Anyone on just Taxotere and Cytoxan?

Sherri_V

Sugar77,

Here are 20 reasons to add turmeric to your diet:

1. It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns.

2. When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer.

3. Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice.

4. May prevent melanoma and cause existing melanoma cells to commit suicide.

5. Reduces the risk of childhood leukemia.

6. Is a natural liver detoxifier.

7. May prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease by removing amyloyd plaque buildup in the brain.

8. May prevent metastases from occurring in many different forms of cancer.

9. It is a potent natural anti-inflammatory that works as well as many anti-inflammatory drugs but without the side effects.

10. Has shown promise in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.

11. Is a natural painkiller and cox-2 inhibitor.

12. May aid in fat metabolism and help in weight management.

13. Has long been used in Chinese medicine as a treatment for depression.

14. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it is a natural treatment for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

15. Boosts the effects of chemo drug paclitaxel and reduces its side effects.

16. Promising studies are underway on the effects of turmeric on pancreatic cancer.

17. Studies are ongoing in the positive effects of turmeric on multiple myeloma.

18. Has been shown to stop the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.

19. Speeds up wound healing and assists in remodeling of damaged skin.

20. May help in the treatment of psoriasis and other inflammatory skin conditions.

Turmeric can be taken in powder or pill form. It is available in pill form in most health food stores, usually in 250-500mg capsules.

Once you start using turmeric on a regular basis, it's fun to find new ways to use it in recipes. My favorite way to use it is to add a pinch of it to egg salad. It adds a nice flavor and gives the egg salad a rich yellow hue.

Contraindications: Turmeric should not be used by people with gallstones or bile obstruction. Though turmeric is often used by pregnant women, it is important to consult with a doctor before doing so as turmeric can be a uterine stimulant.

Sherri_V

I googled cinnamon benefits and found this:

Studies have shown that just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower LDL cholesterol.

Several studies suggest that cinnamon may have a regulatory effect on blood sugar, making it especially beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes.

In some studies, cinnamon has shown an amazing ability to stop medication-resistant yeast infections.

In a study published by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Maryland, cinnamon reduced the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.

It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.

In a study at Copenhagen University, patients given half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with one tablespoon of honey every morning before breakfast had significant relief in arthritis pain after one week and could walk without pain within one month.

When added to food, it inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.

One study found that smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory.

Researchers at Kansas State University found that cinnamon fights the E. coli bacteria in unpasteurized juices.

10. It is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.

lottie

SLV - You're counsel about tumeric and cinamon is great. I've heard especially good things about tumeric and plan to add it to my supplement regime when chemo is over. In addition to a good women's multi-vitamin and Omega 3, I'm taking glutamine and alpha lipolic acid speciifcally to combat neuropathy and stomach issues during chemo. But, I don't take those supplements in the days surrounding my treatments.

Sugar77

SLV, thanks for info on turmeric and cinnamon! I see we have the same name, spelled the same, too. My middle name is Lynne...is your's?

Sherri 

Sugar77

SLV, thanks for info on tumeric and cinnamon. I see we have the same first name, spelled the same.  Is your middle name "Lynne", too? Sherri 

Sherri_V

You're welcome   These supplements were suggested by my oncologist.  I also take calcium with Vitamin D.

My middle name is Lynn...no "e".

one-L

I am officially finished with Chemo.  WooHoo, what a feeling.  I am planning on a big Christmas dinner with my DS and his family and then I just wait around for the SEs to take over.  I did get a sleep aid from the Doctor today to help me with my fatigue, because I am just not sleeping well.  We will see if that helps with the fatigue.  I had to have another shot to raise my RBCs today, but it didn't keep me from getting chemo.  Boy was I glad.

Thanks for the supplement tips, I will try those in the next couple of weeks.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and hoping that the SEs stay away and let us enjoy the holidays.

Juannelle

Sugar77

Congratulations Juanelle on officially being done chemo.  I'm sending you good vibes for no SE's this time.  Maybe knowing this is it will help you body recovery really quickly.  

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!!

Sherri 

one-L

Sherri, I am sure it will, I can feel the good vibes coming.  Thanks a bunch.  I hope since I have all the shots I need and the meds, the SEs will be better this time and not so many.  I did ask for a sleep aid, since I am having lots of trouble sleeping, maybe that will help with the fatigue.  A girl can always hope.

Juannelle

kt57

catori:  i had a bad reaction to neulasta -- not nearly as bad as yours, but it sure was painful and frightening.  my onc switched me to Neupogen -- which is similar - it is a daily shot for 7 days - i gave it to myself.   it is like 7 smalls doses rather than one big one.  The side effects were far less in the smaller daily doses.

