The Colon Club

I was curious about people's experiences with desensitization of oxaliplatin, particularly if it was found to be helpful in controlling the cancer, but also were there any significant side effects such as increased illness due to immune suppression, etc.

When they desensatized me I was given the oxi over 12 hours. I was given 100mg of benadryl IV in two divided doses one at the start on one half way through. I also was given solumedrol and decadron. And one other thing I can't remember right now. Steroids like the solumedrol can affect the immune system but this did not happen to me. White count never fell below 3. By the time I left there I felt awful but it did shrink my tumor so it was worth it. Unfortunatly it did not help the nodes. I hope this works for you.

I haven't done any desensitization that I know of. Oxi does suck, but for me its working. After 6 FOLFOX treatments my tumors have shrunk more than 25%.

The side effects suck. First bite pain, cold sensitivity, overall yukky feeling for 4 or 5 days. That all sucks. But if this drug is doing its job and shrinking my tumors, I'l live with the side effects. Luckily I haven't gotten any numbness in my fingers or feet. I do get the pins and needles feeling for about 8-9 days now after treatment, but again I can live with that. I don't drink anything cold either.

The only two other people that did it other than me that I know are no longer with us, Tammy & Jess both did it after I did, but a bit differently - they both had to get every treatment in the hospital once they got to the desensitization point due to severe allergic reactions. They both had much more advanced disease than I did when they did the protocol. They had run out of options - nothing else was working, so they went back to FOLFOX, but had severe allergic reactions. The choice was to stop all treatments, or use the desensitization and try FOLFOX longer.

I had a rare syndrome, and medium allergic reactions at first. Slowing infusion time and getting decadron mostly kept it under control, but then I had a big allergic reaction and needed solumedrol. After another more severe reaction, they were too afraid to give me oxaliplatin for my next treatment. My colon cancer nurse navigator, my oncologist, and an oncology pharmacist researched to find what to do with me. For my next treatment I got it in the hospital. For 3 days prior I had to pre-med with decadron and Benadryl. They gave those both to me via IV before infusion. I was given 1/1000 of the drug over several hours. When that went ok, I was given 1/100 over several hours. Then I got 1/10. And finally they gave me the rest over several hours. It took about 18 hours total. I did ok - no allergic reactions.

My next cycles were done at the oncologist. I had to pre-med for 3 days with Benadryl and decadron, and they gave me IV pre-meds before infusion. I turned out to have trouble with 5-FU also - a trip to the ER for an allergic reaction while hooked up to the pump. So I had to continue Benadryl and decadron until after disconnect. My infusion rate for oxy had to be kept at 6 hours. With the labs & pre-appointment with my onc, and all my pre-meds, I was at the oncology center from open to close on my infusion days. I was almost always the very last person done.

I don't think there was any difference in my blood counts due to the allergy. FOLFOX always hit me hard and I got Neupogen shots every cycle.

If I ever get to the point that nothing else works, I might try FOLFOX again, but I doubt it. I had no quality of life dealing with 6 days of Benadryl and steriods, plus all the FOLFOX side effects (more severe than most for me). I didn't feel human until just one or two days before the next cycle, and even then I was very weak. But for someone that has tolerated FOLFOX well in the past, but had an allergic reaction, doing the protocol might take care of things and make it a good option. Rate of infusion is a HUGE factor to anyone with a sensitivity or allergy to that drug. It still angers me that they start everyone at 2 hours, and adjust if they have a problem. They should start everyone at 4 hours and adjust up or down from there if needed.

Laurettas wrote:I was curious about people's experiences with desensitization of oxaliplatin, particularly if it was found to be helpful in controlling the cancer, but also were there any significant side effects such as increased illness due to immune suppression, etc.

Hi my friend Laurettas,

Interesting point, you are focusing, chemo works on immune suppression area, reducing the normal cell divided process, you can appreciate that during chemo treatments the oncs generally don t want to give you vitamins or supplements, so this weak immune suppression is looked for.
The target is destroy the f..cking tumors and after it, removed the cores, and then estimulate the immune system to come back at normal levels.

A hug for you.

Fede