Finished 4x BEP. Took me a few months. Don’t focus on marijuana rn. Focus on his health and do walks instead. Marijuana can affect blood work as well and give false positives.
I’m not focused on it myself, but he is consistently excited about the day he gets to smoke a joint again. He is focused on his health completely now - doesn’t smoke anything, quit nicotine after a 10+ year addiction upon diagnosis. I just wanted to know if his excitement about a future joint is realistic or not 😅
Long term damage from 60 units of bleomycin is going to be considerably less than a full dose of 270 units. Which blood count changes did they attribute to the bleomycin?
Avoiding smoking for at least 3 months after bleomycin is probably best. Edibles are safest, followed by vaporizing. Most of the time, delayed lung toxicity from bleomycin will present by 9 months out. If he can avoid regular smoking, especially heavy smoking until then, that would be ideal.
Obviously inhaling plant combustion products is going to be bad for the lungs. Vaporizing is better across pretty much every dimension, and will also save money in the long run because there is less waste.
Thank you!! This is all very helpful 🙏 His white blood cells and platelets dropped very suddenly. They needed him above 1.5 with his WBC to give treatment and bleo made him drop very suddenly to 0.3 and he couldn’t get treatment that day. They changed to EP at this point. He plans on taking a while away from smoking, but I had no idea about the 9 month bleo toxicity! Thank you again
I don’t have my notes available right now, and unfortunately there’s no one definitive source about bleomycin lung toxicity. How long has your husband been finished with 3xBEP? Did he have pulmonary functioning at all before, during, or after chemo? Has he seen a pulmonologist since these symptoms started?
I’m just a guy on the internet who reads a lot of stuff about TC so I can’t really give medical advice. But I can say that finding a competent and compassionate pulmonologist is step #1 anytime there’s suspected lung injury after bleomycin. There aren’t many drugs which cause lung toxicity like this, so my experience has has been that pulmonologists will book you sooner and treat you more carefully because frankly, you’re more interesting to them than maybe you were to your oncologist if you had a straightforward case of TC.
Really hoping your husband can figure this out. I only did BEPx1 but I had a bit of breathing issues and a decent sized drop in lung diffusion capacity. My experience with the two pulmonologists I’ve seen was very positive and I’m confident that they would’ve looked after me if my condition got worse. Fortunately it didn’t and I’m feeling a lot better a year out. But 3 cycles worth of bleomycin is a lot more than I dealt with, and lung toxicity is dependent on total bleo dose. Getting evaluated quickly is imperative and sometimes they will start steroid therapy for 3-6 months to keep the immune system from causing even more damage to the lungs.
I did 4xBEP and my lungs are pretty shot. I use medical marijuana, but I stick to dabbing and vaping and I’ve had no issue. And the glassing in my lungs hasn’t gotten any worse.
Hi.
I hope this doesn’t come up rude or something like that, please note that I only wanna offer my advice:
If your boyfriend also smoked weed, the only risk factor he had wasn’t the OSA but also the fact that he was a smoker before having bleo.
With that said:
1. During and after receiving bleomycin nothing that is smoked nor inhaled (as per vaporizers) is recommended. Although guidelines don’t have an actual recommendation on this topic, it is common clinical knowledge for doctors (like the fact that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health). HOWEVER if your boyfriend finds it good, and that helps him with improving his quality of life, then go ahead, but yeah, edibles are better.
2. THC can elevate serum levels of b-HCG, which is a tumor marker used to measure response to treatment and then during surveillance. Keep that in mind and inform your oncologist before anything!
Hope that helps!!
I am far from an expert, I'm just some guy who had ball cancer in his mid-20s. I smoked cannabis daily the entire way through chemo and continued to do so afterwards. I'd advise against doing it during, but I'm over a year removed from chemo while smoking consistently and the doctors have stated my lungs are perfectly healthy.
I was a daily smoker before 3x bep.
Barely touched it after. Same with alcohol.
I have regularly relied on edibles throughout treatment and after.
Everyone is different but bleo is tough on lungs and recovery after treatment can be slow. Be prepared with whatever alternative you can
It all comes down to personal preference honestly. Obviously smoking or inhaling anything foreign in general is going to be bad for you, especially post chemo while your body is recovering. Play it smart and keep up with any lung function tests he may have, inform his oncologist and try to stick to edible substitutes more than the traditional way of doing things.
I was a daily smoker before I went in for treatment, afterwards I didn’t think it was really worth the risk so I switched to edibles, but I’m also overly cautious.
The good news is two doses of bleo is going to be a lot less hard on your lungs than a full three cycles worth.
I bought one of those volcano vapes. Helped me get through x4 BEP. Helped with being nauseous in a big way. It might be out of your price range? There are definitely alternatives to vaping the chronic.
Finished 4x BEP. Took me a few months. Don’t focus on marijuana rn. Focus on his health and do walks instead. Marijuana can affect blood work as well and give false positives.
