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Hives with chemo

My mom started chemo 3 weeks ago and about 1 week ago she started getting hives real bad.Like she thinks she is going crazy.Her Dr. put her on steroids to help and it has some.Has anyone else got hives from chemo and if so how do you deal with them?
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408448 tn?1286883821
I always got a benadryl I/V before my chemo as a pre-med.  I thought it was standard practice.  I also got decadron/dexamethasone I/V pre-med too.  I never had a problem, but the benadryl gave me a sleepy feeling and a restless feeling at the same time which was awful.  Marie
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Avatar universal
I had IV/IP Taxol/Cisplatin protocol and had severe hives twice which lasted 10 to 12 days.  It was agony.  I thought the first time was due to Neulasta and asked to Neupogen instead.  After 18 Neupogen shots in 21 days I had hives again.  Both times they were treated with steroids which somewhat diminished the symptoms but did not make them go away.  It is so hard to say what really causes hives because of the great number of drugs that are administered during chemo.  Curiously, I did have hives one more time.  I was in the hospital waiting to see if a partial bowel obstruction would resolve itself, I had no medications except barium for CAT scan (no dye), and I broke out in hives.  Maybe stress is the cause, I don't know.  All I know is that I hope your mom is better soon.  Benadryl helps along with cold cloths, ice packs and a lot of diversion.  My doctor says that the only thing that does not contain hives causing allergens is holy water.  Ha ha.

Terry
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Avatar universal
Another thing that my doctor did was to slow the IV drip down... it completely stoppped any reaction... sigh.. although it did take twice as long... Ronni
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272338 tn?1252280404
I am assuming that your mom is on a carbo/taxol regime. Many women seem to wind up having a reaction to carbo, which is brought under control with steroids and in my case benedryl. I do not know whether her Dr will try to continue with whichever drug it was that caused the hives. Most normally, you would be taken off that drug and something else substituted in its place.
  If she is still having problems with the hives, you might ask her Dr about benedryl.
      Chris
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550018 tn?1264190965
I had hives from Taxol 10 days from my initial chemo.  My doctor hospitalized me and put me on steroids.  I'm not sure what your mom's chemo regime is, but you may want to ask your doctor if she can have a test dose next time to insure her reaction is not increasing as her treatment goes on.  I don't know if that works for all chemo drugs, but it might be worth it to mention.  Good luck!  

Marie
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