Friends and Caregivers
As the caregiver of a cancer patient, you may find yourself assisting your friend or loved one in a variety of ways, such as meal preparation, transportation to medical appointments, helping with medication, bathing, and dressing. Your presence and support make you a vital part of the treatment team.
Here are a few additional recommendations that might make your caregiving easier and more effective throughout the treatment process:
Ask and Listen
Understand the Treatment
Ask About Clinical Trials
Provide Encouragement
Ask About Side Effects
Care for the Caregiver
Ask and Listen
First and foremost, ask your friend or loved one how you can best support him or her. A frank and heartfelt conversation about what you both see as the patient's greatest needs will help you both work together for the best care and experience possible.
Throughout your conversation, be sure and touch on all the ways cancer may impact the patient's life: physical, emotional, mental, financial, social, spiritual, and practical. If necessary, help your loved one make plans for dealing with needs, issues, or concerns that may arise in each of these areas. Identify questions to ask, resources that are needed, and people that can help. If it works for both of you, take notes or make spoken agreements, which may be helpful to refer to later on.
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Understand the Treatment
Get permission from the patient to come along on healthcare team visits whenever treatment is being discussed. Never be shy to ask questions and come with a list of questions ready to ask. Learn the language of cancer treatment. When the healthcare team presents treatment options for the patient, he or she may use terms that are unfamiliar to you. After the patient is aware of all the options, you can assist him or her in choosing the right treatment.
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Ask About Clinical Trials
While learning about treatment options, you may hear the term "clinical trials" mentioned. The healthcare team may recommend considering a clinical trial if there is a possibility that the newer treatment being researched could have strong positive benefits for the patient.
If a clinical trial is an option, make sure your friend or loved one gets all the details about the benefits and risks of the clinical trial. Again, perhaps you can help your loved one decide if this is right for him or her by having a frank and open discussion of the possibilities.
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Provide Encouragement
You can be a great aid to your friend or loved one by encouraging and supporting him or her to take the best possible care of their health prior to, during, and after treatment. Before treatment, if possible, encourage the patient to stop smoking if he or she is a smoker. Encourage the patient to continue a current activity program, or add activity to the daily routine, as appropriate — and with physician guidance. Review the nutrition needs suggested by the treatment option, and help your loved one get the healthy, appetizing food that can maintain strength and well-being. Finally, if the patient needs dental work, take care of this before starting therapy. Please note that nutrition, activities, and overall patient care should always be facilitated in conjunction with the guidance of a healthcare professional.
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Ask About Side Effects
No two people react to chemotherapy side effects the same way. As a caregiver, you can help your friend or loved one explore his or her treatment options and the potential side effects that may result. By carefully reviewing with the healthcare team the various treatment options your friend or loved one may have, it may be possible to avoid or minimize side effects that would be especially burdensome.
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Care for the Caregiver
Caring for a person with cancer can put such pressures on you that you neglect your own well-being. While people living with cancer often get together in support groups, caregivers often feel they need to carry their emotional burdens alone.
Many familiar things in your life may change as a result of caring for a friend or loved one with cancer. You may need to assume different tasks at home or at work. Demands on your time can pull you in many directions. Communicating with children, family members, and concerned friends can be especially challenging, and financial pressures may weigh upon you.
It is therefore important to remember that you can't provide support to someone else if you're exhausted, stressed out, or burned out. Taking time for rest, exercise, good nutrition, socializing, and your spiritual needs will help you provide the support you wish to give to your loved one. Be willing to share your feelings and concerns with friends and family members, and seek the help you need through support groups within your community. Listings of caregiver support groups can often be found through cancer advocacy organizations, such as local chapters of the American Cancer Society, along with physicians' offices and hospitals, churches, and civic organizations.
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Indications and Important Safety Information for ALIMTA® (pemetrexed for injection)
Indications
ALIMTA is approved by the FDA in combination with cisplatin (another chemotherapy drug) for the initial treatment of advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a specific type of NSCLC. ALIMTA is not indicated for patients who have a different type of NSCLC called squamous cell.
ALIMTA is approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a specific type of NSCLC, to maintain the effect of initial treatment with chemotherapy and whose disease has not worsened. ALIMTA is not indicated for patients who have a different type of NSCLC called squamous cell.