Mommaof2

Merry Christmas everyone!  It's 5:30 in the morning and I'm waiting for my two little ones to wake up to see what Santa brought. I hope they will sleep a couple of more hours!

 Juannelle, Congratulations on being finished with your treatments AND for the addition to you family!   I hope you feel good this week and get your energy back soon.

Chynadollsmom, I'm just glad to be rid of my hair.  It was just so gross when it really started falling out.  I should have cut it even shorter sooner.  Oh well....yesterday was the first time I've really been out since it fell out - even though I wore a really cute hat, I was really self-conscious. I guess that will go away with time.

Sherri, I liked your idea of buying inexpensive wigs on Ebay and letting your daughter have them to play with later.  My daughter asked if she could have my wig when I'm through with it....hmmm. we'll have to see. 

Again, Happy Holidays to everyone!

lottie

Congratulations Juannelle!

Everyone have a blessed Christmas.

Lottie

one-L

Good morning everyone and Merry Christmas.  You women are great and wishing you all get all the things you asked for.

Juannelle

MAGOB

Merry Christmas to all of you wonderful ladies!  Take good care of your sweet selves.  XO, Mary

dogsaver

wow so many are almost done. that is great! my chemo ended nov 17th. i didnt lose brows or lashes, they just thinned. i feel great now. more energy than before i had chemo and the hair is coming in fast thank goodness. i dont care how it comes back. straight, curly, just glad its coming back. 3rd chemo was hardest physically and the 4th one was hardest emotionally. those feelings did fade and got my mojo back. last period was during my 3rd chemo, end of october.

Sugar77

Dogsaver - it's so good to hear that your hair is coming in already. That gives me hope as mine is now just starting to come out after my first tx on Dec. 7th..I have three more to go.  I go for #2 tx on the 29th. I so hope I don't lose my brows and lashes!  

It's also great to hear that you feel really well with lots of energy.

Thanks for posting.

Sherri 

valeriekd

Hey Dogsaver Glad to have read your post- I am having a tough one today - crying all day- I am also on #4 of 6 and the emotional part is tough maybe b/c the neuropathy set in and it feels wierd and I do not feel like doing much. Probably should force myself- But reading your post was really a big help-Thankyou Ma'am! Also got my German Shepherd, Beagle  and cutie hound mix with me too.

Be well, everyone! Valerie 

MAGOB

Hang in there Valerie.  My last chemo was on September 29.  The neuropathy has started to go away - the only thing that still lingers is hot/cold sensitivity.  You can do this.  Take it one hour at a time.  Sending much love to you.  XO, Mary

lottie

Valerie - take it one hour at a time if you have to! You'll get through.

I just figured out that the constant pain in my big toes was neuropathy ... feels like someone's banging them w/ a hammer. My right arm is covered w/ this &^%$#@ rash and hurts like hell. It's also swollen a little which freaks me out. I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude and am going to go to work at my office in Boston tomorrow, which I know will help. 

Enjoy your pups Valerie and don't push yourself too hard. We'll be on the other side of chemo soon.

Mary -- how many tx did you have? How's your hair 2 months post chemo?

Meece

I am bumping this to help someone locate it.

meg8000

Hi Ladies - I'm another TC gal.  I had tx # 1 on 12/09 and will be going for tx # 2 on Wed 12/30, so I'm only a day or two behind Sherri.

I did about the same as everyone else with #1, but find I am not looking forward to doing this again.  Oh well, like others have said, it will be over before you know it.

My worst problem is my hair.  I had my son buzz it to 1/2 inch, and I really liked it - it was soft and wearable.  But I had big empty patches on the side and top and I thought I looked like a mangy dog, so I took the clippers and buzzed the rest off.  I was trying to go down one notch, but it took it all off, and now it is stubbly and feels awful.  It seems like the fallout has slowed, and I still would have had a lot of hair in the back - just not on the top and sides. 

So I feel awful about it.  I hate it b/c it feels awful all stubbly like this.  I would rather have the buzz cut back and just let it be mangy looking.  At least I could cover it and it would still feel soft.  Now I think the only thing I can do is either wait for it to all fall out - which it might not I guess, or wait for it to grow back, which it might not either until the treatments are over.  I just feel awful about it and feel like I really messed myself up.  

nanaiq

thanks again Meece. I'll now add this thread to my daily reading. Being able to share and relate to others has been so helpful. I am glad I don't have to go blindly through this without you girls. Not knowing and waiting... I hate both of them!

