Doxil

[DaytonSurvivor]

I'm stage IIIC - Jun 2003 - 6 rounds Carbo/Taxatere - 12 mos taxol maintenance - Jun 2006 - 6 rounds Gemzar/Cisplatin.  CA125 is currently up - had three infusions of low dose taxol/carboplatin - CA125 is still up - Doc wants to switch to Doxil - looking for anyone who has had success with Doxil.  Thanks for the help - keep up the fight.

[rmarie]

I just finished 6 rounds of doxil and carboplatin.  I had mouth sores if I ate spicy foods, skin got very dry, I did not have any hand or feet sores.  I did not ice during the treatments, I did however follow the rules, no working out or stenious walking a day before and for 3 days after,  Tepid water for bathing, and the best, no doing dishes.  I didn't do dishes for 6 months, call me a queen.  For the mouth sores a saline solution rinse worked or a 1/4 hydrogen pereoxide and 3/4 tepid water had them gone in 2 to 3 days.  The drug did take down my red blood cells so I needed procrit.  I had a second debulking prior to starting the chemo, and my CA 125 does not go up so I cannot address that.  I can tell you my scan is clear, I did not grow anything while I was on the drug.  I worked out all the way through chemo I did get a rash in a PT therapy pool.  No cardiac problems, I do not take CoQ10, I did take B12, B6 and folic acid to help rebuild blood cells. Good luck to you, I'm here if you have more questions.  

[medresc]

Yes, CoQ10 can be used in low dosage of 100mg daily for prevention of doxorubicin heart damage or up to 300/400mg a day (U of Arizona research shows 300mg a day a good dosage for such prevention....400mg a day shown in anticancer studies/research).

[SimplyStar]

My daughter just finished her 5th Doxil for a recurrance, be sure to read about the cooling with ice during infusion to prevent the foot and hand syndrome, and ice chips to prevent the mouth sores. Also look up COQ10 to prevent heart damage. Go to the Doxil web site and read the side effects and what you can do to to prevent them or aide them. There are many do's and don'ts with it and most can be prevented with the right care.

[medresc]

Remember Doxil takes roughly 3 to 4 cycles until you will see a CA125 response.  Also current studies and research are focusing on Doxil being used in conjunction with another drug such as Oxaplatin or 5FU, etc which have shown very impressive response rates compared to Doxil alone.