ll all doctors, dentists and pharmacists who are treating you that you are being treated with AVASTIN.
Tell your doctor immediately if you become pregnant during treatment with AVASTIN, or plan to start a family in the near future.
Tell your doctor immediately if you are breast-feeding while being treated with AVASTIN.
Tell your doctor if you are planning to have surgery or you have a wound that is not healing properly.
Tell your doctor if you feel AVASTIN is not helping your condition.
Be sure to keep all of your appointments with your doctor so that your progress can be checked.
Things you must not do
Do not take any other medicines whether they require a prescription or not without first telling your doctor or consulting a pharmacist.
Things to be careful of
Be careful driving or operating machinery until you know how AVASTIN affects you.
AVASTIN has not been shown to impair your ability to drive or operate machinery.
Side effects
Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while being treated with AVASTIN.
AVASTIN helps most people with brain tumours and metastatic cancer of the large bowel (i.e. colon or rectum), breast, lung, and kidney but it may have unwanted side effects in some people.
All medicines can have some unwanted side effects. Sometimes they are serious, but most of the time they are not. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you being treated with AVASTIN against the benefits they expect it will have for you.
Because AVASTIN is used with other medicines that treat cancer (including chemotherapy), it may be difficult for your doctor to tell whether the side effects are due to AVASTIN or due to other medicines.
Do not be alarmed by this list of possible side effects.
You may not experience any of them.
Tell your doctor if you notice any of the following and they worry you:
high blood pressure
body pain
muscle and joint pain
lack of energy or tiredness
diarrhoea; constipation or rectal bleeding
inflammation of the mouth
sore mouth; mouth ulcers; cold sores
loss of appetite
shortness of breath
nose bleed; runny or blocked nose
dry skin; rash; flaking, swelling or redness of the skin or change in skin colour
change in sense of taste
eye problems (including infections, decreased/blurred vision, eye pain, redness of the eye, tearing, bleeding, increased number of floating spots)
dizziness
fever; chills; shivering or headache
signs of infection such as swelling, redness and increased temperature
changes in your voice or hoarseness
difficulty speaking
These are the more common side effects of AVASTIN. Mostly these are mild.
Tell your doctor immediately or go to Accident and Emergency at your nearest hospital if you notice any of the following:
stomach cramps or pains
severe or bloody diarrhoea
bleeding from stomach or intestines which may look like coffee grounds or black sticky bowel motions (stools)
nausea and vomiting; including vomiting blood or material that looks like coffee grounds
coughing or spitting blood
deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the veins of legs)
severe body pain including headaches
severe bleeding
problems with your wounds healing after surgery
confusion
seizures (fits)
feeling of numbness or tingling in hands or feet
dry mouth in combination with thirst and/or reduced or darkened urine
abscesses (pus-filled sores)
falling asleep or fainting
problems with the heart with bre |
