The Colon Club

I am 43 years old and can't swallow pills (how sad is that?) I was wondering if anybody else has taken Xeloda and had to break it into pieces or crush it?

Would it be safe to do that? I was told by my nurse not to even touch the tablets with my fingers as they are told in the hospital. Afterall it,s chemotherapy, no less dangerous than any other form. If you read the leaflet it doesn,t become active untill it is in your systm but I personally wouldn,t crush them. Maybe break the tablets in half, probably best to ask your doctor.
Janey

Xeloda should not be crushed or chewed or even broken into pieces. If you can't swallow them (and they aren't exactly small and you normally have to take quite a few at a time), then you would be better off telling your oncologist and he/she would no doubt recommend you rather go for the injectable form of 5-FU.

I agree, don't crush or break the tablets. Check with your doctor if a suspension is available that can be compounded at a local pharmacy. Xeloda is designed so that it converts to 5FU once in the body, and the pill keeps everything intact until it's ready to be released once it's in your system. Again, it may be easier for you to do the infusion.

Or do what I do when I can't swallow -- put it in a scoop of ice cream or pudding and it will go right down!

Laura

The Xeloda website, as well as chemocare.com specifically say NOT to crush or break the tablets.

After reading the post about not touching the tablets, I called my local pharmacist and a friend of ours who is the head pharmacist at the hospital. BOTH said that there is nothing wrong with the PATIENT touching the Xeloda tablets. Agreed, other people shouldn't go around handling the pills, but the patient is taking the Xeloda and it doesn't hurt them to touch the pills.

Everyone is correct. The pills are not small. And, they are not the slippery kind of pills either. You could try taking them in appleasauce or anything else that might help them go down. In addition, make sure you take them within 30 minutes AFTER the end of a meal. This was told to me by the pharmacist and is specifically spelled out on the Xeloda website. I am not sure why, but I was very specifically told not to take them WITH the meal, but after the meal was over.

You do have the option, like the other posters have stated, of taking the infused 5FU. However, that also involves a port (if you don't already have one) and on protocols like FOLFOX, the infused also means a pump for 48 hours. You have to weigh all of those factors against each other and really see if you can swallow the pills. Remember, the dosage varies, but most patients take anywhere between 3-4 pills both in the morning AND in the evening. (In other words, you are looking at 6-8 pills a day!)

Good luck
Jaynee

I remember at one time someone on the board talking about changing the regime of Xeloda because of side effects. I think he/she said something about taking for 2 weeks at a lower dose and then taking 2 weeks instead of one week off. Anyone?? Sue

Sue,
Your doctor can change the schedule at any time. There were times that I just needed, for example, 10 days off instead of the 7. The dosage was the same, but I would go for 14 days on then 10 days off. My onc said that the few extra days didn't make a difference.

Also, Xeloda is dosed according to your body surface area (based on a formula using your height and weight). Since we aren't growing, the only variable which might change is the weight. If your weight is right at the line between a higher and a lower dose, the onc can easily go down to the lower dose. Additionally, I lost weight (I was working out and trying to) when I was on the Xeloda, and I had to go to the lower dosage as the higher one was a little too strong for me.

Most oncs are good about adapting the Xeloda dosage and frequency for each patient-obviously within limits. You will just have to talk with your doc about it.

Jaynee