No wonder I feel so beat up...

[SoCalGal]

No wonder I feel like shit all the time…can't believe I've not ever looked up "common side effects" of my drugs. Had the xgeva shot today - it really wiped me out within hours. Never sure if things are in my head or what's what, so I just googled the info below. I think I've minimized and mostly ignored the toll treatment takes on me - even "just" targeted therapy. As I well know, these are just SOME of the side effects...Suppose I should feel more gratitude that I'm not on chemo but honestly I just don't, it's 8 1/2 years. When/how will it ever end?????? This disease and all associated factors SUCK.


Common side effects of Herceptin include diarrhea, redness/irritation at injection (IV) site, muscle/joint/back pain, stomach/abdominal pain, headache, sleep problems (insomnia), nausea and vomiting (may be severe), weight loss, rash, altered sense of taste, mouth sores, loss of appetite, and cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sinus pain, sneezing, or sore throat.


Common side effects of Avastin include dry mouth, cough, voice changes, loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, constipation, loss of appetite, mouth sores, headache, back pain, cold symptoms (stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat), dry or watery eyes, dry or flaky skin, hair loss, changes in your sense of taste, jaw pain/swelling/numbness, loose teeth, or gum infection.


Common side effects of Xgeva include tiredness, weakness, headache, back pain, joint pain, diarrhea, or nausea.

[Lucy]

I agree that everything associated with cancer sucks and I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. sending cyber hugs

[StephN]

I think we just suck it up and try to ignore symptoms if they are not as bad as some we had from past treatments. Then the new treatment starts to wear on us and the side effects can increase or worsen as time goes by.

You have been amazing and gone on with your life full steam ahead, so I bet this is just a change of season speed bump slowing you down.

[yanyan]

We have been on chemo for so long and my doctor describes it as accumulative side effects which I think are very true. Easy to say we need to eat right and excersise but it's so hard to get out of bed. I can sleep for 24 hours after my halaven infusion. As long as it works is what I tell myself, I'll suck it up. But....halaven has just failed me around the 4th cycle..

Hang in there Flori! As long as the drugs works for you!

[Pamelamary]

Yes, at times even the "easy" drugs take their toll. I've forgotten what it feels like to feel normal and many of the side-effects you mention have just become part of my life. But we are resilient! Hang on in there, Flori. Your long signature is also a source of inspiration to many of us, and there are always the good days.
Best wishes.... Pam

[MaineRottweilers]

You've been a this a very, very long time. It's no surprise you are worn down and beat up. You however, may not know that your existence, your resilience and your survival ---your signature alone is an inspiration for me to keep moving along, every-single-day.
Thanks for taking the hits and moving forward because you give me the courage and determination to do it too.

[Jackie07]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope the side effects will ease up. The drug is quite new. The genetic name is denosumab; another trade name is Prolia. Below is a study of its effect on early stage breast cancer.

Lancet. 2015 Aug 1;386(9992):433-43. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60995-3. Epub 2015 May 31.
Adjuvant denosumab in breast cancer (ABCSG-18): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Gnant M, Pfeiler G, Dubsky PC, Hubalek M, Greil R, Jakesz R, Wette V, Balic M, Haslbauer F, Melbinger E, Bjelic-Radisic V, Artner-Matuschek S, Fitzal F, Marth C, Sevelda P, Mlineritsch B, Steger GG, Manfreda D, Exner R, Egle D, Bergh J, Kainberger F, Talbot S, Warner D, Fesl C, Singer CF; Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group.
Collaborators (697)
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Adjuvant endocrine therapy compromises bone health in patients with breast cancer, causing osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures. Antiresorptive treatments such as bisphosphonates prevent and counteract these side-effects. In this trial, we aimed to investigate the effects of the anti-RANK ligand antibody denosumab in postmenopausal, aromatase inhibitor-treated patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
METHODS:
In this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, postmenopausal patients with early hormone receptor-positive breast cancer receiving treatment with aromatase inhibitors were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either denosumab 60 mg or placebo administered subcutaneously every 6 months in 58 trial centres in Austria and Sweden. Patients were assigned by an interactive voice response system. The randomisation schedule used a randomly permuted block design with block sizes 2 and 4, stratified by type of hospital regarding Hologic device for DXA scans, previous aromatase inhibitor use, and baseline bone mineral density. Patients, treating physicians, investigators, data managers, and all study personnel were masked to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was time from randomisation to first clinical fracture, analysed by intention to treat. As an additional sensitivity analysis, we also analysed the primary endpoint on the per-protocol population. Patients were treated until the prespecified number of 247 first clinical fractures was reached. This trial is ongoing (patients are in follow-up) and is registered with the European Clinical Trials Database, number 2005-005275-15, and with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00556374.
FINDINGS:
Between Dec 18, 2006, and July 22, 2013, 3425 eligible patients were enrolled into the trial, of whom 3420 were randomly assigned to receive denosumab 60 mg (n=1711) or placebo (n=1709) subcutaneously every 6 months. Compared with the placebo group, patients in the denosumab group had a significantly delayed time to first clinical fracture (hazard ratio [HR] 0·50 [95% CI 0·39-0·65], p<0·0001). The overall lower number of fractures in the denosumab group (92) than in the placebo group (176) was similar in all patient subgroups, including in patients with a bone mineral density T-score of -1 or higher at baseline (n=1872, HR 0·44 [95% CI 0·31-0·64], p<0·0001) and in those with a bone mineral density T-score of less than -1 already at baseline (n=1548, HR 0·57 [95% CI 0·40-0·82], p=0·002). The patient incidence of adverse events in the safety analysis set (all patients who received at least one dose of study drug) did not differ between the denosumab group (1366 events, 80%) and the placebo group (1334 events, 79%), nor did the numbers of serious adverse events (521 vs 511 [30% in each group]). The main adverse events were arthralgia and other aromatase-inhibitor related symptoms; no additional toxicity from the study drug was reported. Despite proactive adjudication of every potential osteonecrosis of the jaw by an international expert panel, no cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw were reported. 93 patients (3% of the full analysis set) died during the study, of which one death (in the denosumab group) was thought to be related to the study drug.
INTERPRETATION:
Adjuvant denosumab 60 mg twice per year reduces the risk of clinical fractures in postmenopausal women with breast cancer receiving aromatase inhibitors, and can be administered without added toxicity. Since a main side-effect of adjuvant breast cancer treatment can be substantially reduced by the addition of denosumab, this treatment should be considered for clinical practice.

[Jackie07]

The official site of Xgeva: http://www.xgeva.com/hcp/?WT.z_co=A&WT.z_in=XO&WT.z_ch=PDS&WT.z_se=B&WT.srch=1&WT.z_ag=AG759&WT.mc_id=A_XO_PDS_AG759&denosumabXGEVA.com+%28HCP%29+-+Branded+2015Branded+%28HCP%29+-+Branded+2015

[SoCalGal]

Thanks for your shoulders to cry on. It gets to me sometimes. It's a lot, whether targeted or the real juice...and yes, we all ultimately suck it up and push forward.

Okay, woke up feeling better today. Moving forward...love to all on this board <3 <3 <3

[suzan w]

Yep, sometimes the "cure" is worse than the "dis-ease"!!! Hang in there...!!!