Dad has been on Tarceva for 31/2 weeks. His Oncologist started him on 25 mg x 2 weeks then increased to 50 mg x 2 weeks . Which he is on now. He will start 100 mg on friday . So far no side effects of any kind. Everyone here says the rash is a good thing. Should we be seeing something by now or is the dose just to small?
Dana
Hi Dana,
Most oncologists start patients out on the 150 dose and the reactions usually take 7-10 days to appear. The dose your dad is on is very low and probably given to your dad so his body could get used to it since the dose is being increased incrementally. Once he gets up to 100 and stays there a couple weeks I'm sure you will start seeing the rash. Just give it a little time. In a way that's good because he'll be able to enjoy Thanksgiving without the rash or the itch.
Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless
Thanks Chessie,
Happy Thanksgiving to you too.
Dana
Agree with chessie-too.
Hope your dad responds to Tarceva well.
Took tarceva 150 mg daily along with avastin infusion every other week. 6 months. Stopped working so I went on to Alimta. Never got a rash, just fatique and contipation. Everyone handles it different. Now on my 5th line of therapy, Gemzar single agent. Will have scans in Dec to see if it's working.
Marie, thanks for the reply. Hope gemzar is doing the trick.
dana
Hi I went on the full 150 from the beginning so don't know at what poiint you;d expect a rash if you were going to get one. I got a bad rash in the first week. Also I was told the rash isn't a direct indicator but can be suggestive that it's working.
good luck!!!!
I got a wicked bad rash by day four, and the tarceva was actually not effective for me, so I would suggest that you not put too much stock in that. My oncologist told me that although it did sometimes indicate that the drug was working, it was far from definitive. Best of luck.
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