› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Starting Interferon Mon. Morning
- This topic has 14 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 9 months ago by
melanomafighter.
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- March 6, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Interferon treatments to start on Monday. If anyone else is in this posistion, maybe we can share experience. Kind of afraid of the next month and then the second 11 month period as I am hearing many different stories on the side effects, but after talking with the melanoma team at St. James in Columbus Ohio I feel I really need to make it through for best chance of relapse. I will try and stay in touch
Interferon treatments to start on Monday. If anyone else is in this posistion, maybe we can share experience. Kind of afraid of the next month and then the second 11 month period as I am hearing many different stories on the side effects, but after talking with the melanoma team at St. James in Columbus Ohio I feel I really need to make it through for best chance of relapse. I will try and stay in touch
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- March 7, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Thinking of you as you begin this journey. Drink, drink, drink – tons of water and whatever else you can get down.
Fen
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- March 7, 2011 at 12:37 pm
good luck! I found the first couple of days of high dose the hardest then it was easier. I needed my anti nauseau medicine the first couple of days then was fine. Definitely keep up the fluids, I drank at least one gatorade a day and that helped a lot along with all the water. I also found it great advice to have my treatments late afternoon so I just went home and rested, I did get headaches a lot. The chills are tough, I had a wonderful fleece blanket that I had to just wrap around me because of the shaking. Keep us posted, and remember any issues you maybe having the nurses or someone here can help you with to maybe make getting thru it easier.
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- March 7, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Hi,
Wishing you minimal side effects and do what people are recommending….drink plenty of fluids, and rest, use an electric blanket or fleecy blanket for the chills…you will get through this!!! Good luck!!!
Vermont_Donna
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- March 7, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Hi,
Wishing you minimal side effects and do what people are recommending….drink plenty of fluids, and rest, use an electric blanket or fleecy blanket for the chills…you will get through this!!! Good luck!!!
Vermont_Donna
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- March 7, 2011 at 12:37 pm
good luck! I found the first couple of days of high dose the hardest then it was easier. I needed my anti nauseau medicine the first couple of days then was fine. Definitely keep up the fluids, I drank at least one gatorade a day and that helped a lot along with all the water. I also found it great advice to have my treatments late afternoon so I just went home and rested, I did get headaches a lot. The chills are tough, I had a wonderful fleece blanket that I had to just wrap around me because of the shaking. Keep us posted, and remember any issues you maybe having the nurses or someone here can help you with to maybe make getting thru it easier.
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- March 7, 2011 at 4:14 pm
I did this treatment a year ago and agree with others, drink plenty of water and take Tylenol before treatment. I did mine at the end of the day and was able to work in the morning from home. I did notice that I was not able to drink soda like I did before, not a bad thing really.
The chills were the worst the first week, but I found using lots of blankets helped and then I would lose them as the fever set in.
Good luck!
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- March 7, 2011 at 4:14 pm
I did this treatment a year ago and agree with others, drink plenty of water and take Tylenol before treatment. I did mine at the end of the day and was able to work in the morning from home. I did notice that I was not able to drink soda like I did before, not a bad thing really.
The chills were the worst the first week, but I found using lots of blankets helped and then I would lose them as the fever set in.
Good luck!
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- March 7, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Interferon is not being used anymore in most "Melanoma Centers of Excellence". You may want to get a second opinion at
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital &
Richard J. Solove Research Institute
Ohio State University
A458 Starling Loving Hall
320 West 10th Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(614) 293-7521
Michael A. Caligiuri, M.D., Director
William Carson, M.D. Surgical Oncologist/Melanoma
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- March 7, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Interferon is not being used anymore in most "Melanoma Centers of Excellence". You may want to get a second opinion at
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital &
Richard J. Solove Research Institute
Ohio State University
A458 Starling Loving Hall
320 West 10th Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(614) 293-7521
Michael A. Caligiuri, M.D., Director
William Carson, M.D. Surgical Oncologist/Melanoma
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- March 9, 2011 at 5:51 am
I finished my year of interferon last November. Here's some of my advice:
Drink lots of water. (I ended up giving up ALL soda, had to switch to room temperature bottled water.)
To control your fever, before & after your interferon treatments/injections, take your Tylenol! They're not kidding about that!
If you are prone to nausea, take your anti-nausea meds! There are LOTS of anti-nausea options – not all of them work for everyone. (For example, compazine actually made me MORE nauseous.)
MY EXPERIENCE: I'm VERY prone to nausea. Initially, I was on Zofran ODT twice a day, a sancuso patch, and had oral phenergan available for "break-thru" nausea. (During the month of high-dose interferon, they can also give you phenergan via IV.) Once I adjusted to the interferon, I was able to drop the sancuso patch, and became less reliant on the phenergan.
Because I was so sensitive, I actually took anti-nausea meds twice a day, every day, whether I felt nauseous or not. I quickly learned it was easier to stay ahead of the nausea than it was to play catch-up. Less nausea meant more likelihood to eat! (Loss of appetite is one of interferon's side-effects, and I definitely had it!)
NOTE: This is just MY experience. Interferon affects everybody differently. You may not need anti-nausea medication at this level.
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- March 12, 2011 at 3:59 am
good luck you can do this, its not fun but its worth it. It was all that was offered to me and I ran with it. I was scared and it was not near as bad for me as I had read or what people said it would be. You will know after your first night how you will take to it. Stay strong. The low dose 11 month program was worse on me than the high dose and they say if you get through the 30 days of high you are well protected. I did not complet the low dose and I am NED a year so far. Take care and keep us updated on how you are please Teresa in Indiana
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- March 12, 2011 at 3:59 am
good luck you can do this, its not fun but its worth it. It was all that was offered to me and I ran with it. I was scared and it was not near as bad for me as I had read or what people said it would be. You will know after your first night how you will take to it. Stay strong. The low dose 11 month program was worse on me than the high dose and they say if you get through the 30 days of high you are well protected. I did not complet the low dose and I am NED a year so far. Take care and keep us updated on how you are please Teresa in Indiana
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- March 9, 2011 at 5:51 am
I finished my year of interferon last November. Here's some of my advice:
Drink lots of water. (I ended up giving up ALL soda, had to switch to room temperature bottled water.)
To control your fever, before & after your interferon treatments/injections, take your Tylenol! They're not kidding about that!
If you are prone to nausea, take your anti-nausea meds! There are LOTS of anti-nausea options – not all of them work for everyone. (For example, compazine actually made me MORE nauseous.)
MY EXPERIENCE: I'm VERY prone to nausea. Initially, I was on Zofran ODT twice a day, a sancuso patch, and had oral phenergan available for "break-thru" nausea. (During the month of high-dose interferon, they can also give you phenergan via IV.) Once I adjusted to the interferon, I was able to drop the sancuso patch, and became less reliant on the phenergan.
Because I was so sensitive, I actually took anti-nausea meds twice a day, every day, whether I felt nauseous or not. I quickly learned it was easier to stay ahead of the nausea than it was to play catch-up. Less nausea meant more likelihood to eat! (Loss of appetite is one of interferon's side-effects, and I definitely had it!)
NOTE: This is just MY experience. Interferon affects everybody differently. You may not need anti-nausea medication at this level.
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