This has been prescribed for myhusband for when he starts chemo. Apparently it helps tremendously with the side effects.

Has anyone used it?

Does it work?

Thanks
LILY

Yes, it works. For me it was the ONLY med. that worked and unfortunately they didn't prescribe it for me until after I spent a few days vomiting after chemo number one but it really helped me at the end of that and through chemo number two and it helped control the daily nausea I had from the ethyol. I hope you have good prescription drug coverage because it's outrageously expensive otherwise (but, I would say, still worth it if it can help him get through chemo without the days of constant nausea and vomiting).

Thank you Nelie

We are authorized for 20 pills a month because they are very expensive.

He already has nausea from the patch but its either that or suffer with the terrible headaches.

Thanks for the reply

Zofran is very effective and works perfectly about 60% of the time according to the manfacturer. It is mostly effective during the first five days of use then you must switch to other anti-emetics like Compazine. There is another similar drug to Zofran but the name slips my mind right now. Zofran also comes in a liquid form that can be used in a PEG tube. They usually infuse Zofran prior to starting the chemotherapy as well. The pills (or liquid) are for afterward.
They also gave me Compazine suppositories which, as time went on, I was very grateful to have in my inventory - at least you can't throw them up. Ativan is another drug to have available. It can be swallowed, placed under the tongue or inserted into the Compazine suppository.

Patch, you mean Duragesic? There is an adjustment period - it will either get better or he will need to find something else.

Just a note that I continue to use the Zofran occassionally (8 weeks after starting treatment), and it works wonders.

It worked for me much better than the other anti-emetics (and continues to do so).

Compazine for me was too dissorienting.

Just a note to let you know we are all different.

Zofran has been an absolutely unbelievable blessing for me. I managed to obtain sufficient samples of the ODT, Orally Disolving Tablets, such that I could take them immediately upon the onset of the nausea. I then used the regular tablets throughout the rest of the day.

In my case I have to say that it is just as effective now, after six weeks of treatment, as it was that first day. Expensive yes, but if it works that just does not matter, given a decent pharmacy plan that is.

Thank you for the feedback. I am hoping that this works for him as Compazine did nothing to help him.

Its great to hear that it works and it can do wonders. We need all that right now and we haven't even started the rad and chemo.

LILY

Leze, my drug coverage also originally limited me (to 15 pills a month) but my medical oncologists's office, who has experience with this, called them and explained that I would only need the pills for one month--but I would need 30 of them--and the company made an exception and covered me for 30. You might talk to your medical oncologist about whether they'd be willing to try doing this for you.

Compazine suppositories made me feel horribly groggy but they were effective--way more effective than compazine pills (so you might ask for some even if the pills did nothing) and thye are a good backup for when you can't get anything at all down that will stay down.

I also didn't find that Zofran decreased much in effectiveness over time, though I think in general every 5 days I took a small break from taking it.

The other drug Gary mentions may be Anzemet --which is even *more* expensive than Zofran, but having said that, it works for 24 hours. That is what is generally given to patients (as an IV or shot) right before chemo. Barry found that, when he had to go back to using Ethyol to have his last 3 treatments on an older machine (the tomo being down), that the Anzemet worked while the Zofran no longer seemed to (as Gary notes).

He never could get on with the Compazine and in fact, it really didn't work very well for him.

These serotonin drugs are expensive but it's a whole different ball game now regarding chemo nausea -- Barry's 7 chemo treatments were non-events, he found the Ethyol much more of an emetic; it required very careful nausea management pre-and post-injection.

Gail

Thanks for the imput everyone.

Our first round of chemo starts this Tuesday and it will consist of Carboplatin and Paclitaxel once a week.

I think we are ready, we have the Zofran, the compazine on both pills and suppositories.

I read here somewhere that he should not eat anything right before and to sip water slowly throughout the day to aide with the nausea.

Wish us luck!!