question: xeloda side effect

[Jackie]

Hello,
I am on xeloda + herceptin and am feeling better than I have since last spring, except for 1 hitch. Any exersion at all gives me what I assume is heartburn, and as soon as I stop what I'm doing, it goes away. The initial dose of xeloda (early Sept) gave me awful heartburn and my onc cut the dose in 1/2. Exercise is important to me, but I hate to stop xeloda when I generally feel so well. Diet seems to make no difference, and I have no heartburn no matter what I eat other than when I try to exercise, even moderate walking. Am seeing my onc on Thurs, but wondered if anyone has experienced this before. It's always good to have as much info as possible when going to the dr!
Thanks for any help,
Jackie

[Alicia]

I've had success with prevacid....it is prescription and often insurance won't cover it until a doc writes a letter saying you've tried the others. But it worked quickly and for 24 hours with one pill. Best wishes. Alicia

[Esther]

I was experiencing something similar to you in Feb of this year when I was initially starting on Xeloda.

My husband and I enjoy being active, snow skiing, water skiing, traveling, etc. so being able to be active was important to me.

Afer discussing it with my oncologist, we reduced the dosage a bit, and I've been fine ever since.

It hasn't seemed to have affected treatment outcome, either, as I'm now NED in the bone mets, and the liver mets are over 50% gone after 8 months of treament.

[anonymous]

JAckie

You should discuss this with your doctor. Chest or gastrointestinal discomfort with exercise can be a symptom of heart disease. Since there is very little information such as your age, and more description of your discomfort it is certainly up for grabs but you might just talk it over with your doc.

That said, I too get terrible heartburn with xeloda and take prevacid every day.

Good luck.