Adriamycin: your personal stories, comments, and experiences

I had 3 treatments of Adriamycin & Cytoxan last fall. The 1st two were 2 weeks apart, then I was doing bad and the 3rd was delayed a week and dosage reduced. I did even worse and the treatments were discontinued. I was to have one more and then 4 of Taxol. Has anyone else had their treatments discontinued due to chemo toxiciity?

Hi Walshnow,

It is not uncommon for treatments to get altered or discontinued due to toxicity. Generally, oncologists follow guidelines to choose the appropriate chemotherapy for a specific cancer. However, sometimes the first line chemo is not effective so they turn to a second or third line chemo agent. There are other things to consider when planning for chemo such as age, the type of cancer, and other concomittant medical problems. Oncologist and patients must find a reasonable balance between the drug dose and side effects.

Medicine has come a long way, but there is still much to discover. Breakthroughs are made regularly in oncology. The ultimate goal is to discover a chemo drug that kills a specific cancer effectively with little or no toxicity.

Thanks for sharing your story.