Any successful experiences with GemAbrax after awful side effects?

I am 75. The worst is the hair loss, fatigue and neuropathy to my feet especially. I read your description below about your neuropathy & would agree that is the same feeling. I see you are with the VA. I am trying acupuncture to relieve some of the neuropathy & if you start early enough & can continue it does help. I try using community care for the acupuncture but am not getting it half the time. Time to go to chemo..#22 this time around; total will now be 66. I have not had issues with my labs. Oh, the worst is the constipation! after chemo!

My husband's neuropathy is horrible also. Started with toes/fingers when on folfironox, but much worse after 5 months on gem/abrax. He tried doing the ice treatment during abrax infusions. So, either that didn't work, or else the neuropathy would have been even worse without it. He tried gabapentin for a long time. Then tried doloxitine, and wasn't helping. He started using a walker about a week ago as he is so unstable when walking on numb feet/calves. Chemo has now stopped, so it will be interesting if things improve with his neuropathy. Luckily he did not get sick with his low WBC. Hope the gabapentin works for you!

Constipation after chemo. Had nelected to list that one but lasts only one day now so I guess my body is getting acclimated to the meds. some. Hair loss: I was never much to look at but that sure didn't help. 🙂 I'll ask about the acupuncture when I see my VA doc again. 22 sessions: I'm going to do my best to keep up some exercise for strength as that's about all I can do to help myself bear up to the infusions. My oncologist did change my schedule 2 days ago to once every 2 wks. instead of 3 on/1 off.

I had a several month break between the cessation of the Folfirinox and the start of the Gem/Abrax. During that time, I was accepted for an NIH study in Bethesda for people with acinar cell pancreatic cancer who also had the BRCA 2 mutation. They put me on Olaparib, and it was not effective due to the only remaining tumor visible on the PET/CT scans being the one that the VA doc discovered had developed the reverse BRCA 2 mutation. After 3 months going to the NIH, they saw growth of the thing and I was released from the study. I did notice some lessening of the neuropathy at the end of that break. But it's worse than ever now after having these Gem/Abrax. sessions. My heart goes out to your husband as I know how he feels. Hopefully, after a couple months he'll notice some improvement in the neuropathy after he's off chemo. I just noticed this morning that the VA posted on my account the results of my blood test before the Tues. chemo session and my WBC was right in the middle of the acceptable range. Never happened before but I'll take it. Swimming has always been my preferred exercise but both of the YMCA's I went to seem to be the places I pick up a bug. I wish healing to your husband, ma'am. Thanks for the input.

I have been on gem/abrax off and on since June 2023. I do get chills and fever at about day 3 after chemo. I have been able to control the fever spikes with a cold pack. At the beginning I had loss of appetite and some nausea, but that has ceased for now. So hopefully it will get better soon.

Oh, yeah... hair loss. My husband looks completely different without his beard and eyelashes and says his nose is always dripping without nose hair 🙂 I hadn't seen him without a beard in 47 years. More concerned about fatigue and neuropathy. For Dan the nausea was much worse with folfironox than it has been with gem/abrax, so that is a plus.

I’m so sorry to hear of your neuropathy. It started after my Whipple procedure followed by Floiflornox six years ago. I tried gabapentin and pregabalin in increasing doses for years. I quit a couple years ago because it really does nothing to stop the pain of neuropathy. I did find that it gradually diminishes after years of living with it. I also found sketchers shoes are the most comfortable and getting them in wide sizes or extra wide. They also have lots of foam cushioning.

For your low blood counts, the doctors gave me Nuleasta shots, which boost your white blood cell counts

God bless you and may you be healed so you can live a good life 🙏🏼💜🌈

Hi. I am 75 and they diagnosed my cancer in Sept. 2024. The tumor is now 6.3 cm after a shrinkage of .9 cm while on Gemzar and Abraxane. They said it is a very aggressive tumor because I did not have it 6 months before because all my blood work was perfect at my regular 6 month checkup. Abraxane was the devil for me. I had severe bone pain, severe flu systems and neuroapathy had gotten worse. I was exausted and had 3 or 4 days of being a zombie and could not focus. The doctor, my husband and I have decided to stop the abraxane. It has been 3 weeks that I have been off of it. So far, the only symptoms are extreme tiredness and focus issues toward the end of the day. The tumor is in the body and tail. The cancer has encased the celiac axis where there are hundreds of blood vessels and it is inoperable. My Dr. has not told me how long I have but my G. P. who found the cancer, told me a year to a year 1/2. I was told the Gemzar may continue to shrink the tumor and it will give me a more quality of life. If it doesn't shrink it, it may just maintain the tumor. My Dr. is great but blunt. I have now been put in pallative care and the next step is Hospice. I have noticed my hair is starting to grow back. All I want is my beautiful eyelashes to return. I am sorry that all the wonderful people on this site are going thru such horrible effects and I pray for them and you. I wish you all the best.

I’m only on gemzar now. I’m 67 going on 68 in a few months. I was 65 when I was diagnosed with Stage 2 distal pancan with 1 lymph node involvement. After my surgery and being off chemo for 4.5 months ,
I transitioned into stage 4 due to 1.7 cm lesion in my liver. Started Gem/Abraxane in 2024 neuropathy in my iPhone finger started early on but it wasn’t too bad. Got neuropathy in sole of 1 foot bad by Dec-Jan 2025. Got MRIdean radiation treatment in October 2024 for liver lesion which seems to have worked as my tumor marker has been a low normal since then and blood test don’t show any active cancer other than TP53 at 0.3% (unknown significance). I had somatic KRAS12D and possibly ATM, and TP53 back in 2022. New dr took me off abraxane and neuropathy has subsided a bit but great description someone gave that it feels like you have 3” of foam strapped to sole of foot. OOFOS footwear (mostly you can just order these online) are a huge huge difference in being able to walk decently. I highly recommend them.

I pray that your beautiful eyelashes return. I’m so sorry to hear of your diagnosis but will pray for you for a return to normal. 🙏🏼💜🌈 may God bless you!