MAGOB

MEG8000 - Nice to know you.  Welcome to our group.  The prickly hair will get better.  Wait it out.  Some people use those sticky lint rollers on their head to move things along.  Also, a slippery satin pillowcase might be a nice treat in the days to come - it's easy on dry skin and nice on the exposed scalp.  Best wishes to you for the rest of your tx.  

Lottie, you soldier!  You make your sisters in the fight proud.  Hang tough - better days ahead.  I had three tx - had to stop due to underlying condition.  Central nervous system was hit hard.  Neuropathy was in the mix.  Take heart, it does improve.  Don't freak out if it is still there after a month or so.  Just wait and let things heal.  There is a neat woman in my cancer support group - she was in a wheelchair because of the neuropathy.  One foot drooped uncontrollably.  Let me tell you she walks today just like nothing ever happened.  It took a year for her, but it DID go away.  As for hair, it has been almost three months and there is about 1/2 to 1" of growth.  It came in looking and feeling like an old dish brush - bristles pointing in a million different directions.  Can't comb it or tame it. There is still a line across the top of my head that looks like a wide, jagged part. I really want that to fill in.  My 8 yr old nephew says I look like a man.  Lots more gray than before.  They tell us not to color our hair for several weeks - it is so delicate that it can fry and fall right back out.   Still covering my head at night to stay warm.  There IS hair under that bald head of yours.  It will appear in due time.  Meanwhile, enjoy the time you save in the shower!  

OK ladies - no swinging from chandeliers on new year's eve.  Unless you have the strength to do it - and if that's the case, post pictures!    XO, Mary  

meg8000

MAGOB:  Thanks for the suggestions.  I decided to try the lint roller a little bit every day and hopefully that will help.  I also took a good look at my scalp, and it really is very sparse on top.  I guess it really would have looked strange if I had left it as it was, so that makes me feel a little better.  I was kind of freaking out b/c I thought maybe the hair loss had stopped and I would have cut it too early, but such is not the case - I am still shedding a good deal of hair.  Maybe I am just mourning the loss of my hair.  It feels weird not to have any.

one-L

meg8000, the hair loss is sometimes the hardest thing for some of us.  I know when I got my dx, I cried and was upset, but was determined to beat bc.  But when they told me I would need chemo and would lose my hair, I cried for days and I do mean days.  Would wake in the middle of the night crying, it was  such an emotional experience.  But I just finished my last chemo and I am looking forward to my hair  growth, except I know it will  take awhile for it to stay in.  Hang in there, there is light at the end  of the tunnel.

mary, I will try to refrain from swinging from the chandeliers, but I may not be able too.  I will be doing some heaving celebrating.

valerie, hoping you are feeling better.  I will be on my emotional  roller coaster in a day or two, boy what fun.

Good evening to all you wonderful ladies, I am not meaning to leave anyone out, but that I haven't posted in several days and am way behind.

I am finally feeling better.  Each hour that goes by now is better.  I am hoping for a better week that after my last tx.  Food finally tastes better and I wanted pizza for supper.  So we went out for pizza.  Some of it didn't have much of a taste, but in general  it tasted pretty good.  I am still so fatigued I can hardly move, but that will get better as the days go by also. 

Good luck to everyone having a tx this week and hope you do get to enjoy the New Year.

Hugs,

Juannelle

lottie

Thanks Mary! I'm expecting unruly hair when it comes back, but, at least it'll be hair! I seem to be losing a little more on the top of my head as I approach tx #6 and my eyebrows are thinning dramatically. Most dramatic are my big toemails ... they're both black and painful. I'll show the oncologist next week. Juannelle - I could use some of that black nail polish about now ...

I'm actually wondering if I can manage to do the last treatment. It's next Wednesday and I'm still so beaten down by #5. My skin hasn't healed and going to work in Boston yesterday was a mistake ... I'm exhausted, have a sore throat and cough. I'm going to stay in bed today and try to heal. 

 Lottie

valeriekd

hi Lottie- Except for skin issues we seem to travel a similar route - my left thumb nail is turning dark grey and I still feel very fatigued, occasional nausea :(and neuropathy. R u going every 2 or 3 weeks? I could not manage the dose dense but my blood work bounces back by the third week. I heard you can go longer if you feel really bad. I took 5 extra days between one and two and it made all the difference in the world ESPECIALLY if you are sick. Please take care care of yourself - you have been thru a lot.

Best to you, Valerie 

VegasDiva

I will be starting 4 rounds of TC on 12/31/09.  Has anyone used the iced gel mitts and socks when the taxotere is given?  A friend in Canada said they use it in the clinic there and it has made a dramatic difference in the nail issue.

