Xeloda for colon cancer - Scared about side effects and need support

Hello, I am so pleased that you are feeling much better and enjoyed your holiday celebration. I totally agree that eating fresh fruit and vegetables is the best way to keep a balanced diet. I have started to add more of those foods to my daily routine, but still need to do more. Walking is a great way to get exercise and reduce stress, and I'm so glad it is helping with your energy level. Due to my sciatica flare ups, I have to limit my walking and standing for the time being until I get my next steroid injection in my back, which is scheduled for early February. It is always something. That's interesting about the Chinese food being a bit too spicy. A few weeks after my colon surgery I was craving my favorite eastern Indian food, so I ordered takeout. Even though I ordered it mildly spicy, I ate a third of it and realized my system is just not ready. Hopefully, that will improve over time. I am tolerating the Xeloda for the most part, but still do get that constipation, but it is slowly improving. I will know more this coming Friday when I see my oncologist. Until then, I hope your next cycle goes well, and that you continue feeling better. I will be in touch again soon. Stay warm and safe.

Happy New Year! Thanks for your good wishes. I hope it turns out to be a good one for all of us currently undergoing chemo or surgery.
Since ending my first 2 week cycle last Thursday I have been a lot more comfortable - more energy and a taste for champagne and red wine reappeared yesterday evening during New Year's Eve celebrations with friends! And today I have done 6,800 steps so far with my wife which is a record since starting chemo.
I agree that drinking lots of fluids, particularly water, is so important. If I start to flag, a drink of water soon perks me up. Fortunately, I've been free of constipation for around 10 days now and so I hope the balanced diet I'm trying to achieve will work better once the next cycle of chemo starts in a few day's time. I tend to avoid supplements and focus instead on fresh or frozen produce from our garden, particularly greens, beetroot, carrots and potatoes. I like natural unsweetened yoghurt too. But I did experiment with a Chinese takeaway two days ago - the ginger with the prawns (shrimps) and spring onions was delicious but overall it was a bit too spicy for my system and so probably won't be repeated for a while.
I hope you're tolerating Xeloda well and that you avoid any significant side effects. Best wishes. Martin

Hi again, I wanted to wish you a very Happy New Year, and hope going forward you will feel much better and soon have good news that your treatment is working. I meant to tell you that drinking a lot of water or other fluids will most likely help with the constipation. I am also going to talk with my doctor next Friday about my going back on probiotics. I used to take them and it always was helpful in regulating the system. I read articles about clinical studies where cancer/chemo patients do very well with probiotics, and it is a great help. Check with your doctor first and ask what type he or she recommends. I will do the same. I eat mostly gluten free and dairy free foods, and had gotten into a habit of eating vegan cheese before all this started, and realize now that to help avoid the constipation I cannot eat it as much or even my gluten free bread and other food items that contain rice flour. As we know, rice is a binder, so maybe in moderation with vegetables and fruit is okay, but not as a steady diet. It's a whole new learning process. Hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays and are feeling better.

Hello, thank you for sharing your experiences, and I do hope you continue to feel better soon. It is natural to have the anxiety, as I'm sure just about everyone going through a cancer diagnosis and treatment must feel very scared and confused. It's good that you haven't had too many issues, and I think very helpful that we all share what we are dealing with. Helping each other also helps ourselves to heal in a more positive way. I do wish you a very happy and healthier New Year, and may we all have peace on earth. Please check in from time to time and let all of us know how you are doing. I will do the same. Take care.

I to was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer with 2 lymph nodes positive after bowel resection surgery. After my initial oncology consult I was scared also because of the picture they painted.after 8 chemo sessions my side effects r minimum. Taste buds,brain fog, some diarrhea,that's easy checked. Anxiety that I brought 2 the table. No pain,,no fever,no hair loss,. nail color change (some)

I hope you're not too uncomfortable. Yes, I'm sure diet has such a large part to play and eating healthily will help avoid the need for even a gentle laxative. Whilst I haven't needed any for several days now my bowel continues to be irritable much of the time, despite eating lots of home grown vegetables. It needs to learn how to behave itself. I shall follow your advice and take the pills in easy steps in future instead of swallowing all 3 in rapid succession (mainly to get the process over with!). Thanks for the tip, and for the ginger recommendation.
Best of luck over the next few days. It's good to compare experiences.

