Herceptin, Perjeta, & Navelbine - anyone else on this combo?
 

The first week's infusion (all 3) I felt ok until 5 days in when my jaw started to kill me. After the 2nd week (which was navelbine only), the pain in my jaw exploded up my face to my ears and made chewing/swallowing difficult. We happened to be away skiing when it got worse so the NP called in a steroid to the nearest drug store, since pain killers weren't cutting it. I'm told this is a common side effect to Navelbine. Things are better now, in that regard.

But the GI issues - aarrgh. Diarrhea/constipation? Thanks to the perjeta, navelbine, and pain killers, my body can't make up it's mind. I guess my best bet is to try to eat all healthy and all natural. Sometimes, the stomach cramps are bestial. I feel like an alien wants to burst through LOL.

:-) Penny

Re: Herceptin, Perjeta, & Navelbine - anyone else on this combo?
 

Penny,

I'm so sorry to hear about those awful side effects. Let's hope the combination soon zaps the liver mets and gets you to a stable state.

I had been planning to do your combo, but for a variety of reasons chose Herceptin and Perjeta only, with no chemo.

When I had chemo in 2011 I was advised to stay hydrated and get "more" protein. I eventually figured out that what they mean by that is 1.5 gm of protein to every kilogram of your body weight. That's about twice as much as recommended for women under normal circumstances, and it's hard to do without supplementing. But it helps rebuild the healthy, normal tissues that are collateral damage from the chemo.

Re: Herceptin, Perjeta, & Navelbine - anyone else on this combo?
 

Penny,

Hope the side effect has eased up somewhat. Didn't find the exact combo, but thought this one might help.

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013 Nov;142(1):89-99. doi: 10.1007/s10549-013-2710-z. Epub 2013 Oct 16.
Treatment of older patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer with pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel: subgroup analyses from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial (CLEOPATRA).
Miles D1, Baselga J, Amadori D, Sunpaweravong P, Semiglazov V, Knott A, Clark E, Ross G, Swain SM.
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Abstract
Although the incidence of cancer increases with age, older patients are under-represented in cancer treatment trials, resulting in limited data availability in this patient population. Here we present results from pre-defined subgroup analyses conducted by age group (<65 vs ≥ 65 years) from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Patients who had not received previous chemotherapy or biological therapy for HER2-positive locally recurrent, unresectable or metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to treatment with placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel or with pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel. Primary endpoint was independently assessed progression-free survival. We performed pre-specified subgroup analyses of progression-free survival according to age. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00567190. 808 patients were enrolled. Of those, 127 patients were 65 years of age or older (placebo arm: 67, pertuzumab arm: 60). Patients in both age groups experienced progression-free survival benefit with treatment in the pertuzumab arm (<65 years: HR: 0.65; 95 % CI 0.53-0.80; ≥65 years: HR: 0.52; 95 % CI 0.31-0.86). Diarrhoea, fatigue, asthenia, decreased appetite, vomiting, and dysgeusia were reported more frequently in patients 65 years of age or older compared with younger patients. Neutropenia and febrile neutropenia were reported less frequently in the older age group. The efficacy and safety data reported in CLEOPATRA suggest that the combined use of pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel should not be limited by patient age.
PMID: 24129974 [PubMed - in process] PMCID: PMC3825296 Free PMC Article