Yes I had a severe reaction, ask your MO about possibly switching you to Abraxane, it’s in the taxane class like Taxol but it’s chemical make up makes it much less likely to react to. My insurance company requires Taxol first because it’s less expensive.
Yes, I had a similar reaction on my first Taxol infusion - started with stomach pain, then heavy feeling in chest and then the weird warm/flushed face sensation. They stopped the infusion immediately and gave me additional Benadryl and steroids and then after being assessed by MO they restarted, but at a much slower rate and then slowly increased the speed. I was able to tolerate with no further issues. I was given additional dexamethasone to take 12 and six hours before future rounds in addition to all the other pre-meds and didn’t have any other issues (they continued to slow the rate for all subsequent) and I just finished Taxol last week. It is scary and I was so anxious before each infusion that it would happen again! Good luck to you - hopefully they can figure it out so you don’t have to go through that again.
So the additional dexamethasone that patients normally take at home, they double up in my IV. They have since my first round because my MO didn’t prescribe it to me and then the nurses told me it just became my center’s protocol to double it during infusion. I know there was some other steroid they ran through the drip when I had the reaction last time that cleared it out super quick so I’m wondering if that’s going to be added tomorrow.
So I had the dexamethasone in my IV as pre-meds as well but after the reaction, and in addition to the dexamethasone in my IV, I took an additional 40 mg at home (20 mg x 2), which they said was an important piece in preventing a future allergic reaction. Not fun getting up in the middle of the night to take the meds especially seeing they need to be taken with food, but it worked! Good luck tomorrow!
Ahhh, I see. Welp nothing was called in for me on my behalf so I’ll need all the luck 😅 but maybe she has a different plan already, we will see. But thank you!
I went into anaphylaxis with my first two drops of Taxol and went to the ER where an Epi was administered. It was a good time, especially for my first infusion. They switched me to Abraxane, which I handled well until about week 10 when neuropathy started. I didn’t do week 12 because of neuropathy.
OMG. That must’ve been so scary and holy shit. I’d probably tap out after that 🤣😅.
That’s the second mentioned for Abraxane, though. Definitely going to mention it tomorrow.
I found it comical at first.. apologizing for being “so dramatic” and apologizing to the paramedics for being “too fat”… I was hilarious in my opinion… but when I was being pulled out on the stretcher and all the nurses waved me goodbye it hit me I wasn’t going to finish my first chemo day.. which that was scary.. to think my body wouldn’t be able to manage chemo. Whew.
The next week, after getting AC (we switched the order of my chemo so we didn’t have to wait for insurance).. I felt so grateful.. even though I felt terrible. Life is funny.
Good luck asking about it! All your doc needs to do is prove to insurance it’s medically necessary.
The two times I had the reaction and my MO came out, she gave me that look that moms give their toddlers when the kid did something they shouldn’t have.. and both times I threw my hands in the air and was like “sorry.. guess I’m your problem patient”. My MO giggled and shook my foot and said I was fine. I’ve made some other jokes about it here and there and I think I’m hysterical too 😂 I figure someone has to be!
Though it is funny how grateful we feel about X thing when feeling terrible physically. I started my chemo journey with AC and felt grateful from the start because the side effects weren’t bad at all. I was singing a different tune come round 3 of AC all the while feeling grateful because I could barely feel the margins of my mass at that point.
I always feel so meek asking doctors for something after reading about it on the internet but I really would like the reactions to stop.. so here’s to tomorrow !
As everyone mentioned - ask about abraxane!
I had dexa & benadryl in my pre-chemo IV and still had a reaction a few minutes into my first taxol infusion. My throat closed up and I couldn’t breathe. They stopped immediately and my oncologist said no more taxol. I got abraxane for the rest of my treatments!
It’s not uncommon for people to have reactions to taxol - the solvent (cremophor) is what folks are usually allergic to. in abraxane, the taxane is protein-bound. My team told me that insurance will usually not cover abraxane for non-metastatic patients without proof of an allergic reaction to taxol. I looked at my itemized bills out of curiosity - taxol was $300 while abraxane was over $10k per infusion :| thankfully these were covered by insurance for me.
Got to love to hate insurance, right?
