Anyone experience GI side effects with Tagrisso for lung cancer?

A cup of peppermint tea with a tea ball filled with fennel seeds works well for nausea. A registered dietician at a cancer institute told me years ago. Try it.

Yes I am having a terrible time diarrhea right after I eat. Its frustrating sometimes don't make it to bathroom. also have in digestion. I had IBD before the diagnosis of cancer. have been keeping food diary and bathroom diary. Dairy products seem to be a big issue. but sometimes there is no reason for it.Take a lot of immodium. going to be discussing with doctor next appointment

Hi @dik27, these drugs can really be tough on the delicate GI balance, especially when you have IBD too. I'm glad you are talking with your doctor, they may have some suggestions.
I take a different targeted therapy, I don't have your additional complication of IBD, but especially in the beginning I struggled with GI issues. After the first 6 months or so the issues did improve. I saw a nutritionist to help with suggestions for getting additional fiber into my diet. I found that to be helpful. Have you had a consult with a nutritionist, or are you open to that?

may i ask where you obtained this information from? i am now just having digestive issue problems after being on tagrisso for almost two years. my oncologist is prescribing zofran, but i already told him i would only take it for the short term.

I don’t know initially where, but drugs.com has it as “major” interaction between ondansetron & osimertinib.
They both prolong the QT interval. There’s a professional tab in there. Send it to your physician.

@sunnygirl, I've been on Tagrisso for 3.5 years and struggled with an undiagnosed GI problem for almost 9 months after 2 years on Tagrisso. The long period of time was mostly due to the fact that it takes a really long time to get an appointment with my Gastroenterologist.

Tagrisso lowers the white blood cell count, which, by itself, makes us users more prone to IBD. However, it's important to understand that IBD is not a diagnosis. It's an admission that they can't find anything else. In the near term, I found relief by focusing on a low FODMAP diet. Dairy is a known GI irritant, and he needs to drop it from his diet, along with any soft cheese. Monash University is the recognized expert on low-fodmap diets and offers an app that tells you whether almost any food is high, medium, or low FODMAP. It helped me a lot.

But what "cured" me was getting an upper GI and a colonoscopy. The upper GI revealed Barrett's syndrome, which is when someone has had GERD for so long that the cells of the esophagus try to become stomach cells. I now take prescription-strength Nexium daily and don't have any reflux or nausea problems. The colonoscopy revealed microscopic colitis. My doctor prescribed Budesonide for that, and after the treatment, I'm good again.

So, if your husband's Oncologist or primary care physician has not already referred him to a gastroenterologist, I'd ask what they think of the idea. This is certainly the time for a GI specialist.

I hope your husband finds relief.

thanks for the information and i will look it up. i was a registered nurse for 30 years and many of these targeted therapy drugs are still too new for an oncologist to obtain a full grasp of what may or may not occur when someone starts tagrisso. i was told initially several months into treatment that there are no side effects listed for increased heart rates by my oncologist. i told him to throw the tagrisso manual in the trash because the drug is still too new to be going by government guidelines on what side effects may occur. after a 48 hour holter monitor and findings of pulse rates going from the 50s to the 130 range, my oncologist called the ones making the guidelines and sure enough, there have been a few others reporting increased heart rates from tagrisso. several months later, they changed the guidelines that included increased heart rates as a side effect. i will let my doctor know that tagrisso and zofran do not mix. thanks again. teresa jarvis

Welcome to Mayo Connect @tjarvis1, I hope you are able to find a resolution to your issue. I'm glad you found us, and this discussion.

My mother has lung cancer with metastasis to her brain. She has been stable on Tagrisso/osimertinib for 11 months without many side effects besides the common nail issue and diarrhea. She is now suffering from severe stomach issues: she has difficulty eating and drinking and is nauseous almost 24/7. She explains the pain as if there is a band around her stomach that is increasingly tighter.

We've performed many different tests: MRI (with and without contrast) , CT, gastrointestinal tests, lab tests of stomach tissue, fluids, bloodwork. Nothing shows that the cancer has spread to her stomach, or other parts of the body. We've also excluded issues on the spine, and are waiting for results of a lumbar punction.

There is no indication that there is something directly related to her stomach, and yet she keeps saying the pain comes from there.

We've tried pretty much all logical medication: anti-nausea medication and various painkillers (such as Morphine and Fentanyl).

The next step is that we will suspend the Tagrisso/osimertinib for a week to see if her situation improves. It feels like a scary situation, but current quality of life is simply too low to not try it.

I will keep you posted if they find anything, but if anyone has suggestions, please let me know :/

I'm sorry to hear that you and your mother are going through such a challenging time. In addition to what I've written above, I've altered my diet. I choose to be gluten-free with my gastro's support. In addition, I've adopted a Mediterranean diet emphasizing fruits and vegetables. For some reason, lettuce salads cause some distress, but spinach salads are fine. I eat way more fish than meat, and most of my vegetables are cooked. Before I figured all this out, I had undiagnosed cramping and nausea for 9 months and would do a BRAT diet for a couple of days every so often.

Does she react to certain foods, or is it all the time like it sounds? Is the pain in her stomach or lower in her colon?

You're in a tough situation. It sounds like you're keeping in close touch with her oncologist, which is always the best idea. I hope you and her situation improve.