Things I should know about Avastin

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BritinCanada
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 2:28 pm

Things I should know about Avastin

Postby BritinCanada » Sat Jun 15, 2019 3:59 pm

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...
Dx CRC July 2018 T4N2M1
Sucessfull surgery August 2018
12 rounds of Folfox. June 2019 begin folfiri
November 2019 begin cetuximab and irinotecan

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betsydoglover
Posts: 978
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:31 pm
Facebook Username: Betsy Lindh Williams
Location: Maryland - outside DC

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby betsydoglover » Sat Jun 15, 2019 6:37 pm

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,
Betsy
diag. Stage IV, 5/05, liver met
lap sigmoid colectomy, 6/05
6 cycles Xeloda/oxaliplatin/Avastin (NED after 2)
11/08 9x13mm right lower lobe lung nodule; removed via VATS 4/09
NED
6 cycles Xeloda + Avastin
Avastin only 10/09-5/11
Still NED 06/18

macpudd
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:00 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby macpudd » Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:15 pm

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
Dx 10/13/2014 right hemicolectomy 10/15/2014 pT4b N0 M0
Folfox x12 from Dec 2014 to July 2015
01/16/18 tonic seizure hospital admission
01/17/18 ct and mri 2cm tumor on left side of brain
commenced anti epileptic and steroids and
insulin.
01/25/18 brain craniotomy 80% of tumour removed pathology says gbm4
6 weeks of rad and Temodar chemo and then 6 monthly cycles of Temodar
MRI in Oct no tumor
Mri Jan 2019 tumour growth Feb Pet scan tumour 6cm, no surgery, starting Avastin also Lomustine

BritinCanada
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 2:28 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby BritinCanada » Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:47 pm

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.
Dx CRC July 2018 T4N2M1
Sucessfull surgery August 2018
12 rounds of Folfox. June 2019 begin folfiri
November 2019 begin cetuximab and irinotecan

WarriorSpouse
Posts: 220
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 9:02 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby WarriorSpouse » Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:30 am

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
D/H 47 years old, 10/2014, Stage IV M/CRC, nodes 12/15, para-aortic, 5 cm sigmoid resection, positive Virchow. KRAS mut, MSS, Highly Differentiated, Lynch Neg, 5FU/LV and Avastin 1 YR (Oxi for 5 months), Zeloda/Bev since 01/2016. 02/2019 recurrence para-nodes, back to 5FU/LV Oxy/Bev. It is working again. "...Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."-Walter Elliot

AmyG
Posts: 371
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2018 8:08 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby AmyG » Sun Jun 16, 2019 7:41 am

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.
42 dx @ 9wks pregnant w/baby #8 8/18
Sigmoid colon resection 9/18
Adenocarcinoma, G2, T3N0M0..or so we thought
KRAS/BRAF wild
Liver biopsy is malignant, stage iv now boys!
Delivered healthy baby 3/19
FOLFOX + Avastin 5/19
CEA 167 to 24 after 4 rounds
Liver resection 8/28/19
NED!! CEA 2.3
CEA 5.8 idk wtf is up with that, but everything else is clear!
CEA 3.7 make up your damn mind...
CEA 1.5 that's a new low!

Pyro
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby Pyro » Sun Jun 16, 2019 7:44 am

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.
Aug 2015- Stage 4 CC with liver Mets(38/m)
Sep 2015- Avastin/Folfox/Iron
Dec 2015-Not liver surgery candidate
Jan 2016- Erbitux/Folfiri, 2nd opinion at MDA in TX
Feb 2016 -MDA liver surgery
Mar 2016 -30% of left lobe rem, PVE
May 2016 - 70% of liver rem
Jun 2016-Rad
Jan 2017-perm colost @MDA
Jul 2017-Erb/FOLFURI
Nov 2017 -Lung & Liver ablations@MDA
Jan 2018 -Xeloda & Avastin mx
Jul 2018-Avast/FOLFURI
Sep 2018-Rad
Mar 2019 - Keytruda fail
Jun 2019 - FOLFURI
Aug 2019 - No more, quality time!

AmyG
Posts: 371
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2018 8:08 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby AmyG » Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:56 am

What a pain in the ass.