Hello again, I am about to start my morning ritual on day 3. I did have a little constipation this morning upon wakening, and realized that I also need to do something about eating more well balanced foods to include more vegetables and fruit--especially grapes. I have gotten into a bad habit prior to the holidays with eating foods that I normally don't. Not only have I gained weight, but am also eating foods that are not good for the treatment and with just having the colon surgery. Starting today, I am going to eat more of the good things and go back to eating the fun stuff in moderation. I have heard that prune juice is also good to have around in case one has this problem. Definitely need to keep a gentle laxative on hand. I will let you know how it goes, and I do hope that you will have better success. Is next week your one week off? All the Best in the New Year!

Hello, I have been thinking about you and wanted to wait until I had a few doses before explaining how I am feeling since I started yesterday 12/26/22 with the Xeloda. I am sorry you have been on a roller coaster and hope that your symptoms will subside and that your experience for the rest of the journey will be a positive one. It has not been quite a week for you, so it may just take a little longer for your system to settle in. I too am taking 3 of the 500mg tablets 2/day, and so far have not had any side effects. While I am tolerating it well so far, it has only been 3 doses as of this writing. I will take my 4th dose tonight and then continue tomorrow through this week and next before having a week off. I am not getting too excited at this point because it has only been two days, and not sure if things will change once I get further into the routine and the medicine has really kicked in. I will post another update by this coming weekend once I see how things go. I meet with my oncologist on January 6th for my first follow up since I last saw her after my surgery and before taking the treatment. Not sure if my routine will help, but what I do is take the Ondansetron (anti nausea medicine) under the tongue so it will dissolve while I have an empty stomach. I do this about 30 minutes prior to eating breakfast (same with dinner). Then I have my meal prepared to eat at least half of it after that 30 minutes are up, and start taking one pill at a time, slowly, with water, and then taking another bite of food. I drink hot ginger tea with my breakfast, and keep ginger chews (from the health food store) on my kitchen counter in case I need them, along with ginger ale, and even ginger snaps (haven't needed any of that yet, but it's there just in case). After the first pill, I take the second one a few minutes later, again with some food and water and sips of ginger tea. The same with the third tablet. I do this process slowly so that the 3 tablets are taken in about 8-10 minutes. I repeat this at dinner time. So far so good, but as I mentioned, I am just starting, so not sure if I will continue experiencing the same outcome over the course of the next few months. Once I finish in 6 months, I will get another CT scan, so of course there is always going to be anxiety when we are re-tested in the hopes that all goes well and nothing else shows up. Do you still have to take steroids and infusions, or was that just for the beginning? Please keep me posted on your progress, and I too will do the same by the end of the week or during the weekend. Meanwhile, I wish you the very best and pray that we both get through this ordeal as best as possible without any mishaps. Happy New Year to you and your family, and continue to stay safe and warm. Sending you positive thoughts my friend. We will get through this!

Thanks for your Christmas greetings. I hope you had a good day and that your first day of Xeloda has gone well. Have you experienced tingly fingers yet? That's an easy side effect to live with but I sometimes wear thin gloves when handling cold objects. I'm finding it's a bit like riding a roller coaster - some days are great and others difficult and I've yet to discover the reason for the variances. I seem to be tolerating Xeloda quite well and so I suspect it's about finding the right diet to ensure a comfortable bowel at all times.
My treatment started with an infusion of Oxaliplatin last Thursday which lasted around 2 hours. That was easy. Since then I have been taking 3 x 500mg pills of Capecitabine (Xeloda) twice a day but the first 3 days also included steroid and anti-sickness pills which, combined, might have been the cause of the awful constipation a week ago. I've stopped taking laxatives and so it now seems to be a question of diet management. This roller coaster experience has resulted in some days, such as yesterday, when I have felt very well (5,500 steps achieved fairly easily), but not quite as good today (only 3,300 so far). Maybe it was the first red wine for weeks when a couple of grandkids visited yesterday! I hope your experience goes well and that you have no discomfort.
We have had lovely sunny weather over Christmas with temperatures of 9C / 48F at times. Good to hear you're not affected by the icy conditions elsewhere. Keep in touch.

Diagnosed with colon cancer after bowel operation for obstruction.stage 3,2 lymph nodes out out of 17..started chemo in sept.22, just finished session 8. I'm 82 retired Army, every 14days I undergo Fluorouracil iv followed by pegfilgrastim injection.
My side effects has been minor dirrea,which is easily checked with a pill of Imodium ad. No pain,no nausea.severe loss of taste, my mouth is not sore,but feels like but into a green persimmon. I have 4 more sessions. I wish you luck, I do feel that your outcome will be favorable.