agnieszka1975
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Posts:8
Dear All,
My mum who was diagnosed with NSCL (3B) about 3 months ago and has been taking Tarceva for about 1,5 months experiences low fevers, usually 37,2-37,5. She was hoping Tarceva will deal with it (as well as with night sweats) but it seems is not that easy to come to 36,6. Last two days she had 38,0 and 38,1, and decided to take paracetamol (250 mg). Could you please advice if it is safe to try beat the temperature with the paracetamol? Another questions - can we expect that Tarceva will help with the night sweats?
best regards,
Agnieszka
Forums
Reply # - December 9, 2013, 04:06 PM
Reply To: Tarceva & fever
Hello Agnieszka, I'm very sorry your mom has been diagnosed with lung cancer. It isn't possible for our faculty to give advice to a person who isn't their patient.
However the only over the counter drugs that are known to interact with tarceva are the zantac and tagamet, and also proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like prilosec. Tylenol/paracetamol are usually ok but it's always best to check with the doctor's office to make sure. Also it's important that doctors are aware of fevers.
Night sweats are associated with cancer and as cancer shrinks from treatment often so do night sweats stop. So hopefully the night sweats with stop I know they can be disturbing.
All best,
Janine
Reply # - December 9, 2013, 06:45 PM
Reply To: Tarceva & fever
There shouldn't be any anticipated harmful interaction between paracetamol and Tarceva (erlotinib). But paracetamol doesn't treat the underlying cause of the fever, which might be infection, or very possibly the cancer itself. If Tarceva is a very effective treatment against the cancer and the cancer is the cause of the fever, it's very likely the fevers and night sweats will resolve. On the other hand, if it's from infection, Tarceva isn't going to be an effective treatment, but antibiotics would potentially help.
-Dr. West
Reply # - December 10, 2013, 11:36 AM
Reply To: Tarceva & fever
Dear Janine, Dear Dr West,
Thank you so much for the information. I have talked to my mom today and she had 37,7 in the evening so the temperature goes down. I really don't know if it is infection or the cancer, mom spends a lot of time at home as we have snowy weather in Warsaw, so she shouldn't get cold. As far as I know her night sweats are not as disturbing as at the beginning (actually it was a symptom that made her visit GP), two weeks ago she even had two nights without sweating. On 23.12 we are going to the hospital for scan interpretation and I strongly believe that this horrible cancer will shrink or disappear.
best regards,
Agnieszka