ALIMTA is approved by the FDA as a single agent (used alone) for the treatment of patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a specific type of NSCLC, after prior chemotherapy. ALIMTA is not indicated for patients who have a different type of NSCLC called squamous cell.
ALIMTA is a treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), which is a cancer that affects the inside lining of the chest cavity. ALIMTA is given with cisplatin, another anticancer medicine (chemotherapy), when surgery is not an option.
Important Safety Information
What is the most important information that I should know about ALIMTA?
ALIMTA can suppress bone marrow function, which may cause low blood cell counts.
ALIMTA may not be appropriate for some patients.
If you are allergic to ALIMTA, tell your doctor because you should not receive it.
If you have liver or kidney problems, be sure to tell your doctor. Your dose of ALIMTA may have to be changed, or ALIMTA may not be right for you.
Your doctor will prescribe a medicine called a “corticosteroid” to take for 3 days during each treatment with ALIMTA. Corticosteroids lower your chances for getting skin reactions with ALIMTA.
It is very important to take folic acid and vitamin B12 prior to and during your treatment with ALIMTA to lower your chances of harmful side effects.
- You must take folic acid every day for at least 5 days out of the 7 days before your first dose of ALIMTA. You must keep taking folic acid every day during the time you are getting treatment with ALIMTA, and for 21 days after your last treatment.
- Your doctor will give you vitamin B12 injections while you are getting treatment with ALIMTA. You will get your first vitamin B12 injection during the week before your first dose of ALIMTA, and then about every 9 weeks during treatment.
You will have regular blood tests before and during your treatment with ALIMTA. Your doctor may adjust your dose of ALIMTA or delay your treatment based on the results of your blood test and on your general condition.
What should I tell my doctor before receiving ALIMTA?
If you think you are pregnant, are planning to become pregnant, or are nursing, please tell your healthcare team. ALIMTA may harm your unborn or nursing baby. Your physician may advise you to use effective contraception (birth control) to prevent pregnancy while you are being treated with ALIMTA.
Tell your doctor if you are taking other medicines, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. ALIMTA and other medicines may affect each other, causing serious side effects. Especially, tell your doctor if you are taking medicines called “nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs” (NSAIDs) for pain or swelling.
What are the possible side effects of ALIMTA?
Most patients taking ALIMTA will have side effects. Sometimes it is not always possible to tell whether ALIMTA, another medicine, or the cancer itself is causing these side effects.
Call your doctor right away if you have a fever, chills, diarrhea, or mouth sores. These symptoms could mean you have an infection, which may be severe and could lead to death.
The most common side effects of ALIMTA when given alone or in combination with cisplatin are:
- Stomach upset, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. You can obtain medicines to help control some of these symptoms. Call your doctor if you get any of these symptoms.
- Low blood cell counts:
- Low red blood cells. Low red blood cells may make you feel tired, get tired easily, appear pale, and become short of breath.
- Low white blood cells. Low white blood cells may give you a greater chance for infection. If you have a fever (temperature above 100.4°F) or other signs of infection, call your doctor right away.
- Low platelets. Low platelets give you a greater chance for bleeding. Your doctor will do blood tests to check your blood counts before and during treatment with ALIMTA.
- Tiredness. You may feel tired or weak for a few days after your ALIMTA treatments. If you have severe weakness or tiredness, call your doctor.
- Mouth, throat, or lip sores (stomatitis, pharyngitis). You may get redness or sores in your mouth, throat, or on your lips. These symptoms may happen a few days after ALIMTA treatment. Talk with your doctor about proper mouth and throat care.
- Loss of appetite. You may lose your appetite and lose weight during your treatment. Talk to your doctor if this is a problem for you.
- Rash. You may get a rash or itching during treatment. These reactions usually appear between treatments with ALIMTA and usually go away before the next treatment. Skin reactions or rashes that include blistering or peeling may be severe and could lead to death. Call your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
Talk with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist about any side effect that bothers you or that doesn’t go away.
These are not all the side effects of ALIMTA. For more information, ask your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.
How is ALIMTA given?
ALIMTA is slowly infused (injected) into a vein. The injection or infusion will last about 10 minutes. You will usually receive ALIMTA once every 21 days (3 weeks).
For more information about all of the side effects of ALIMTA, please talk with your healthcare team, see the Patient Prescribing Information and full Prescribing Information, or call 1-800-545-5979.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit , or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
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