The Colon Club

So I start chemo on Tuesday and this time we are taking out the oxaliplatin and adding Avastin. I have been warned this has worse side effects. I won't be getting a full list of side effects until Monday but I have googled already.

So is there anything I can do to make this easier on myself? I will have the usual array of pills for nausea, diarrhea, constipation. I will stock up on some thing good to eat and drink. I have someone helping with the kids.

But is there anything else I should know. Something the doctor or the literature might not mention. A kind of I wish I'd know about that from the beginning kind of thing...

Not sure where you heard that Avastin was worse. I've been on Avastin twice - once just 6 treatments and then another time for 2 years. It definitely did not seem like I was getting chemo - popped in the chair, 30 min infusion and then off to work.

Side effects - nasal congestion after several rounds (tiny amt bleeding first thing in AM one good blow got rid of that). BP eventually went up a bit, but meds fixed that immediately. After 2 years I had a tiny GI bleed of unknown origin - more likely due to NSAID I was taking for arthritis, but being cautious we disco0ntinuted both the NSAID and Avastin.

Take care,

Hello BritainCanada,
I have had Avastin 6 times, missed 2 go's because of low bloods and a fungal skin infecfion. I get it every two weeks. It does make me more tired which is about the only thing I an sure it does. I get insulin, dexamethasone, 2 anti seizure meds, painkillers and melatonin. I did have some nose bleeds so far, no hyoer tension and it only takes 30mins to get iv. However I am on it for gbm 4 not cc. Hope it works well for you, I definitely find it easier that folox which i got when i had cc.
Macpudd

Thanks for the replies. My nurse actually told me the side effects would be worse so it's encouraging to know that might not be the case. i guess we will wait and see.

My wife has been on Avastin for about four in a half years. It works with little side effects. Runny nose is the only thing I have seen.
More importantly, It is not chemotherapy. The role of the drug is to take oxygen away from the cancer cells so they do not grow.
Good Luck!
WS

Bloody nose and increased blood pressure here! My BP isn't high enough to treat with meds, but it's a noticeable difference from normal.

AmyG wrote:Bloody nose and increased blood pressure here! My BP isn't high enough to treat with meds, but it's a noticeable difference from normal.

I had to go on a second blood pressure medication due to Avastin. It was my only side effects, I did it twice for a total of about 24 times.

What a pain in the ass.

How you doing Pyro? Hanging in there?

Avastin is an angiogenesis inhibitor- it simply means that it impedes the formation of blood vessels to the tumor.
In other words, it is NOT chemotherapy.
I was on Avastin for almost 4 and half years, --luckily- with no side effects. What I did have was constant urine check.
Also, you can not have any surgical procedure -not even a tooth extraction- when you are on the drug.

regards

E

WarriorSpouse wrote:My wife has been on Avastin for about four in a half years. It works with little side effects. Runny nose is the only thing I have seen.
More importantly, It is not chemotherapy. The role of the drug is to take oxygen away from the cancer cells so they do not grow.
Good Luck!
WS

Strictly speaking Avastin prevents blood vessel recruitment and growth by the tumor. Since this supplies oxygen and all the other things that a tumor needs to grow and spread it limits these things. It what is called a Vegf inhibitor which is short for vascular endothelium growth factor. But as others have said - it tends to have pretty mild side effect as Colon cancer treatment goes. My wife was on it continuously for nearly 4 years. very light nose bleed in the morning when she blew her nose. Slight elevation of blood pressure easily managed with low does ACE inhibitor. Her BP prior to that was always low because she was a runner. So she really saw no ill effects from this. Some people report headache, but my wife never really did again - likely due to BP rise, but I feel if treated prophylactically with BP Meds while on Avastin the likelihood of headache is probably greatly reduced.

Good luck!

GrouseMan

I can only concur to all that has been said above. My husband has had 7 cycles of Avastin so far and aside from a runny nose, a little blood when he blows it in the morning and an elevated blood pressure, he's been fine. Side effects are WAY easier to tolerate than those of chemo! At least in his experience.

I agree with others that Avastin's side effects are easier to handle than chemo!

I bruised easily and had some bloody nose issues. Afrin Nasal Spray fixed that problem nicely. It's widely used by Avatin patients, but always check with your oncologist first before starting anything new.

I also had higher BP on Avastin and ended up taking a low dose BP medication. Some studies have shown that increased BP while on Avastin appears to associate with a statistically significantly improved progression-free survival and overall survival, so don't worry if this happens to you!

Hope this info helps!
Juliej

Thanks for the info guys. You were way more informative than the doctors.

Had my first folfiri session. I'm ok, super tired and had a nose bleed this morning. I'm really struggling with the Grastofil injection right now, the first one each session is always incredibly painful on my joints. Better than being hospitalised again though.

BritinCanada wrote:Thanks for the info guys. You were way more informative than the doctors.

Had my first folfiri session. I'm ok, super tired and had a nose bleed this morning. I'm really struggling with the Grastofil injection right now, the first one each session is always incredibly painful on my joints. Better than being hospitalised again though.

This is from a 2015 post of mine Re: TIL Immunotherapy at NCI

Just FYI, don't know that it has been discussed with you … BUTT … some folks get severe bone pain
and in addition to analgesics, the use of antihistamines has a pretty good track record for a lotta folks
Here is some info from "theonc.org" about using Claritin for Neupogen / Neulasta and other marrow stimulating drugs and preventing bone pain….

Claritin is a tricyclic antihistamine, which acts as an inverse agonist on peripheral H1 histamine receptors. It is thought that perhaps in addition to the physiologic stimulation of the bone marrow, there may be inflammation and the release of histamine. Thus the use of an anti-histamine could potentially be helpful. I have seen this work for a handful of patients in clinical practice. We used it for those cases where we were out of other good ideas to help the patient, short of cutting out Neulasta all together.

Hope this helps !

Get those Docs and nurses up to speed !!!!!

Cheers
CRguy