra of as they made my mough better.I got really constipated on epi and got the runs on cmf!! Really it was so much easier than epi, no worries at all for me and my hair started growing like a weed and had a haircut before I finished the course. I hope it is an easy time for you too
Hugs
Lily x
i had 4 x epi then 4 x cmf last year… with the epi i felt really bad a for a day or two but then had an proper improvement however with the cmf i found that i didnt feel quite so lousy but stayed that way the whole time so never felt good… for me the good week on the epi made it more bearable that just feeling a bit shitty all the time on the cmf.
everybody is different though and a lot of people feel that the cmf is better.
the cyclophosphamide was evil… when i was getting it i had shooting pains up my nose, in my eyes and across my head most people just get a wee bit of pins and needles in their nose but i had a more severe reaction with full blown sneezing fit, streaming eyes and felt really crap… the next few times they gave it slower and wasnt just quite as bad but still not a good experience… but no funny coloured wee! LOL
i also got really dry eyes which i think started on epi but just continued to get worse and still have, majorly severe constipation… 8 day chemo poos… not good 
… serious gastric reflux which i still have now… my one and only mouth ulcer, sore tongue and couldnt eat curry… total disaster lol that was my post chemo treat on epi.
we are all different though and mostly its a case of waiting to see how you get on.
Lulu x