Hello friends, hope everyone is fine. I am on ADT for past 1 year, and now my PSA is rising, though testosterone is well below castrate levels. My onco says that in my case it appears that castrate resistance has set in early.
He is wanting another PSA test to detrmine PSADT, and will then ask me to do PSMA PET scan.
His plan is to commence chemotherapy ,with Docetaxel.
I have done my own research on this chemo drug and it too like otjer chemo drugs has many side effects.
I would like to hear from people who have taken this chemo drug and share their exp with me. How hard are the various side effects? Manageable?
I am.asking this coz so that hearing first hand from people who have ubdergone chemo with this drug, it will help me manage and understand the side effects.
Hi Warrior68 , personally I struggled whilst on Docetaxel but that was because it did such a great job. I managed to get pneumonia after the 3rd session and although I eventually managed to complete round 4 I couldn’t go on. I think my experience was very unusual and most people tolerate it well. During my first few rounds, I didn’t really have too many problems but it is worth keeping a diary as the effects repeat themselves on each cycle so you can predict off days. I debated about posting as I don’t want to put you off having it, I think it is a drug which has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and I suspect it is one I will have again. You will be fine on it.
Best wishes, David
Please remember that I am not medically trained and the above are my personal views.
Hi. My husband had 6 sessions of Dox. Initially no major side effects and then the exhaustion kicked in. No sickness or nausea. It was more the effect of the Filgrastim injections post treatment for him. They caused a lot of severe bone pain usually about 3 days after treatment as they are working to improve bone marrow cells. Warmth, paracetamol etc helped and the team were able to reduce the Dox,which is based on weight ratio , by 10% and I believe this can go lower. Other little things like mouth ulcers occurred.
Wishing you well with any treatment. We kept ourselves in a bubble and only minimal contact, no family visits etc to ensure he got through the programme without any poor health. It's not easy for patient and family, patience is the key
I agree. Keeping the diary is good to feedback to team and I found as the other half noting patterns like high temp, pain etc.. initially it can be scarey and then it falls into week 1, 2, 3 pattern and you start again! Stick with it.
Hello Warrior 68,
I had docetaxel last year and wrote a blog, the link is below if it's of interest.
Overall, not the best experience in the world, but far from the worst and I'm well over it now.
Any other questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer.
All the best,
Derek.
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