My husband, with stage 1V adenocarcinoma, mets to spine, ribs, brain etc has just completed his second round of chemo...Alimta and Carbo. Lask week it was high blood sugar but we are home from hospital with sugar managed. His decadron was cut to 4 mg. per day (from . He is just so tired. He is only up when he eats his small meals but stays in bed or on the couch sleeping all day. Now, his weight is very low (134 pounds at 6 feet tall), he is depressed....just want to ask if this is a side effect of the Alimta and the reduced steriod (because of the sugar problem). I did do a search and see that fatigue is a side effect. He is lucid when he is awake...but ALWAYS wants to go back to bed. I know I will get some advice from the brave veterans here.....

Hi Linda. I am sorry to hear that your husband is suffering from side effects. I definitely experienced major fatigue while I was on Alimta. It isn't all that common but it happens. A few days after the infusion I basically went down for 2 to 3 days. I would sleep and sleep and then be alert for a bit and eat, and then go back to sleep again. But then after that I felt pretty good. Hope the same holds true for your hubby.

Have an awesome weekend

Sandra

_________________
See my survival story at http://lungevity.org/l_community/viewtopic.php?t=39390

43 years old at diagnosis, wife and mother of 2 wonderful children (1 of each, 12 and 13).

March 2007-cough that wouldn't clear, gets progressively worse, can't sleep on left side by July 2007
August 2007-cloudy x-ray
Aug 27-finally a CT scan, and hospitalized, 3 litres of fluid on lung. Fluid drained, hospital stay, bronchs, mediastinoscopy, thorascopy. Had been told cancer earlier, not in fluid though. Tests done to confirm staging. Staging confirmed as Stage III A, later changed to III B.
Oct 4-PET scan for radiation planning.
Oct 17-Nov 28-30 radiation treatments
Oct 17 to Jan 11-4 rounds of chemo, cisplatin and etoposide
Jan 28-Ct scan/chest x-ray
Feb 12-doc said re CT scan "results are excellent, could possibly be a complete positive response!" Don't think it gets much better than that. I won't say NED yet....
Mar 18/08-NED!!!!! based on updated CT scan. Small pleural effusion left,difficult to tell, but rest is NED. And also cleared for START, liposome vaccine clinical trial.
April 3-1st day of vaccine, every week for 8 weeks, less frequently after that
-May 8-PET scan results, bone mets!!! Lungs still clear. Begin radiation/chemo planning. Off of clinical trial after 5 treatments.
-May 27 and 30, 2 radiation treatments, 14 greys total
-June 10-July 21-first 3 alimta infusion, also receiving zometa infusions separately
-CT scan results July 21-lungs still clear, back a mess, referred to a neurosurgeon for possible surgery
-Aug 13-1st gemzar infusion (stopped alimta, was intolerant and gemzar thought to be more effective)
Aug 16-MRI as reported pain in right leg, results were probable nerve damage from spine mets
-Aug20-end of first cycle of gemzar. Treatments stopped as was intolerant, too many side effects.
Sept 25-bone scan ordered by pain doc
Oct 3-started Tarceva, 150 mg
Oct 23 PET scan results-progression in spine and left lung with lymph node involvement-CRAP!!!!!
Nov 5-Tarceva down to 125 mg
Jan 20-failed bone cement procedure, pain worse
Jan 23-admitted to hospital for 10 days: full kidney failure, later discovered infection in chest which was lanced, identified dropped foot, off of Tarceva since Jan 20
Mar 31-1st of 10 radiation treatments to the spine
May 12-started navalbine

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will". -Mahatma Gandhi

"When the going gets tough, the tough get waterproof mascara" (assuming you have eyelashes left after chemo!)

Hello Linda,

That very same fatigue (heavy) followed each and every of my husband's infusions with Alimta.

He would be very tired after about the second or third day following the infusion.

Bill would then keep to his lounge chair off and on for about three to four days before gradually regaining strength/energy.

He had almost a year's intake of that regimen, so he began to plan for the fatigue, expecting it, and realizing it wasn't permanent.

Through all of Bill's regimens (and there have been a number of them) he has eaten extra whenever there was a weight loss.

Snacks, in between protein booster drinks, and plenty of liquids (sugarless green tea or water) to keep hydrated.

He told me once (at the beginning of the treatments in 2004) that it was going to be "a job." Thinking of it in that way helped him to keep to the task of surviving.

So far, he has come through metastases to bone, brain, neck nodules, and brain.

Hope this helps.

Barbara

_________________
Bill died peacefully on March 25, 2010. He was very much loved, and will be sorely missed.

Link to "Bill's Story," and more detailed list of treatment regimens:

http://www.lungevity.org/l_community/viewtopic.php?t=37269

Photo: Barbara and Great Granddaughter KayMarie taken January 2010 at Rehab where Bill was gaining strength.