Gemcitabine Side Effects & Patient Stories
What Is Gemcitabine?
Gemcitabine (Gemzar) belongs to the class of chemotherapy drugs and is used in the treatment of various cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, testicular cancer, and others.
What Is the Gemcitabine Mechanism of Action?
Gemcitabine works against cancer cells by interrupting the DNA synthesis process. Since this DNA process is interrupted, the cancer cells cannot split and then they die.
Gemcitabine Side Effects
If you or a loved one want to prepare and learn about side effects of gemcitabine (Gemzar), many patients often receive the drug in combination with other chemo drugs. Some of the more commonly reported gemcitabine side effects include, but are not limited to:
- nausea
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- constipation
- loss of appetite
- sores in the mouth and throat
- hair loss
- headache
- sore or painful muscles
- pain, burning, or tingling in the hands or feet
- swelling, pain, redness, or burning at the injection site
Gemcitabine (Gemzar) Patient Experiences
Here’s what cancer patients had to say about their experiences with gemicitabine:
When I relapsed, I received high-dose chemotherapy that was done inpatient. This treatment was called IGEV and was done four times over the course of three months.
IGEV chemotherapy was hard my hemoglobin fell to 5.0 (normal is 12 to 14) so I was fatigued, had weakness, and was unable to eat at times.
I had severe nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, weakness, and low blood counts. I had to inject myself everyday for a week with Neupogen to make sure my white blood cell counts (WBC) were high and I was not at risk for infections.I ate small meals and always made sure I was not in crowded places when my blood counts were low.
Fabiola L. (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Classical, Stage 2BX [Bulky Disease], Relapse)
I started chemotherapy. I had two medications, Gemcitabine and a combination of Gemcitabine and Taxotere. I would have Gemcitabine on week one. It was a one-and-a-half-hour dose.
A week later, I would have another dose of Gemcitabine and an hour of Taxotere. Taxotere was my aggressive chemo, and it caused the majority of the side effects – the hair loss, nausea, all these different things.
Nicole B. (Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Stage 3, Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma [UPS])
All Gemcitabine (Gemzar) Patient Stories
Michelle R., Recurrent Bladder Cancer, Stage 1
Symptoms: Irregular occurrences of seeing streaks of blood in urine, specific type of pain when bladder is full, unexplained weight loss, urinary urgency, malaise, fatigue
Treatments: Chemotherapy (gemcitabine), surgery (TURBT: transurethral resection of bladder tumor)
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Callan R., Testicular Cancer, Stage 3
Symptom: Lump in right testicle
Treatments: Chemotherapy (cisplatin, doxorubicin, BEP, GemTaxol, TopCaT), surgery (orchiectomy), clinical trial (BNT142)
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Kirsty N., Stage 4 Squamous Cell
Symptoms: Persistent left flank pain, backache, fatigue, weight loss, traces of blood in urine, fluid in left kidney
Treatment: Chemotherapy (gemcitabine & carboplatin)
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Roger R., Pancreatic Cancer, Stage 2
Cancer Details: Found after Galleri blood test and MRI
1st Symptoms: None
Treatment: 5FU (folfirinox), Gemzar, NK cell expansion therapy, Dendritic cell expansion therapy, Neoantigen peptide vaccine
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Nicole B., Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma, Stage 3
Cancer Details: <5% of adult sarcomas
1st Symptoms: severe intolerance to food, nausea
Treatment: Cholecystectomy, Chemo (Gemcitabine and Taxotere), Whipple surgery
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