Weekly Taxol group

ThePrincess

So Benadryl really throws me for a loop - my MO said if I took a claritin pre-infusion (2 hours pre) I'd be fine - anyone else hear of this?

PrincessOfMeh

After taxol #5, I'm now dead positive sure about it -- my hair is growing back! Not thick (yet), I'm very peach fuzzy...but still way excited, LOL. No neuropathy, bone pain, nausea, constipation, or whatever, but I'm in orbit ALL THE TIME. Very jangly. Vision is worse and my brows are just starting to thin. My blood work is haring off a little too (low potassium and my sugar was a little high last time) so MO cut my steroid dose in half, but hasn't helped all that much with the constant jitters that I can tell. Sleep? I'm growing accustomed to a 4am wake-up, let's just say that.

I'm officially off work now. Chemo brain has been just too much. No chance of my producing professional level work no matter how many editors follow behind me cleaning up the sorry mess so 2 months off for me, minimum. I'm filling my time knitting, crocheting, and cooking like crazy. Even with being chemo brain foggy and frenetic from the steroids, I feel pretty good.

Trvler

Nice to 'see' you, Princess! Yeah for hair. I check my scalp about 3x a day. It looks like the follicles are just under the skin wanting to pop. Any glimmer of hope, right? Are you having surgery? When and what?

I am not sleeping great either, even with a half a xanax. I try to wean off it but I just don't want to be exhausted all of the time.

PrincessOfMeh

You're a week or two behind me, Alison, right? Mine is VERY thin, very peach-fuzzy like I said, so maybe yours is just around the corner. :-)

I meet with the surgeon again in July, with surgery tentatively planned for September. I have a choice on the right one, but decided on bmx, no reconstruction. With ibc, I couldn't do recon immediately anyway. Later, yes, but they don't want anything in the way of radiation after surgery's done.

I was flattened by the fatigue truck during AC, but have the exact opposite end of the spectrum with taxol. I am, like, insanely jittery.

Trvler

They cut my steroid after the first and yes, I am on #4 Tuesday.

PrincessOfMeh

Heh, I'm Wednesdays and will be coming up on #6 this week. So...2 weeks apart. Look for wispy hair regrowing on your legs. That's where I noticed it first. It'll be a long, looooooooooooooong time before I retire my scarves, wigs, and etc, but don't care. Gives me a perky boost.

rleepac

I just finished Taxol #7 and my hair is already re growing quite rapidly! Too bad I still feel fatigue and have constant diarrhea...

Bekah

PrincessOfMeh

Bekah, yours is just a tiny bit farther along than mine! I was so "eh, whatever" about losing my hair, I honestly didn't think I'd get so tickled about it coming back, but I was so wrong. LOL

AnewBeginning

rleepac

Im glad your hair is growing back! Do you take imodium for your diarrhea? I had Taxol #1 and only had 1 bout of diarrhea but am wondering if it will happen every tx and more often? I would be afraid to leave the house

Trvler

Is anyone on Taxol taking Biotin?

ThePrincess

My MO approved me to start taking Biotin - I start Taxol tomorrow.

Leighrh

Allison, I start Taxol Thurs..... I've been taking Biotin since a  week after my last AC... Also using Biotin shampoo and scalp cream.

pennsygal

I'm Wednesdays also; #5 this week for me. Bekah, my hair looks like yours - just a bit shorter. However, my eyebrows are now almost completely gone. Also, my tongue feels burned/dead at this point. I'm brushing, swishing with salt water, etc.

PrincessofMeh - I also didn't mind losing my hair, but I am so ready to have it back.

ninjamary

So we can take Biotin on Taxol?! I just bought a bottle of it, but wasn't sure if it would react with the chemo. My eyebrows are about gone. The right side is losing hair from the middle and on the left I have a little bit at the start of the eye. I must say...I've become a a pro (almost) at using false eyelashes. I still have some eyelashes...but I think they will be gone in two weeks.

Leighrh

Mary please share your tips on false eyelashes... It took me almost 45 min this morning to put those suckers on!!! LOL  Is the key to it really expensive ones?  I just got some moderately priced ones.

Suladog

Trvler,
my MO let me use biotin and L Glutamine during Taxol/ H , now that I'm done and doing herceptin alone and arimidex I am taking Biosil for bones, nails and hair. Also she said 4000 mg of Vit D 3 every day for bone health with the A

ninjamary

Leigh - Well first I watched this teen girl do it on you tube. She just plopped them on her eye. She was done in 5 sec flat! I'm not that good. I've bought Katy Perry eyelashes at Ulta and I couldn't do those right. I had to cut them as they seemed rather large. The last two pairs I've been playing with are from Walgreens. I think they were about $4-$6.

