Anyone have any experience with Gemcitabine?

paulcicero · New User Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 1

My father, 78 year old diagnosed with Non-Small cell stage IV DX in Sept. 2007, is being asked to take a combination of Carboplatin and Gemcitabine. He is having bad backpain and it restricts his movement a lot. I have never heard of Gemcitabine, anyone know anything about this drug? Thx.

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 2853

Hi,

The brand name for this drug is Gemzar. It's typically given on days 1 & 7 of a 21 day cycle. Usually pretty mild compared to the taxol and Platin family of drugs. My husband was on it twice. He'd have high fevers on day 2-3 after infusion, but otherwise was good. I don't know as I'd use him as a yardstick to measure reaction though, as he handled many of the chemo regimens well.

It worked well for my husband the first time he took it in combination with Taxotere, due to developing an allergic reaction to the first line of Carbo/Taxol. The second time was basically a shot in the dark on a solo regimen of Gemzar.

Let's hope this is a winning duo for your dad too! Many regimens cause body aches and so does Neulasta and Zometa.

Best of luck! Congratulations on his 2 years of survival too!

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

robertacastello · Experienced user Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 56

It's a new drug that oncologists are using in combination with carboplatin instead of using Taxol. The best part is that it keeps your hair in place. The only thing is that the drug cannot be used when the chemo is followed by radiation because it potentializes the radiation effects and may cause difficulty swallowing in some patients, depending on where the tumor is.
I think it's good news to be using it, it's a new and modern treatment.

UneasyRider · Regular Joined: 21 Aug 2008 Posts: 45

I had a severe headache and a bit of fever on the day I got gemcidabine and the next day, but had no longer term problems from it. Most people do seem to tolerate it better than many chemo drugs. Best wishes for your father.

Bud
_________________
57 year old male in Texas diagnosed with Stage II NSCLC
Upper left lobectomy on December 20, 2007, then 3 rounds of adjuvant chemotherapy
July 2008 CT scan - NED
December 2008 CT scan - NED
June 2009 CT scan - NED
January 2010 CT scan - NED
My story is in this thread: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=39609#39609

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