Infusion with Oxaliplatin makes itching and redness

[Suniva]

Hi,
Do any one got this symptom while doing infusion with oxalipatin? Yesterday my husband did 10th cycle of infusion with oxalipatin, at half of the dose his hand and body get itchy and redness, and they stopped the infusion and send to ER for monitor? Do you any one have this experience? Is this normal to have it? After this symptom also, can we get same chemo again?

Thank you

[Ehut]

Yes, it is common to develop an allergic reaction to oxaliplatin. The same thing happened to me at my 7th or 8th cycle, except they didn't send me to the ER. They put me on benadryl and monitored me closely until it cleared up. I switched to FOLFIRI for the remaining cycles.

[boxhill]

They warned me to look for such signs at the infusion center, saying that it usually starts around infusion 7 or 8 if it is going to appear. I've been there when other people had the reaction, and they stopped the oxy drip and immediately administered benadryl, monitored intensely until the person was stable, etc. Never seen anyone taken to the ER.

Weirdly, I had a reaction after my last FOLFOX infusion that started on "pump-off" day. I had extreme weakness, was very cold (temp like 96) and shaky. My son insisted that we call them instead of waiting until my appt later in the day and they said to come in right away. They gave me IV fluids, tested for UTI (no), found my BP was very low. The fluids helped, but then my nurse said my face was starting to look puffy, my hands started to itch, and they gave me IV benadryl. Boy, does THAT knock you out! After a couple of hours everything was back to normal, so the let me go.

And that last infusion did NOT contain oxy, BTW. Whole thing was weird.