My wife is starting these tomorrow and has been told to take them 12 hours apart, is anyone else on these tablets and how do you manage the timings with meals? Seems a long time apart. Thank you.
I have been taking Capecitabine since January. I don’t recall being told to take them twelve hours apart. I know you have to take them within thirty minutes of eating. I take mine straight after breakfast and straight after my evening meal. I have been very lucky to suffer very few mild side effects and have had good results from this treatment. I hope things go smoothly for her.
Hi, as you have seen in my previous post, I have been on these tablets for a while with very few side effects all of which have been easily manageable, with good results. My main advice would be to get some Udderly Smooth moisturising cream, which is available on Amazon and use it on your hands and feet as soon as you start the medication. It can cause peeling of the hands and feet and I found this worked wonders. Drink plenty of fluids and make sure you take your tablets within 30 minutes of having a meal. I take mine after breakfast and after my evening meal. That’s it really. Good luck!
Thanks for all the advice. I've ordered the Udderly cream ready for my start on capecitabine next week. Can you tell me what the normal pattern is for how you feel on these tablets, over the 21 day cycle? I'm used to iv drugs, where I feel ok for a couple of days, then take a big dip, and then start climbing out of the hole ready for the next cycle. Is it the same on Cape? Thanks.
I have found it to be different as you are taking the meds everyday for 14 days with a seven day break.It is very different to my experience of IV but that was a long time ago. Everybody is different, but for me the side effects have been quite minimal. I have had some fatigue but there doesn’t seem to be a set pattern as to when it will happen, I was able to carry on as normal, just taking a rest if I needed to. It did build up after I had been on the full dose for a few months, but they just lowered the dose and that helped a lot. My hands and feet were very flaky but not painful, I just kept using the Udderly cream regularly. I don’t get it at all now. Your skin does get dry generally so moisturising is the way to go! My taste was affected at first but again since the dose was lowered, it seems to have improved. It is by far the easiest chemo I have had so far. I hope this helps and that it is as kind to you as it has been to me!
Thanks so much Suzie. That's REALLY helpful. I'm going to be taking it in conjunction with noratinib. The combination has only recently been licensed, so there's not much info about. I think noratinib is a monoclonal rather than chemo; so like herceptin. So, I'm hoping that the side effects from that aren't too strong. I'm also really hoping that my hair might have a chance to grow back a bit!
Glad to be of help. It is great that you are able to get one of the new targeted drugs that are available now. Hopefully you will be able to put other peoples minds at rest about that in the future. My hair has grown back while I was on Cape and previously to this I was on the targeted therapy Everolimus and I didn’t lose my hair with that, so I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck! Let me know how you get on.
