Hi Shellymg,

I hope you find someone on here who has experience with this regimen and he/she can help ease your mind about the process and the side effects you may experience.

I found this info on LymphomaInfo.net and hope that it helps -

Adriamycin can cause many side effects, including nausea, alopecia (hair loss), and neutropenia (depletion of white blood cells). It can also cause heart problems, such as arrhythmias, in some patients.

Bleomycin can cause a fever, rash, alopecia, and Raynaud’s phenomenon (a discoloration of the fingers and/or toes). However, the most serious side effect is the occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis, which impairs the lungs.

Vinblastine can cause neutropenia, ulcers, blisters, and nausea.

Dacarbazine causes severe nausea in some patients, as well as neutropenia, headaches, fatigue, and diarrhea.

Chemotherapy can cause frequent urination because of the high amount of fluid entering the body intravenously during treatment. Catheters might be used to allow for stronger doses in some patients. Extra fluids should be consumed during treatment to help prevent kidney damage.

Treatment can also cause constipation; if this occurs, your doctor should prescribe a laxative.

Anti-nausea medicines, such as Zofran or Kytril, are usually given during chemotherapy treatments to help with side effects. Pain relievers may also be prescribed.

All chemotherapy agents can cause birth defects in babies conceived or carried during ABVD chemotherapy treatment. There is also a risk of infertility. You may want to discuss your options, such as sperm banking or egg harvesting, with your medical team prior to starting treatment.

Thank you Leanne

Hi Everyone,
I am the mother of a newly diagnosed Stage 1A Hodgkins Lymphoma 24 year old daughter. She will begin chemo treatment next week. She is terrified and i am struggling with how to comfort her and what to expect. Anyone have words of comfort or advise?
Thanks. mdenn10

I had Classic Hodgkin's 2A in 2012. I under went 4 rounds of ABVD and 17 rounds of radiation. I Know everyone is different but It truly was a breeze. I never got sick ( I did take my meds before and after chemo). I continued to work full time and I had all the energy in the world. I just telling myself I was going to win and this is curable. My worst part of cancer is dealing with the remission. It's all I think about ie: will it come back how will I know? I'm coming up on my 3 month post cancer check up and am freaking out. Every little thing that goes wrong or doesn't feel right I worry it could be back. I think it will be a life time struggle but I am hopeful it will get easier as the years go by.

Hi Shelly,
I started ABVD on November 19th, 2012. I had my 4th treatment on New Year's Eve. I began to lose my hair about 3 days after my 2nd treatment. It started to come out really bad so I decided to cut it short hoping that it would lighten it up and maybe stop coming out so fast, but unfortunately it did not stop. I finally shaved it this past weekend. I can say that the loss of my hair has been the hardest part of the treatment to deal with. The nausea has gotten worse for me over the last couple treatments, but I am trying a new prescription to see if it helps. One thing I learned is that you should take the nausea meds for the first couple days after treatment on a regular schedule despite how you feel because once you start feeling the nausea, the meds do not help as much. I started feeling the numbness in my finger tips after the first week of my first treatment (my oncologist told me this was very early in treatment to be feeling it) but luckily, it seems to get better the second week.
Hope this helps a little bit.