Oncura

CAPOX: what to expect, day by day

Colorectal21-day cycle5 effects documented

Combines an oxaliplatin infusion with take-home capecitabine pills. Expect the same cold-triggered nerve tingling as FOLFOX, plus hand-foot skin changes and diarrhea from the pills.

Oxaliplatin IV on day 1 + oral capecitabine twice daily for 14 days, every 3 weeks. Oxaliplatin effects are nadir/cold-based; capecitabine's hand-foot syndrome builds cumulatively over the oral days.

Get help straight away — this is true on any regimen, on any day.

A temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during treatment can mean a serious infection while your blood counts are low. Call your team or go to the ER — do not wait it out.

Also urgent: trouble breathing or chest pain · swelling of the face, lips or throat · new confusion or fainting · shaking chills · not being able to keep fluids down.

This is standing guidance shown to everyone. Nothing on this page is based on anything about you, and nobody is monitoring you.

3 of the 5 entries below are marked provisional. They are shown because leaving them out would be its own distortion, but they have not yet been checked against the source document by a person, and they are not presented as authoritative. Every provisional entry is labelled where it appears.

Timed to the cycle

Day 1 is the day of your infusion. These are the effects a retrievable document ties to a day range for this regimen — not a prediction about you.

Peripheral neuropathy (acute, cold-triggered)

Typically around days 0–14

Cold-triggered tingling in the hands, feet, mouth, or throat within hours of the infusion. Avoid cold for the first several days after each cycle.

Call your team: Trouble breathing or swallowing after cold exposure — call your team.

reported by about ~30% of people · Timing from the manufacturer’s prescribing information · from Oxaliplatin

Not tied to a cycle day

These build with the number of doses, or are measured from when treatment started, so a cycle day would be the wrong shape for them. Each keeps the timing its own source states.

Peripheral neuropathy (chronic, cumulative)PROVISIONAL

builds over cycles/months; dose-dependent

Longer-lasting numbness/tingling that builds with repeated cycles and is dose-related; your team monitors and may adjust the oxaliplatin dose.

Call your team: Numbness that makes it hard to button clothes, walk, or feel the floor.

reported by about ~85% of people; severe in 11-19% · from Oxaliplatin

Hand-foot syndromePROVISIONAL

builds over cycles; dose-dependent

Redness, tingling, swelling, or peeling on the palms and soles that builds up over the oral-pill days. Moisturize, avoid friction and heat, and tell your team early — dose changes help.

Call your team: Blistering, cracking, or peeling that makes walking or using your hands hard.

reported by about ~30-40% of people; severe in 4-6% · from Capecitabine

Diarrhea

Loose or frequent stools from the capecitabine pills. Hydrate and use anti-diarrheal medicine as directed.

Call your team: More than 6 stools above normal in a day, or any with dizziness/lightheadedness.

reported by about ~60% of people; severe in 19% · from Capecitabine, Oxaliplatin

NeutropeniaPROVISIONAL

A temporary drop in infection-fighting white cells — generally less than with FOLFOX.

Call your team urgently: A temperature of 100.4°F (38.0°C) or higher — an emergency.

reported by about ~30% of people; severe in 7-9% · from Oxaliplatin, Capecitabine

Where this comes from

  1. S1. Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) FDA prescribing information — FDA label
  2. S2. Capecitabine (Xeloda) FDA prescribing information — FDA label
  3. S3. Haller DG, NO16968/XELOXA (adjuvant colon) (2011) — PMID 21444866

Timing windows on this page rest on:

A window appears here only where a retrievable document ties it to a drug in this regimen. Where nothing could be found, the window was removed rather than estimated — so a missing time is an honest gap, not an oversight.

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