Questions on how you feel on Lapatinib and Xeloda

[KristinSchwick]

Krissi,
I was on the combo for 5 months and by the 3rd month I had the drugs down to an art, and had very little discomfort. And no, you won't feel like crap for the 2 weeks your on the Xeloda. Chances are the only issues you will have is sore feet and diahrrea- both are very manageable. Couple of tricks I learned- I did end up decreasing my tykerb dose from 5 pills to 4, and getting by with 1 diahrrea episode/day. I found taking the tykerb at night was helpful because then I would have my "episode" in the AM before I left for the day. Also, I found that cutting out lactose products really helped reduce the diahrrea. So I avoid alot of cheese, and enjoy lactose free milk and lactose free yogert.

As for the hand and foot syndrome, I took 2 pills in the AM and then 3 at night, thinking that the higher dose at night helped prevent the drugs from leaking out and damaging my feet. I did have to decrease my dose of Xeloda. The hand and foot syndrome is caused by the drugs leaking out of capillaries under high pressure/friction (hands and feet), then the chemo does its job, and kills cells- only they are the healthy ones in your feet/hands. When my feet got really bad (usually only lasted 1-2 days out of the 14), it was after being on my feet all day for a couple days. Icing my feet really helped as did tylenol and ibuprofen.

I really didn't mind being on the drugs, I liked the flexibility and not getting poked with needles. On another note, I did end up loosing about 7 lbs on the drugs (probably from the diahrrea), which was a nice surprise.

Be patient and talk to your doctor about the symptoms and side effects- as they can prescribe anti-diahretics to help and can decrease the doses of the drugs. My doc assured me that the lower dose would still be effective, and I shouldn't worry. Good luck!