How you doing Pyro? Hanging in there?
42 dx @ 9wks pregnant w/baby #8 8/18
Sigmoid colon resection 9/18
Adenocarcinoma, G2, T3N0M0..or so we thought
KRAS/BRAF wild
Liver biopsy is malignant, stage iv now boys!
Delivered healthy baby 3/19
FOLFOX + Avastin 5/19
CEA 167 to 24 after 4 rounds
Liver resection 8/28/19
NED!! CEA 2.3
CEA 5.8 idk wtf is up with that, but everything else is clear!
CEA 3.7 make up your damn mind...
CEA 1.5 that's a new low!

e_enyedy
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:28 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby e_enyedy » Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:21 am

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
77 yrs male (73 at Dx)
2/13 Dx Carcinoma, Sigmoid Colon
3/13 Sigmoid Colon Hemicolectomy,( 12"+)
3/13 Pathology Staging: T1N0M0; no follow-up chemo
5/15 Recurrence: in pre-sacral space -no other mets detected (Instantly became Stage IV)
5/15 Started 8 sessions of Folfox + Avastin
11/15 Finished chemo, PET/CT: NED
11/15 Started Xeloda+ Avastin every 3 weeks. Still Doing it.
Still NED -(Hope treatment keeps working)

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GrouseMan
Posts: 888
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 12:30 pm
Location: SE Michigan USA

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby GrouseMan » Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:31 am

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
DW 53 dx Jun 2013
CT mets Liver Spleen lung. IVb CEA~110
Jul 2013 Sig Resct
8/13 FolFox,Avastin 12Tx mild sfx, Ongoing 5-FU Avastin every 3 wks.
CEA: good marker
7/7/14 CT Can't see the spleen Mets.
8/16/15 CEA Up, CT new abdominal mets. Iri, 5-FU, Avastin every 2 wks.
1/16 Iri, Erbitux and likely Avastin (Trial) CEA going >.
1/17 CEA up again dropped from Trial, Mets growth 4-6 mm in abdomen
5/2/17 Failed second trial, Hospitalized 15 days 5/11. Home Hospice 5/26, at peace 6/4/2017

claudine
Posts: 809
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 2:41 pm
Location: Montana

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby claudine » Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:34 am

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.
Wife of Dx 04/18 (51 yo). MSS, KRAS G12A, no primary

Tumors: L4 04/18; left adrenal gland & small lung nodules 03/19
rectum 02/22 (pT3 pN0 stage 2A); L3 09/22

Surgeries: intestinal resect. 05/18 (no cancer - Crohn's); adrenalectomy 02/20
L3-L4-L5 fusion and corpectomy 05/20; LAR 04/22; ileo reversal 09/22
L2-L3 fusion and corpectomy 09/22

Treatments: EBRT 04/18; SBRT 02/19; Failed adjuvant Xelox ; Folfiri/Avastin 03/19 - 01/20
adjuvant chemorad (Xeloda) 06/22; SBRT 11/22; Xeloda/Avastin since 01/24

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juliej
Posts: 3114
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:59 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby juliej » Mon Jun 17, 2019 5:41 pm

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
Stage IVb, liver/lung mets 8/4/2010
Xelox+Avastin 8/18/10 to 10/21/2011
LAR, liver resec, HAI pump 11/2011
Adjuvant Irinotecan + FUDR
Double lung surgery + ileo reversal 2/2012
Adjuvant FUDR + Xeloda
VATS rt. lung 12/2012 - benign granuloma!
VATS left lung 11/2013
NED 11/22/13 to 12/18/2019, CEA<1

BritinCanada
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 2:28 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby BritinCanada » Sat Jun 22, 2019 8:23 am

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.
Dx CRC July 2018 T4N2M1
Sucessfull surgery August 2018
12 rounds of Folfox. June 2019 begin folfiri
November 2019 begin cetuximab and irinotecan

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CRguy
Posts: 10473
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Things I should know about Avastin

Postby CRguy » Sat Jun 22, 2019 1:14 pm

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
Caregiver x 4
Stage IV A rectal cancer/lung met
17 Year survivor
my life is an ongoing totally randomized UNcontrolled experiment with N=1 !
Review of my Journey so far


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