Hi Steph,
They kept me overnight in the hospital and too blood every 6 hours to
test the enzyme issue which the results were OK I was told and the EKG
was OK, so I don't know what cuased the heart reaction and frankly am
afraid to continue getting 5FU until we figure out why this happened. in
fact everything I'm reading says chemo causes secondary cancers down the
road which in many cases are untreatable or difficult. My CEA has gone
from 92 pre surgery to 2.5 two months after surgery (Praise God) so I'm
seriously debating stoping the cemo before it does serious damage and
leaving well enough alone.

Regards,
John


Re: Need info on 5FU chemo test  

Group: alt.support.cancer Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2006, 5:01pm (EST+5) From:
steph@vancouvers.island (Steph)
"J W" <jonboy42@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:25870-4401C1C6-197@storefull-3253.bay.webtv.net...
I understand there is a test to determine if a pperson is hypersensitive
to the 5FU chemotherapy. Can someone please email me the details on this
test? I had a bad coronary reaction to a 5FU push this week and I'm
afraid to take anymore of this drug. They kept me overnight in hospital
to determine if I hhad a heart attack or not. The Oncologist thinks it
was some sort of spasming of the heart or arteries that is supposedly a
trait of this drug but I'm not so sure.
They usually give the 5FU to me in a 46 hour drip pump thatgoes home
with me but this week they took some out of the pump and decided to give
me what they called a push which is a big needle full of the junk all at
once. Within a few minutes after I got the push, I got terrible chest
pain, difficuty breathing, arms and feet numb, dizzy, doctor said pulse
was thready whatever that means and some speech slur. It scared the crap
out of me. The doctor says she won't guarantee that they won't try
giving me the push again but I don't think I'll let them do it whether
they want to or not.
This was my third round of chemo and I'd been having some minor chest
pain all along with it but wasn't bad, no worse than heartburn or mild
reflux so I assumed it was the nature of the beast and didn't say
anything about it, perhaps I should have.
Someone told me that there is a test one can take to determine if you
are too sensitive to the 5FU and perhaps should not take it. Can anyone
give me the specifics on this test so I know what to ask for?
The other drugs they have me on with the 5FU-7 are leucovorin &
oxylaplatin
Regards,
John
Some people have an enzyme deficiency which makes 5FU more toxic, but
this usually manifests as severe diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and blood count
problems. It doesn't vary from dose to dose.
5FU is reported to cause cardiac problems in some people, but I don't
think it's due to the enzyme deficiency