Anyone allergic to paclitaxel (Taxol)?

@snowflake0731, paclitaxel (Taxol) is known to cause allergic reactions in some people. I'm tagging fellow members like @ccwill @markymarkfl @seathink @loula @elizm @jennkrumz, who can share their experiences and how the reaction was managed.

What did you learn from the oncologist? Will his dose be reduced or changed? Or was the reaction manageable with Benadryl?

My first infusion with Taxol was accompanied with a large dose of Benadryl in case I reacted to the Taxol (which I didn't), The Benadryl, however, kept me awake for four days which was exhausting. I begged my oncologist not to do that to me, again. My body, however, had severe after-effects to the Taxol over time and he reduced the Taxol dosage twice over six weeks.

@snowflake0731

Yes, Taxol, is one of the most awful drug ever invented to cancer in my estimation. One the first treatment, with Benadryl all of the worse symtoms you can imagine were associated with it, unbeknownst to me. After the second treatment cycle, I thought I was losing my mind. I was aggitated and experienced several episodes of heart palpitations and anxiety. So given his reactions, I would be concerned if they didn't reduce the drug by 20% going forward.

I didn't get it the sixth round because the neuropathy wasn't getting better. Not having Taxol during my sixth mate world of difference. Advocate for yourself or loved ones of these drugs are causing you to have extreme reactions or causing you to lose hope. I could have died or killed someone after the second round. I never want to feel that way again. Paclitaxol should be banned for patients who are weak to begin with. The symptoms are just too severe and risky. As a result, my oncologist definitely monitored my heart, liver, kidneys, thyroid, and iron.

It's horrible based on my experience, even though it may have saved my life, it could have also caused death. It really needs to be evaluated for to the extreme side effective.

There might be or ought to be other drugs that are just as effective but not as severe.

Do mention symptoms to his (hopefully caring) oncologist and ask if they plan to do anything about the symptoms or reactions. I also pray that his treatment will be successful!! 🙏

I had a similar experience, flushing and high blood pressure. The nurses acted quickly and gave me lots of steriods and Benedryl. They actually decided to keep me on it and just double all my premeds for my next infusions and I handled it very.

Thank you for your comments it’s reassuring that other people have experienced the same adverse reaction. My husband is now going to get Folfox which is going to be given via a pump connected to his port for three days. He will have no chemo for one week and have another treatment the second week in all three treatments. We are hoping this treatment will go well.

You described exactly all the terrible reactions he had. It was so frightening to see him having all these terrible symptoms. It took a week for him to recover.
We hope the new treatment (Folfox) will work for him. I will post again to let you know how he’s doing. Thanks for your support.

Thank you for the follow up re taxol. His oncologist is switching his treatment to Folfox. It will be given via a pump connected to his port over three days. We are hoping this treatment will work. I will post how he does.

Hello @snowflake0731

When you last posted in November, your husband was beginning a new treatment, Folfox. I was thinking about you and wondering how he is doing. I hope the previous reactions he was having with the former treatment is resolved with the Folfox.

When it is convenient, will you please post an update?

Thank you for inquiring how my husband is doing on Folfox, fortunately he hasn’t had any adverse reaction to it. He will have his last treatment this coming week. The only bad side effects is the fatigue. He will go back for a scan in January and we hope that he will be cancer free.

I am pleased to hear that he was able to use Folfox without too many side effects, @snowflake0731. I hope that his scan in January will show good results from the treatment.

Will you post again and keep in touch?