Hair loss and Abraxane/advastin

RoxanneNJ31

I want to know if anyone kept their hair while on these drugs. My onc nurse says that she did see two people not lose their hair. I have gotten every side effect (first treatment) from these two chemos (nausea, dirreahea, vomiting, heartburn, headache, fever)but now im on my third treatment and the hair is still in tact.

Anyone got any good news for me?

Shepgirl

I did on Taxol; but my Abraxane/Avastin cocktail is being done after WBR and Gamma Knife! So of course there was no hair to start with!

LinTol

My hair started coming out around 4 weeks after starting. I eventually buzzed my hair because I had a lot of itching. Turned out to be folliculitis- infection in hair follicles. 8 weeks after starting I still have a GI Jane look, but it is slowly continuing to come out. But I still hope that the hair on my head will grow and not fall out.
Good luck with your hair and dealing with the other side effects. I am sorry you are having such a hard time with this. I will be praying for it to get better!
Linda

RoxanneNJ31

I am on week four and no hair loss yet? how long did it take for the hair to start falling out. The onc was kinda shocked it wasn't falling out already.

Thanks girls

Take care and god bless.

b445

I startd losing hair about week 4 and in fact lost most of it within a weeks time. i still have some although I did buzz it preety short. I find what is left is still growing. I still have some hair ong my legs under arms, eyebrows and lashes and other places but it is a lot thinner than before. The nurses said they have seen paients that haven't lost hair before too!

pnut2

abraxane is the only drug i used. i decided to cut my hair short on week three of treatment. on week four my hair came out in clumps. while it was coming out, it was growing back!! my underarm hair and the hair on my legs never came out. the hair on my arms thinned, but some are growing back gray. my eyebrows thinned, and that also is turning gray. now that spookes me!! my eyebrows look like my grandfather's !

volleygirl65

I have had 8 weeks of Abraxane (4 months of Avastin) treatment and I still have my hair. It started falling out about 3 weeks ago but not in clumps. It's pretty thin on the top, still a lot in back. I tend to shed a good bit but I'm still hanging in there.

Good luck to you. It was a lot easier going bald when you knew there was an end in sight!

RoxanneNJ31

Update!!! I am now on on week six just finished my 6th treatment and still have my hair. scalp is a little sore but no hair is coming out at all!! maybe it won't come out something to look foward too.... i hope everyone is doing well.

pnut2

congrats!! on week six is a wonderful thing. how many treatments left? i am jealous of the hair loss though!

Anita1969

Hi Roxanne, I did HEAPS of Abraxane. It took longer for my hair to come out than on A/C, but I did eventually lose everything, even the little fuzzies along my chin/jawline/ear area (and I am not a hairy person). I did reasonably well on it though. Hope you're well! Anita

RoxanneNJ31

i have 18 treatments total on number 7 of 18 (3weeks on 1 week off x 6 months) and hair still in tact, maybe ill be the lucky one for once.

How many treatments did you do Anita before your hair came out?

I am finally tolerating the drugs better, not getting sick or having fevers we think the culprit was the zometa. Well see I have to do it again this time to see (we skipped a cycle because I didn't want to get sick).

Hope everyone is doing well .

Anita1969

Hi Roxanne,

I did maybe 8 or 9 then had surgery and then another 8 or 9 after surgery. I did dose dense every other week.

RoxanneNJ31

i am on treatment 9 - 18 and my hair is coming out slowly but i still have a majority of it. Haven't been washing it everyday and haven't put any products or blew dry it in a while. hopefully it will hold out for 3 more months, if not i guess im gi jane again.

Anyone still kept their hair throughout the whole process?

good bless all my sisters....

Hoghedge

Roxanne, you seem to be holding on to your hair AND your "morale" as my doctor calls it (him being French, he would of course
Are you wearing the icy cap during treatments? I did not but saw other ladies being strapped into them. Are you wearing the icy gloves? I did and they seem to have "saved" my nails.
I lost all my hair including lashes and face fuzz. Wore some lovely pull-on cotton "turbans" (tubes really that you can "arrange" in many ways, a bit like a balaclava), purchased from a little accessory shoppe en face des Jardins de Luxembourg five minutes from the Institut Curie. I topped them with butcher-boy style caps, also in every colour of the rainbow. Tried wigs but did not feel "right" in them.
Hair now back on head - thick, curly, shiny, white! (I am 72) But very slow-growing under arms and on legs - bonus! Little shaving required.
Have kept a few photos of bald self but do not look at them often.
Bonne chance, chérie et Courage!
Shirley

jeanne46

After about a month on abraxane/avastin my hair started falling out in large numbers so I buzzed it off. Eventually the hair grew back (while still on the drugs) but not my eyebrow/eyelash/pubic/arm hair. Every few months a lot of hair would fall out, but there still remained enough so I didin't have to buzz it off again. I did find a product by B&B that was a sort of colored spray-on powder that made my hair look thicker and filled in the areas where my scalp showed a lot. It beat wearing a wig which I didn't like at all.

RoxanneNJ31

HI everyone,

Im on treatment 10 of 18 and my hair is starting to come out but very slowly. Still have all my "other" hair as i call it of course that doesn't fall out he he.

I am using garnier fructis conditioner along with nioxin scalp treatment and hair clenser and not blow drying or really touching it too much. I do see a little difference in the thickness but it is not coming out in clumps like with the ac/taxol.

My nurses are very suprised that it hasn't all come out but they did say they have seen a few ladies that kept there hair with allot of thining. Who knows maybe im the one in a million one never knows gotta stay positve about it. I always try and remember it is what it is and this is my destiny and journey for right now.

Gotta hold on to the hope im only 33). God bless all my sisters in this fight to win the war.

RoxanneNJ31

HI Ladies,

Just wanted to update you... Advastin/abraxene/zoladex/zomata.  I am over the hump.  I am on 12 of 18 treatments and still managed to keep my hair.  its falling out slowly but not im clumps and I still have a full head of hair.

I just wanted let everyone know that it is possible to keep your hair (so far so good).  I basically have not blow dried it I am using Nioxin products and frutis products and have been using a pic instead of a brush and only in the shower with conditioners.  I keep it in a loose pony tail at night.  Maybe maybe not the the things im doing is keeping it on or maybe its a higher force saying this girl has had enough.  Whatever it was I was fully prepared to lose it yet again and it hasn't come out.

Also, I want to know of any other cases on abraxene/advastin that the hair didn't fall out.

God bless all my sisters in this fight for life and self. We are the true soliders in the war.

Love and hugs to us all.

Roxanne

b445

My hair is growing back! although I fully expect it might fall out again. But it's all salt and pepper now! I've never had this dark of hair before!

RoxanneNJ31

Hi Everyone,

Still looking for anyone who has not lost their hair while on Advastin, Abraxene, Zometa.  I am on treatment 14 of 18 and although my hair thinned out a little, I still have the majority. The doctor says that I was supposed to lose my hair but he has seen a case or two where the hair didnt all out.

Please let me know 1 how you are doing with the side effects of these drugs and 2 if you maintained your hair.

Thanks laides and I hope everyone feels well.

duchessoftea

This makes me soooooooo happy!!!! I am about to start this and I feel like I just got my hair back from the first round of chemo a year ago...So I am praying I will not lose my hair:):)