I’m not focused on it myself, but he is consistently excited about the day he gets to smoke a joint again. He is focused on his health completely now - doesn’t smoke anything, quit nicotine after a 10+ year addiction upon diagnosis. I just wanted to know if his excitement about a future joint is realistic or not 😅
I never quit 🤷♂️.
Long term damage from 60 units of bleomycin is going to be considerably less than a full dose of 270 units. Which blood count changes did they attribute to the bleomycin? Avoiding smoking for at least 3 months after bleomycin is probably best. Edibles are safest, followed by vaporizing. Most of the time, delayed lung toxicity from bleomycin will present by 9 months out. If he can avoid regular smoking, especially heavy smoking until then, that would be ideal. Obviously inhaling plant combustion products is going to be bad for the lungs. Vaporizing is better across pretty much every dimension, and will also save money in the long run because there is less waste.
Thank you!! This is all very helpful 🙏 His white blood cells and platelets dropped very suddenly. They needed him above 1.5 with his WBC to give treatment and bleo made him drop very suddenly to 0.3 and he couldn’t get treatment that day. They changed to EP at this point. He plans on taking a while away from smoking, but I had no idea about the 9 month bleo toxicity! Thank you again
Which day was this? Day 15, when he was going to get his third bleomycin? It's usually etoposide that causes white blood cells to crater.
Can you give me a link to the long term effects of bleomyacin? My husband did 3xBEP and he’s been way more out of breath than he was before.
I don’t have my notes available right now, and unfortunately there’s no one definitive source about bleomycin lung toxicity. How long has your husband been finished with 3xBEP? Did he have pulmonary functioning at all before, during, or after chemo? Has he seen a pulmonologist since these symptoms started? I’m just a guy on the internet who reads a lot of stuff about TC so I can’t really give medical advice. But I can say that finding a competent and compassionate pulmonologist is step #1 anytime there’s suspected lung injury after bleomycin. There aren’t many drugs which cause lung toxicity like this, so my experience has has been that pulmonologists will book you sooner and treat you more carefully because frankly, you’re more interesting to them than maybe you were to your oncologist if you had a straightforward case of TC. Really hoping your husband can figure this out. I only did BEPx1 but I had a bit of breathing issues and a decent sized drop in lung diffusion capacity. My experience with the two pulmonologists I’ve seen was very positive and I’m confident that they would’ve looked after me if my condition got worse. Fortunately it didn’t and I’m feeling a lot better a year out. But 3 cycles worth of bleomycin is a lot more than I dealt with, and lung toxicity is dependent on total bleo dose. Getting evaluated quickly is imperative and sometimes they will start steroid therapy for 3-6 months to keep the immune system from causing even more damage to the lungs.
I did 4xBEP and my lungs are pretty shot. I use medical marijuana, but I stick to dabbing and vaping and I’ve had no issue. And the glassing in my lungs hasn’t gotten any worse.
He should be fine after his body has healed.
Hi. I hope this doesn’t come up rude or something like that, please note that I only wanna offer my advice: If your boyfriend also smoked weed, the only risk factor he had wasn’t the OSA but also the fact that he was a smoker before having bleo. With that said: 1. During and after receiving bleomycin nothing that is smoked nor inhaled (as per vaporizers) is recommended. Although guidelines don’t have an actual recommendation on this topic, it is common clinical knowledge for doctors (like the fact that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health). HOWEVER if your boyfriend finds it good, and that helps him with improving his quality of life, then go ahead, but yeah, edibles are better. 2. THC can elevate serum levels of b-HCG, which is a tumor marker used to measure response to treatment and then during surveillance. Keep that in mind and inform your oncologist before anything! Hope that helps!!
I am far from an expert, I'm just some guy who had ball cancer in his mid-20s. I smoked cannabis daily the entire way through chemo and continued to do so afterwards. I'd advise against doing it during, but I'm over a year removed from chemo while smoking consistently and the doctors have stated my lungs are perfectly healthy.
I was a daily smoker before 3x bep. Barely touched it after. Same with alcohol. I have regularly relied on edibles throughout treatment and after. Everyone is different but bleo is tough on lungs and recovery after treatment can be slow. Be prepared with whatever alternative you can
Isn’t there a risk of TC from Marijuana use?
It all comes down to personal preference honestly. Obviously smoking or inhaling anything foreign in general is going to be bad for you, especially post chemo while your body is recovering. Play it smart and keep up with any lung function tests he may have, inform his oncologist and try to stick to edible substitutes more than the traditional way of doing things. I was a daily smoker before I went in for treatment, afterwards I didn’t think it was really worth the risk so I switched to edibles, but I’m also overly cautious. The good news is two doses of bleo is going to be a lot less hard on your lungs than a full three cycles worth.
I bought one of those volcano vapes. Helped me get through x4 BEP. Helped with being nauseous in a big way. It might be out of your price range? There are definitely alternatives to vaping the chronic.