Dose dense paclitaxel infusion time

Not in my experience. I had a form of paclitaxel in my first chemo, same infusion time as with the doxorubicin which was part of my second regimen.

A lot depends on patients' tolerance but also on the mix of drugs, so it is possible that two people on exactly the same chemo would experience different infusion times if tolerance is varied, and it is also possible that the variation would be the result of what else is being given.

Hi FE1

I had dose dense EC then paxitaxol every second week like youre having. Originally my paxitaxol was due to be given over 3.5 hours with time either side for flushing. I had a reaction when I had my second round of taxol so they increased the time to 5.5 hours and gave me twice the pre meds. I was so worried they'd reduce my dose that I didn't mind staying longer and the premeds were so strong I was in a weird buzzed daze for the whole day!

I hope you find out soon what you can expect from paxitaxol and good luck with the rest of your chemo

Cheers

Lizzy

If its every 2 weeks, then its a 3 hour infusion usually, but I found with the usual pre-infusion questions and 3 premeds, that the whole thing took 5 hours each time. The premeds include piriton which makes you really drowsy, so wouldn't recommend driving yourself home after this one. I hope it goes well for you.

Hi Greycats. Thank you for your reply. Fingers crossed it is the same amount of time. At the moment my current infusion time Is only 1.5 hours. So that has made me hopeful. X

Hi Lizzy. Thank you for your reply. Sorry to hear that you have had a reaction to paclitaxel. I know I've read a few posts saying the same thing. I'm praying mine goes ok and the time is about 3 hours. I have a picc line too so know that there's time either side for that too. Thank you again x 

I had my first last week, all in all it was about 3 hours . fair bit longer than EC that I was on for the first 4 cycles. took a bug chunk of day along with hours drive each way for me x 

Hi Zephyr. Thank you for your reply. I guess I'm going to have to take more reading material in with me if it's so long. Think I've been lucky so far with the shorter treatments. How was the monitoring on paclitaxel. Do they take blood pressure more? Thank you 

The only thing that occurred to me is that for triple negative cancer the paclitaxel is a weekly infusion over an hour or so. The monitoring was not any more, but they keep an eye on you in case you react to it a little - my face went bright red like a tomato on my last one! You will probably sleep your way through it but take reading material in case. I found it was ok - I wore ice gloves and socks that I bought from amazon to limit the neuropathy that you can get with it and also to limit nail damage. It helped a lot, though I must admit, my nails are still a little delicate now and need nail polish and filing not cutting, and I wear gloves for household chores. Overall though I found paclitaxel was OK.