Taxol questions

I am starting taxol next week. I have just been told that there are two kinds of taxol. One kind is artificial and the other is derived from a yew tree. One of them also takes significantly longer to infuse. Does anyone know what the differences are in terms of side effects and outcomes? What sort of side effects have people experienced on this drug? Thanks in advance for your responses.

My wife just finished 4 cyles of dose dense (every 2 weeks)taxol and she found it much easier than AC. She lost the rest of her eyelashes, experience some joint pain (that she didn't need to take any pain relief for), some cummulative fatigue, and experienced a good deal of tingling in hands and feet. The tingling bothered her the most since it felt like heavy itching to her. Since she felt it on the inside of her feet and hands, rather than on the surface, there wasn't much she was able to do about it though you may want to talk to your doctor since other people seemed to gain some relief from b6 and other things. She was also given steroids prior to the taxol to prevent an allergic reaction which made her more irritable and made it hard for her to sleep, but overall she got through it fine with minimal obstruction in her daily activity. Good luck and I hope you have a very easy time. Eric

I had Taxol for six months following my original diagnosis. The nausea etc. following the first treatment nearly put me under, largely because since water didn't taste good I didn't drink anything for about three days! KEEP DRINKING!

The fatigue was cumulative, but managable, and most of the six months I worked full time and even drove to out of town business meetings. I did not try to drive to/from treatments since it is 30 miles from home and the treatments wore me out.

Good luck.
Jane

Taxol was nothing, compared to AC. I took AC every 2 weeks, dose dense, like Eric's wife. But I took weekly Taxol, not every 2 or 3 weeks, though.

No nausea for me, but random body aches & some tingling. AC caused me a lot of nausea.

Merridith, you'll do just fine! :-)

Hugs

I had taxol once every three weeks and although I lost the rest of my hair (that AC hadn't already taken), it did start to grow back during the treatments. I had the tingling of hands and feet and joint aches but nothing like the side effects I had with AC. I'm working on two years now and the only lasting effect of the taxol is that the bottoms of my feet hurt when I first start walking in the morning. Even so, taxol is sooo much better than being sick with the AC.

Good luck to you.

shelley

Hi - All the BEST!
Regarding your question of 2 kinds of Taxol. My billing sheets call the "taxol" I took "Paclitaxel" which may be the generic or other formulation. I believe it is still made from the Yew tree.
I had 27 (that's right - twenty-seven)doses along with Navelbine and Herceptin. Cost for the Taxol alone totaled $21,146.95. It was administered weekly from Jan to beginning July of 2002.
I went "manniken" as all my hair everywhere, except some on my lower legs went.
No nausea, just some mouth sores and minimal neuropathy. Still have a little tingling in ends of fingers mostly right hand and balls of feet, but not painful.
I took Neurontin and Naproxan to alleviate the joint aches and pains. Lost some general coordination such as balance and having to be careful going down stairs, getting in and out of shower. Noticed my vision get a little worse during all the treatments, but that has come back to where my old prescription is just fine.

Both Taxol(paclitaxel) & Taxotere(docetaxel) are derivitives of bark of the yew tree,but both are now produced synthetically.
I did 41 weeks of weekly Taxol (2 diff tx combos-1 with a clinical trial drug, then the 2nd time w/Herceptin).I managed very well, continued to teach Pilates classes, but was more conservative w/my energy.I was, ofcourse, bald as a bowling ball, but on the weekly regimen it took ~5 weeks before my hair started to fall out.The side effects were manageable-low wbc's & rbc's, but I did Neupogen & Procrit shots for that-some neuropathy in hands & feet, mostly tingling, but I had the hardest time w/my fingernails/beds peeling back & seperating.
Are you doing the dose-dense regimen?The toxicity is more manageable.
Hope this info is helpful.Keep the faith and keep your body strong so that the chemo can do its work!Take good care,
Prayers, faith & courage!

Many thanks everyone for your replies. Your responses give me courage for the next round. Hopefully I won't get the neuropathy that your are describing as I am only schedualled for 4 doses at 2 week intervals.
I have just survived 4 rounds of A/C and my sympthoms were quite minimal. I must have been one of the lucky ones as I only experienced some fatigue for a couple of days after each treatment and only once was slightly ill.
I am hoping to preserve my fertility though... (still having periods through all this). Does anyone know what I can hope for after taxol?

just wanted to share my experience reeriod/menopause...i had erratic periods, some light spotting when I first started taxol+clinical trial drug, then it completely went away after ~2weeks.I was quite certain that I would be in permanent menopause after 49 weeks of chemo, but 3 months off tx & my period has returned & continues to be very regular.I do have to admit, I did NOT miss having PMS!
Hope this is helpful.

Yea! Thanks for the info. This is what I am hoping for. Although I am definately not into PMS, I still would like to have children... gotta have one to have the other.