Stomach pain from Paclitaxel/Abraxane

Hi Miffysmum

Sorry to hear that you are suffering form pain in your stomach.  While I haven't had the same I noticed that you haven't had any answers yet so I thought I'd reply to you to move you to the top of the discussion.  Hopefully someone will be along shortly with an answer for you.

Hope it clears up soon.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Thank you x

Hi. Having had four cycles of EC without major problems I too was expecting weekly Paclitaxel to be easier - according to the Breast Care nurse and what I had picked up online. Cycle 1 was bearable, with diarrhoea on day 3, a couple of times in the morning, also leg aches and pains day 3 and 4 which paracetamol kept at bay. Worse was the 'bone pain' following two Filgrastim injections on days 3 and 4 and that kept me awake part of the night. No problem with the latter on EC however it was only one injection. Cycle 2 similar but worse, diarrhoea (water!) days 3 and 4 along with  bad stomach cramps, again the leg aches and pains and goodness me overnight day 5 into 6 following Filgrastim on days 3 and 4 I barely slept.  Paracetamol made no difference at all and there was minimal relief from 8/500mg Co-codamol. Ending up ringing Acute Oncology early in the morning and they recommended 111 for stronger painkillers. Also had upper arm pain, two numb toes and very tingly hands. Cycle 3 has been delayed as diarrhoea had calmed or a few days but came back again overnight with three occurences of literally watery output. I don't know what will happen on cycle 3 and beyond. Wondering if it will all be too much. Having managed EC ok I'm thinking what are the consequences of potentially not being able to complete the Paclitaxel course. Or deciding not to proceed which would be a tough decision. How would the recurrence stats be affected. So many questions. Could I top up with more EC instead of Pacletaxel (don't know). Will definately proceed with cycle 3 but wondered if anyone else has had to terminate Paclitaxel or maybe have the dose reduced. 

Hi D60mac,

I totally feel your pain! Literally! The injections have crippled me. 
I had to stop Paclitaxel as I had 2 reactions to it, so I got swapped to Abraxane. It’s apparently the same thing but in a different protein - the analogy I was given was it was like having a Smartie but I was allergic to the coating so they took the coating off and I could still have the inside. It’s only once every 3 wks instead of weekly ( but comes with the bonus of the injections again because of the long time in between). I had very numb/ tingly hand from it which was concerning as I’d not had it before so I had a lower dose on my final one. One of these Abraxane takes the place of 3 Paclitaxel. I have found it harder going and my stomach pains are worse but I haven’t found anything to stop them. You may get put on Abraxane if you’re finding Paclitaxel difficult. My friend started on Abraxane and got swapped to Paclitaxel as it didn’t agree with her. Good luck x

Thanks for your reply. So suprising to read online many people have zero side effects to the Taxols but it does seem to vary drastically.The same with the injectons - some having little or no pains and others (like us) being badly affected. I was prescribed with strong Co-codamol for the leg pains and more recently codeine for stomach pain. Will see how that goes and 'look forward' to cycle 3 of Paciltaxel and have everything crossed it's not as bad. 

Very best wishes x

I have got cocodamol for back pain and everything else pain (all my joints have joined in), but it hasn’t touched the sides of my stomach. Nothing has. It also makes me very sleepy so I’m only taking it first thing and at night. Funnily enough they were very reluctant to give me anything for my pains as they said it was nothing to do with the chemo! 
Good luck with your next round of chemo - hopefully they have a plan B if the Paclitaxel doesn’t work out this time. X

The doc I saw in Acute Oncology kept asking if I'd eaten takeaways or reheated foods!  He was keen to call it a bacteriel gastro problem. No, I hadn't though. He rang today confirmed the stool sample showed no bacterial infection but still didn't think it was a Paclitaxel side effect however he added the dose may be reduced for cycle 3. Why would that be if unrelated. A little odd. I meant to mention he prescribed Codeine for the stomach pain. Only took one dose and all symptoms have now gone away.

Take care xx