Has anyone tried putting cold on their head to help with the hair loss?  The hair loss is the part that is freaking me out the most.

Has anyone NOT lost ALL their hair, but maybe were able to salvage their bangs or a wee bit to hang out the bottom of a hat?

chynadollsmom

Lottie & Mary - My hair is growing again, It's about 3/4 of an inch long but it's sticking straight out.  My sister-in-law's is laying down and looks so full while I look like I stuck my finger in a socket.  Mine doesn't look like a full head of hair, but that could be because it's standing straight up and not laying down.  I still have bald spots but I'm hoping that if I let it grow it'll look full enough when it starts getting longer.  I'm wondering if it's sticking straight up because it's going to grow in curly again.  When my daughter was a baby, Hers stuck up everywhere and she has extremely curly hair.  Mine was always curly too.  So I guess time will tell.  Lottie I'm praying that you'll get some strength and be able to take your last treatment.  I know you probably just want to be done with them.  I'm sorry you're feeling so rough

Vegas - I never lost all my hair.  I lost it badly on the temples  and then on the back of my head.  And over time I've gotten a bald spot on the top of my head, just slightly off to the side.  I had commented earlier in this forum that it looked like I had a combination Cupie Doll and Friar Tuck.  I suppose at that rate I could have left hair on the bottom of my head to stick out of a hat.  But my hair was so curly that leaving some on there would have gotten in the way of the scarves and such.  Honestly, other than the fact that I have to do it every day -- which gets old -- it's kind of liberating that for the first time in my life I can jump in the shower, throw on a scarf or hat and head out the door.  With all my curly hair there was always a styling process involved. A friend gave me Infusium shampoo to use because she had a friend who'd gone through extensive chemo and said that it helped her hair to stay and grow.  Perhaps that's why I never lost all mine??? Don't know.  Honestly Vegas, all the changes coming at you so fast can be traumatizing, but honey you're a beautiful woman, a child of God, and weather you have hair or not, just love the beautiful woman you are.  People keep telling me how great I look (and I don't).  But I think that because I smile, laugh, enjoy each eay, and have become comfortable with my new look that they are comfortable with it too.  The funny thing is that I have had so many young girls telling me how much they like my hats or the way I styled my scarves.  Some of them didn't even realize that I was wearing them because my head was shaved.  Go figure!  Oh and I had 4 TC's and the only problem I've had with my nails are ridges that started showing up in the growing at the end of my treatments. But they've stayed pink and healthy looking.

I've had 3 radiation treatments now.  No problems.  They tell me it'll be several weeks before any skin issues would begin.  I found some pure aloe at the health store that I rub on every night before bed.  My friend had open oozing sores from radiation and a friend had sent her an enormous aloe plant.  She'd cut a section up and lay on her breast each day and nearly overnight she started healing.  I'm hoping if I keep using it that I'll keep the skin healthier.

Still get to feeling queezy and fatigued after eating.  I'll have periods of bone aches to the point I take a darvocet to get it under control.  I'm 4 weeks out from my final TC.  Anyone else have latent bone aches like that?  Oh and still having heartburn issues.  I really hope that goes away over time.  For now I take something for it each day to keep it in check.  Take care ladies.  May God bless you wherever you are in your treatments.

MAGOB

Chynadollsmom - I have bone pain, too.  Thought I was just going crazy.  Joints really hurt.  I walk like an old man.  Let's hope it goes away with time.  It has been three months pfc for me.  If I sit for a while, things get stiff.  We're going to power through this, sister.  My New Year's toast for us is no bone pain in 2010!  

Vegas - My onc was not crazy about the idea of the gel caps to prevent hair loss.  I really wanted to do them, and was disappointed. The doc's point was that you have to use the caps the entire time you are receiving the chemo drugs, and you have to wear them for a while after you leave the clinic, too.  Let me tell you, you can get cold during chemo.  The fluids are not body temp, and you will be receiving lots of them - don't worry, it's a good thing.  They help you lots.  I did do ice on my fingernails, and it got cold after a while, let me tell you.  But that frozen stuff on your head could really add to your discomfort.  And it can give you a whopping headache.  Most of us eat lots of ice during the infusion to keep our mouths from getting too sore.  That alone can cause a real brain freeze.  Looking back, I think my onc made the right suggestion.  The caps would have been too much.  However, there are women who do OK with them.  Read up on it - let me know if you need a link and I'll point you in the right direction.    

What do the rest of you veterans say on the subject?