My mother had a CT Scan done and on Monday we will see the doctor for results. If the scan doesn't show any good results then the doctor said he will stop the Cisplatin. He said the next option would be Erbitux.

A while back someone posted Erbitux saved their life. Im wondering about the side effects. My mother has been through a lot and has lost so much weight already. I'm sure its no walk in the park but just wondering if its worse than Cisplatin.

Thanks
Heidi

The chemo you are talking about is called Erbitux. Its also known as cetuximab. One of the side effects is a rash. from what I understand the bigger the rash, the better the Erbitux is working.

Thanks Christine

It's called Erbitux thanks for the correction. As you can see I'm still learning. I'm sure a rash wont feel to good but it's probably better to deal with than what she has been through. I don't think my mom can handle a 3rd round of the Cisplatin. the 2nd one really took a toll on her.


Happy Holidays
Heidi

I had Erbitux concurrent with my IMRT treatments. No major side effects except for the rash. IV Benadrill was my friend for that.

Good Luck Heidi!

I had Erbitux also and am in my 2nd month of recovery (from the side effects) from both the Chemo and the radiation. One of the side effects has been "Chemo Brain", a condition similar to CRS (can't remember stuff). My wife noticed my fogginess about the 3rd week of my 7 week treatments and I still have it; along with some others. My dr.'s are telling me that it may take 4-6 months to get back to where I was before. I am hopeful, but I am not completely sold that I will ever be the same as I was before; not in that time frame.

yes I'm going thru treatment with Erbitux now. I had 1 treatment have rash on side of my face but not real bad. Doing Erbitux before surgery they say it helps for after. After 1 treatment I noticed 90% of pain is gone and the tumor seems to went down some,I have 2 more treatments left then surgery. I go the next 3 Mondays I'll try to let you know how things turned out

There are two rare, but severe, side effects with Erbitux and that is an allergic reaction, and heart attack, which mostly occur the first or 2nd infusion in a small percentage of people. Benadryl is given to help with the allergic reaction, and staff monitor you closely, and you are to report anything out of the ordinary. The other which is expected, and sign of the Erbitux working is the rash, which is managed by antibiotics. They say for about 5% of head and neck cancer patients this drug doesn't work due to the Kras gene mutation, but there is no assay test to find this out unlike for colorectal cancer, which blood test is given before starting to see if one is a candidate or not.

http://www.erbitux.com/index.aspx

My husband has had 5 Erbitux infusions and 12 IMRT Radiation treatments. The worst of the rash/acne was after the first 2-3 infusions and has calmed down now. The Dr gave him a gel to help dry the acne and that helped a lot. He now has dry skin that we use a moisturizer for. His appetite has gone down and we are using the Gtube for supplemental feelings.

after my 2nd treatment of Erbitux and chemo,I had I guess what you can say a very sour belly.Didnt have fever this time,but it pretty much put me on the couch the next day. I do have a rash dry lips but hardly any pain,looks like things are shrinking. Seems like the day of and after treatment I have a hard time eating,but have been able to eat that night and feel lots better

I am currently being treated with Cetuximab/Erbitux after on and off complicated treatment regimen (due to bone necrosis in jaw, likely caused by bevacizumab/Avastin--another targeted therapy drug)to treat stage IV mets to lungs, which was primary'd from throat cancer back in 2012. My most recent treatment soup has been carboplatin(orig cisplatin--carbo is less harsh), taxotere, and the Erbitux, which was added early last November. I took a break from all treatment after finishing the latest four treatment, 21-day cycle, carbo/tax regimen.
Most recent CT-Scans have shown very positive results to mets in lungs. This came at a price, the side-effects were hard on me.
From everything I've read though, and I read everything I can get access to, the side-effects are worth putting up with. Of course, that is barring allergic reaction, unbearable side-effects, etc,. Some people continue with Cetuximab/Erbitux for years as "maintenance therapy".
I had minor rash on chest. My face and hands were affected the worst. At the end of about 4 or 5-weeks on Cetuximab my face appeared sunburnt, with skin flaking. Along the way I treated this with Uecerin cream. Hands dried so bad that I was wrapping bandaids around half my finger tips from tiny deep cuts that opened on their own, as well as various nicks and scrapes. I used Uecerin on hands also. I had really weird eye-tearing thing going on too. Phys Asst told me it wasn't pink eye, but it looked like it.
My magnesium levels dropped very low throughout this experience and still are not right yet; they call this hypomagnesemia. I am taking over the counter supplement currently. There were few times the IV'd magnesium into me during chemo. I have had muscle and arthritic-like joint pain from this. No energy, malaise kind of lethargy too. Things can get dangerous if magnesium levels (as well as others) aren't kept in correct range.
Yeah, that's my latest course of self-study, fluids and electrolytes. Ahhh, but I've said enough here, I'm not trying to hijack the thread. I thought I a little bit more first hand detail in answer to your question wouldn't hurt here.
On Jan 20th I start "maintenance" regimen of Cetuximab/Erbitux alone, which will be cut back to every other week at my request. If anyone wants Erbitux updates, check back with me. We'll know after a while whether or not it was the targeted therapy drug that shrunk, and in some cases flat out disappeared, my tumors.