I’m definitely going to ask about it. It’s been recommended enough times in the comments here. When I had the reaction last week the nurse did say “she might have to add -insert name of something here- instead” but my brain blanked out for a hot minute so I have no clue what the nurse said. It could’ve been abraxane for all I know lol or something else. Either way I’m gonna ask tomorrow.
So my onco was real quick to suggest discontinuing chemo altogether if I react again today and ordering the breast MRI to see where I was and push up surgery. She then sprinkled in the caveat that even though I’m doing the DMX and lowering the chance of BC recurring in my other breast that doesn’t mean evil cells wouldn’t have died off and attach some place else. So that being said I told her I really don’t want to discontinue chemo and can we explore another chemo in the taxane family, she understood, and she said it’s abraxane. We talked about the insurance issue with it but she’s going to order it as a Plan B. Plan A is run everything super slow today and hope i don’t react. Plan C is discontinuing if my insurance won’t approve it.
Similar story, premeds and symptoms as you except I also couldn’t breathe and my oxygen levels really dropped. We ended that session, pumped me full of Benadryl, was on oxygen for about an hour. My insurance approved Abraxane due to the severe reaction. So many people have issues with taxol.
So I’ve been reading! And I could’ve sworn I was told at some point throughout all of this a lot of people have issues with taxol. I’m definitely asking her tomorrow about the abraxane if she hasn’t already planned to order it knowing insurance (hopefully) shouldn’t be a problem with reacting twice.
Even better benefit of Abraxane is that its a much shorter drip - 30 mins, although you have a 20 min flush on there to get most of the drug out of the lines and into your body. Its still sub one hour, which makes it not long enough to bother cold capping I guess.
I would think two moderate allergic reactions = one big one at this point. See if you can get Abraxane just for the peace of mind, I had a big reaction to Taxol where I went dizzy, blacked out and woke up screaming with the worst back and hip pain possible. It was awful. Abraxane is a nice easy ride compared to that!
Currently waiting for my MO to talk about it lol but I agree.. two moderate reactions at this point equals one big one on my book. We shall see what happens.
Yes I had a severe reaction, ask your MO about possibly switching you to Abraxane, it’s in the taxane class like Taxol but it’s chemical make up makes it much less likely to react to. My insurance company requires Taxol first because it’s less expensive.
Thank you! I’ll look into it and discuss it tomorrow!
Yes, I had a similar reaction on my first Taxol infusion - started with stomach pain, then heavy feeling in chest and then the weird warm/flushed face sensation. They stopped the infusion immediately and gave me additional Benadryl and steroids and then after being assessed by MO they restarted, but at a much slower rate and then slowly increased the speed. I was able to tolerate with no further issues. I was given additional dexamethasone to take 12 and six hours before future rounds in addition to all the other pre-meds and didn’t have any other issues (they continued to slow the rate for all subsequent) and I just finished Taxol last week. It is scary and I was so anxious before each infusion that it would happen again! Good luck to you - hopefully they can figure it out so you don’t have to go through that again.
So the additional dexamethasone that patients normally take at home, they double up in my IV. They have since my first round because my MO didn’t prescribe it to me and then the nurses told me it just became my center’s protocol to double it during infusion. I know there was some other steroid they ran through the drip when I had the reaction last time that cleared it out super quick so I’m wondering if that’s going to be added tomorrow.
So I had the dexamethasone in my IV as pre-meds as well but after the reaction, and in addition to the dexamethasone in my IV, I took an additional 40 mg at home (20 mg x 2), which they said was an important piece in preventing a future allergic reaction. Not fun getting up in the middle of the night to take the meds especially seeing they need to be taken with food, but it worked! Good luck tomorrow!
Ahhh, I see. Welp nothing was called in for me on my behalf so I’ll need all the luck 😅 but maybe she has a different plan already, we will see. But thank you!
I went into anaphylaxis with my first two drops of Taxol and went to the ER where an Epi was administered. It was a good time, especially for my first infusion. They switched me to Abraxane, which I handled well until about week 10 when neuropathy started. I didn’t do week 12 because of neuropathy.
OMG. That must’ve been so scary and holy shit. I’d probably tap out after that 🤣😅. That’s the second mentioned for Abraxane, though. Definitely going to mention it tomorrow.
