I am now into the third PCV chemo cycle and have run into a problem. One week into the Procarbazine leg of the third cycle, I woke up in the middle of the night with an intense itching feeling from my knees down to me feet. Knowing that a rash was a side effect, I took a couple benadryl and tried to get back to sleep. I woke up the next morning seemingly OK, but by that evening I had a rash over a large portion of my body. The picture is one of about 6 areas of my body. (Sorry Chad). The doctor said to stop the Procarbazine for a couple days, go see my PCP to make sure the rash was not caused by something else and call back. My PCP also noted that there is a decrease in kidney function. I'm not sure where we will go from here, perhaps cut down on the dose. I'll update this post when I find out what is going to happen.
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| Not my sexiest day |
Update 5/13:
My PCP confirmed that the rash was because of the chemo and sent me back to the oncologist. The oncologist said to continue taking the chemo and treat the rash with Benidril/Claratin. They also prescribed a steroid in case my mouth starts to swell up potentially causing breathing problems. Looks like this is something I will have to live with. Interestingly, when I posted this to the Facebook brain tumor groups, several people said this happened to them on Temador, the chemo drug I was on for 19 months - this never happened to me then. I think my body is probably getting sick and tired of being attacked with chemo.
Update 5/17
Taking a Benadril at night and a Claritin in the morning kept the itching and rash at bay. Oddly, I did for get both of these a couple days later and had no problems.
