Diarrhea and tarceva - 1272522

jkcath
Posts:16

My started tarceva at 100mg in June 15, after 2 months the lung tumors had decreased greatly. in Nov. her dose was cut to 75 and in Dec. the dose was cut to 50mg at our urging. Even at 50mg per day she still plagued by diarrhea issues most days. She take an over the counter anti-diarrhea medicine and used Lomotil for a while but it did not help the diarrhea just knocked her out. Has anyone found a solution to the diarrhea problem similar to this?

Thanks

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Reply # - January 10, 2016, 03:10 PM

catdander
Posts:

Hi jkcath, I'm sorry for the long wait but I will ask a lung cancer specialist with another specialty in hospice/comfort care for a comment.

All the best,
Janine

Reply # - January 11, 2016, 08:28 PM

Dr Laskin
Posts: 34

Dear jkcath

I'm very sorry to hear about the diarrhea problems, that can really be exhausting and draining after such a long time. As an oncologist i have very occasionally had patients with similar problems, though i cannot say there is a universal solution i'll try to come up with a few suggestions.

First of all - check with your doctor to make sure you are really using the maximum amount of imodium or lomotil allowable. usually the box directions are quite conservative and sometimes increasing the dose and hitting the diarrhea hard at the start of it can help. for example, instead of taking one pill after each watery stool you might start right away with 2 pills (depending on the dose). I have found that some people are very hesitant to take enough up front but sometimes that stops it.

Check with your pharmacist or doctor to make sure there are no other reasons for diarrhea, some other medications can cause this problem. Same idea with foods - try to pay attention to what foods may be contributing - sometimes people are eating too much fruit or they are lactose intolerant. remember the basic diet for diarrhea is BRAT (bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast). i had a patient who was eating a whole pineapple everyday and not understanding why the diarrhea was so bad! sounds extreme but sometimes it's these more obvious things.

finally, i have tried using the pill every other day, or 5 days a week and that day or two off seems to help. not ideal but if the drug is working then it might be worth discussing with your oncologist.

if you've exhausted all of these possibilities then very occasionally we do have to change treatments.

i hope that helps, best of luck

Dr Laskin

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