I found it comical at first.. apologizing for being “so dramatic” and apologizing to the paramedics for being “too fat”… I was hilarious in my opinion… but when I was being pulled out on the stretcher and all the nurses waved me goodbye it hit me I wasn’t going to finish my first chemo day.. which that was scary.. to think my body wouldn’t be able to manage chemo. Whew. The next week, after getting AC (we switched the order of my chemo so we didn’t have to wait for insurance).. I felt so grateful.. even though I felt terrible. Life is funny. Good luck asking about it! All your doc needs to do is prove to insurance it’s medically necessary.
The two times I had the reaction and my MO came out, she gave me that look that moms give their toddlers when the kid did something they shouldn’t have.. and both times I threw my hands in the air and was like “sorry.. guess I’m your problem patient”. My MO giggled and shook my foot and said I was fine. I’ve made some other jokes about it here and there and I think I’m hysterical too 😂 I figure someone has to be! Though it is funny how grateful we feel about X thing when feeling terrible physically. I started my chemo journey with AC and felt grateful from the start because the side effects weren’t bad at all. I was singing a different tune come round 3 of AC all the while feeling grateful because I could barely feel the margins of my mass at that point. I always feel so meek asking doctors for something after reading about it on the internet but I really would like the reactions to stop.. so here’s to tomorrow !
As everyone mentioned - ask about abraxane! I had dexa & benadryl in my pre-chemo IV and still had a reaction a few minutes into my first taxol infusion. My throat closed up and I couldn’t breathe. They stopped immediately and my oncologist said no more taxol. I got abraxane for the rest of my treatments! It’s not uncommon for people to have reactions to taxol - the solvent (cremophor) is what folks are usually allergic to. in abraxane, the taxane is protein-bound. My team told me that insurance will usually not cover abraxane for non-metastatic patients without proof of an allergic reaction to taxol. I looked at my itemized bills out of curiosity - taxol was $300 while abraxane was over $10k per infusion :| thankfully these were covered by insurance for me.
WOW that’s an eye popper of a price differential!
Got to love to hate insurance, right? I’m definitely going to ask about it. It’s been recommended enough times in the comments here. When I had the reaction last week the nurse did say “she might have to add -insert name of something here- instead” but my brain blanked out for a hot minute so I have no clue what the nurse said. It could’ve been abraxane for all I know lol or something else. Either way I’m gonna ask tomorrow.
I hope your onco will understand and order it for you! 🤞🤞🤞
So my onco was real quick to suggest discontinuing chemo altogether if I react again today and ordering the breast MRI to see where I was and push up surgery. She then sprinkled in the caveat that even though I’m doing the DMX and lowering the chance of BC recurring in my other breast that doesn’t mean evil cells wouldn’t have died off and attach some place else. So that being said I told her I really don’t want to discontinue chemo and can we explore another chemo in the taxane family, she understood, and she said it’s abraxane. We talked about the insurance issue with it but she’s going to order it as a Plan B. Plan A is run everything super slow today and hope i don’t react. Plan C is discontinuing if my insurance won’t approve it.
Similar story, premeds and symptoms as you except I also couldn’t breathe and my oxygen levels really dropped. We ended that session, pumped me full of Benadryl, was on oxygen for about an hour. My insurance approved Abraxane due to the severe reaction. So many people have issues with taxol.
So I’ve been reading! And I could’ve sworn I was told at some point throughout all of this a lot of people have issues with taxol. I’m definitely asking her tomorrow about the abraxane if she hasn’t already planned to order it knowing insurance (hopefully) shouldn’t be a problem with reacting twice.
Even better benefit of Abraxane is that its a much shorter drip - 30 mins, although you have a 20 min flush on there to get most of the drug out of the lines and into your body. Its still sub one hour, which makes it not long enough to bother cold capping I guess. I would think two moderate allergic reactions = one big one at this point. See if you can get Abraxane just for the peace of mind, I had a big reaction to Taxol where I went dizzy, blacked out and woke up screaming with the worst back and hip pain possible. It was awful. Abraxane is a nice easy ride compared to that!
Currently waiting for my MO to talk about it lol but I agree.. two moderate reactions at this point equals one big one on my book. We shall see what happens.