Tag: Ondansetron

Battling Drug Side Effects

This is all a bit earthy, so don’t bother reading it unless you are suffering similarly, or know someone who is.

The first half of last week was pretty bad for the side effects of my Everolimus and Lenvatinib medication. Sunday was not too bad. I just felt a bit queasy and had no appetite. Monday was rather the same and things turned down on Tuesday afternoon. Sadly I had to miss Christ Church, Brownsover, men’s Film and Chippy evening that day through not being able to keep anything down. This nausea and lack of appetite lasted through Thursday. Although I was very bad again Thursday evening, things did look up a bit after that.

Thursday morning I had a face to face appointment with Dr Ik Shin Chin, a doctor who had recently joined Dr Yakhub Khan’s oncology team. I did have a telephone appointment with her 5 weeks prior, but this was our first actual meeting. I was weighed prior to the appointment, showing that I had lost another 4kg, over half a stone in old units, that I really don’t want to lose. Total lost so far 14kg or over 2 stone. Not good.

We discussed the two side effects that were giving me the most trouble. One was the nausea, vomiting and attendant loss of appetite; the other was the tiredness and lack of energy. She decided to prescribe a short trial of steroids (daily 2mg of Dexamethasone). Also a more powerful laxative than over the counter types in case I needed to take Ondansetron again.

Getting Better

Friday morning I took a final Ondansetron and started on the steroids – one tablet with breakfast. I actually felt better that day, though I can’t say which medication was responsible. Saturday I rather surprised myself. Lyn was planning to drop round to her daughter, who lives quite close, to help with the construction of a raised bed in their garden. I decided to go along too, not planning to do anything other than sit in the sun and give advice. It turned out I did quite a lot – just no lifting of the heavy timbers, which I left to the younger folk. I had to take a few more rest periods than in pre-medication days, but altogether quite promising.

And yesterday I felt fine after a good breakfast of toast, fruit and my diet of tablets, and then walking the half mile to church and then back after the service. Praise God.

Plodding Along

I haven’t updated my health status for a while, for the simple reason that there is not much to report. I had a telephone appointment with the oncologist a few weeks ago. There wasn’t much to say on my part. I continue to feel very tired much of the time from lack of sleep and weakness caused by the medication. And I continue to feel nauseous from time to time with everything coming up about every week or 10 days. The Ondansetron quickly gets me over that, fortunately.

I have blood tests before every appointment to make sure that everything is in order and that I am tolerating the medication (Everolimus and Lenvatinib). The last blood test results were all good, so that I am continuing the medication at the same dose. I have a face to face appointment next week, but won’t know much more until after my next scans in about a month. From the point of view of quality of life it would be nice to reduce the medication, but I wouldn’t want to do that until after my next scans, the last ones being so positive.

Ups and Downs

Life with cancer tends to be a series of ups and downs. Times when everything is going great and times when one doesn’t feel too good, usually because of the cancer treatment side effects..

During the last week I had a blood test for anaemia, which is one of the potential side effects of Everolimus and Lenvatinib. The result I got last Friday was that I needed iron and folic acid. It was suggested that I have an intravenous infusion for the iron, as being a bit kinder than tablets and an appointment was made for Monday, 6th March.

Sunday 5th March was a bit of a high. I was feeling good and walked the half mile to church and was able to stand easily. Previously, when suffering groin pain, I had to use the chair in front for support to ease the pain. Then, after a cup of tea and a biscuit, I walked the half mile back home.

Later that Sunday was a bit of a low. I felt really queasy again and took an Ondansetron tablet, then another before going to bed. I felt OK Monday morning but took another Ondansetron to be sure. Then off to the Maple Unit at St. Cross Hospital in Rugby for my iron infusion. This is a fairly new unit where they treat haematology and oncology patients.

The Maple Unit is a very nice new facility with very pleasant and efficient staff. The checked my blood pressure and temperature and then hooked me up to a drip for the best part of an hour. The time passed fairly quickly checking my emails and drinking a cup of tea.

The next day, Tuesday the 7th, was Lyn’s birthday so we went to lunch in the Orangery at Kilworth House. The orangery itself is a very nicely restored Victorian structure, light and airy during the day and the food is very good. We sat by a window and the sun was streaming in.

Sadly the meds got the better of me and I was only able to eat a very little, but what I had was excellent. There was a slight disappointment for Lyn who wanted the Stone Bass on the menu, but they had none. Their supplier had let them down. She had to settle for a more mundane fish. This was the only time that we had been there that they didn’t have something that was on the menu.

Nauseous Again

Yesterday I woke up feeling a bit iffy, but had a light breakfast of tea and toast. About midday I ate a crumpet. About mid-afternoon, I was starting to feel quite nauseous and took an 8mg Ondansetron tablet. This is the same anti-sickness substance that I was given in the IV drip at the time of my last episode. In spite of that I was sick during the evening, and took another tablet after that. That seemed to do the trick. My stomach settled down and I wasn’t at all troubled during the night. I took another tablet this morning and will take another a bit later just to make sure. I was prescribed two a day when necessary.

This is a fairly common side effect of Everolimus and Lenvatinib. At least in my case it isn’t continuous and I hope other sufferers find the same. It may be a coincidence that this episode and the last both started on a Monday. Or perhaps it is in some way a consequence of “Sunday dinner” and a different eating pattern on Sundays. I am making sure to keep a note of what I eat and when to see if there is a correlation and therefore a way to avoid nausea.

Please leave a comment if you have experienced anything similar on Everolimus, Lenvatinib or other drugs, and what works for you.