[brianan]

Switching from VCD / CyBorD to VTD

by brianan on Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:24 am

I have been on VCD / CyBorD for four cycles and seem to have reached a plateau. So I will be switching from Velcade, cyclophosphamide, dexamethasone (VCD / CyBorD) to Velcade, thalidomide, dexamethasone (VTD).

Can I expect to get a better response? Will the side effects get better or worse?

I've seen some of the comments already on the forums concerning VCD / CyBorD and VTD, but I'm particularly interested in how one compares to the other.

Many thanks in advance for any help on this.

[TerryH]

Re: Switching from VCD / CyBorD to VTD

by TerryH on Fri Dec 23, 2016 5:04 pm

Hi brianan,

I would think that you'll be able to deepen your response a bit by switching from the cyclo­phos­phamide to the thalidomide. But this is just an educated guess on my part, based on think­ing that you've probably gotten the most you can out of the cyclophosphamide you've taken so far, and you haven't yet taken anything like thalidomide (i.e. no Revlimid or Pomalyst). So adding the tha­lido­mide should deepen your response at least a bit.

With thalidomide, the new side effects you'll want to look out for are fatigue and sleepiness, itching skin or rashes, and peripheral neuropathy (PN).

The peripheral neuropathy part is important, since PN is also a common side effect of Velcade. You'll want to let your doctors know if you develop any signs of peripheral neuropathy since they won't want it to reach a serious, potentially irreversible, level.

Good luck, and let us know how the new regimen works for you.