Allergic to Xeloda

[*_Cathy_*]

Hi to all- My doctor took me off of xeloda after just one and a half cycles because my hands and arms have red blotches. He said to take benadryl for a week and he will check me next week.I asked if he thought the dosage was too high. I took 4000 mgs daily- two weeks on, one off. He said , "No, I give the least amount." He said he may give me another drug. Do you know if there is anything close to xeloda that I could take? What do you think he will give me?" God Bless- Cathy

[al from canada]

Cathy,
If you are close to average hieght and wiegt, you can easily go down to 1500 mg 2 x day. That 40000 mg was a result of the trials which were "over medicating" The manufacturer says that you should reduce the doseage 75% first time around and up to 50% if the symtoms are still dose limiting.

Here is a link that explains a lot of the dosage specifically on pages 30 to 32.
http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2003/208..._xeloda_lbl.pdf (http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2003/20896slr012_xeloda_lbl.pdf)

Good luck,
Al

[joy]

Hi Cathy, I started Xeloda at 3000 and did several cycles ignoring the growing side effects until I couldn't walk on my own feet or pull a sheet over me with my fingers. I became show and tell at the onc office for the worst case of hand/foot syndrome they'd seen (i should've charged admission). We dropped it down to 1500 (as Al stated) and I had side effects but i could manage them better and continued on Taxotere and Xeloda for a year. The cancer still responded which was my fear (that it wouldn't) and why I waited so long to tell anyone about the effects. I have since heard this from several other gals. All of which is more support for Al's awesome info.
Good luck Cathy1
Love, Joy