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Dear Ladies,
I'm sorry to hear that you are having all the problems with Xeloda. My Linda is on her 5th cycle of xeloda (1500 mg 2x/day) and she has none of the traditional side effects except for some of the hand / foot stuff. She is also on narcotic pain killers which cause consipation, and presumably conter-acts potential diarrhea. Also, make sure you are taking ample Vitamin B-6 to conteract any neurological side effects such as numbness, etc. The dose you are taking, according to others that have posted, can be reduced to 50% of the recommended doseage. The iniatial manufacturer's doseage is high and reduction doesn't reduce the drugs effacy. Xeloda has an excellent track record with manageable side effects and I would push your doctor to get creative to help you deal with them. The one side effect that Linda has is depressed blood counts. This is probably due to damage done due to marrow mets but we are starting her on neupogen this round to stabalize her counts. This is unusual for Xeloda but like I said, sometimes you have to get creative: my feeling is that in 2005, there should be no Quality of life issues that can't be resolved somehow.
Take care,
Al
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