1.I color a black line above my eyelash line.

2. Open the glue (I have glue with a wand)

3. Grab lash on a tweezer

4. Apply glue to the lash line on the false eyelashes

5. Wait 10-20 seconds and apply right to the lash line. I try to make sure the outer lash is secure first then I make sure the inner one is.

Practice, practice, practice. That's how I've gotten better at it.

Leighrh

Well I hate these lashes rt now!! lol -- I will keep trying.  I am seriously considering the false ones that the nail place puts on. Someone told me they last for two weeks or so.

PrincessOfMeh

It took loads of practice just to get okay at using an eyebrow pencil, to make that look less freakish. Fake eyelashes too? Uh...nope, nope, nope. This is as girly as I get.

crs003

Angiel,

Yes, under my chin, its so annoying! I wonder if it has to do with the effect of Chemo on the ovaries and hormones. I am a week late for my period, so I'm guessing that its already having an effect, although I still got PMS! I recognized it immediately, super sensitive and crying. Ahh!

@ThePrincess-I have the same problem with Benadryl, it knocks me out every time, then for the rest of the day, I'm checked out. The nurse said that I could try using the tablets, but I am nervous about doing that. It's something you could ask about. The thing that seems to work best is just resting/sleeping through treatment and not trying to fight it. Then I wake up feeling less loopy. I also sit in the chair and drink something for about 10 minutes after treatment. It helps a bit.

 

JenH2015

After six taxol infusions with no allergy problems, I asked my oncologist to cut my Benadryl - which he did by 75% as I hated the way the Benadryl made me feel. I had no problem with the lower dose and the restless leg and light headedness I was getting from the Benadryl went away.

Trvler

I am only on my 4th and they have already cut my Benedryl a lot. I am not sure but I think I am down to 12 from 50.

Leighrh

Why. why, why did I just read that thread on bad reaction to Taxol!!!!!!!!  I start Thursday and I was anxious and now I am worried about allergic reactions...death...  good god do NOT go read that thread!!!..........I am really not allergic to much so here's hoping that rings true for this.  I have a love hate with Benadryl.. if I take 1 I pass plum out.. if I take 2.. I am a wired mess!  LOL  I don't even know if that is what I will get, just assuming.  MO says only steroids with the infusion and I wont need to take any orally so I am hoping that is the case ... I HATE that steroid.

Anyone's eyelashes and eyebrows come back on weekly tax?  My eyelashes and most eyebrows have left the building after that last round of AC and I have heard that they grow back fairly quickly but I am not sure if that is after all chemo is done or, since hair is suppose to start growing back on Taxol, if those suckers will come back too.  I know lots of ppl don't even lose those until after Taxol is done but mine decided to jump ship early.

tryn2staycalm

Did my first Taxol Friday.  Yes I got knocked out by the Benedryl.  Felt fine on the steroids till noon Sat.  That was when I could not stay awake for anything.  Slept pretty much steady till 7 this morning (Tues.)  Still feel somewhat tired too.  Had a very light touch of nausea when I got up in the night Sat. night but only upon standing so took a nausea pill and went back to bed.  Because of the blood clot and the daily Fragmen injections I have the opposite problem of most.  Went nearly a week without bowl movement.  The Fragman stops the bowls from contracting.  So steadily  taking something to keep me moving.. or trying to.  My MO was right, Taxol not as bad as original chemo but still kicks my butt good.

Cathy 

Trvler

Leighr: Why are you starting Taxol so late? I started 4 weeks ago and you are only 2 days behind me on AC? I know exactly how you feel about Taxol and the first one. I was a mess when I went in there. I was so scared. They were pretty nonchalant about it all. I was completely fine and you will be, too but you won't know that until you are sitting there and it's going in. They told me the reaction would happen in the first 15 minutes. If you are going alone, just ask your nurse to stay with you. You are going to be fine. Hugs. Also, I though they eyebrows and lashes went on Taxol. My lower lashes are almost gone and my upper are starting. My brows are thinner but still there.

Trvler

Also, if you are fine on the first TAxol, ask if they cut the Benedryl and steroid dose. Kind of a funny note. My friend who goes with me said to me one day, I slept like a baby last night. I said oh good. When the nurse was telling me that I was getting 50 mg of Bene, she said she accidentally had taken 100. My eyes were rolling back in my head on 50. 100 would have killed me. I hate it, too. She said a lot of people fight the sleep and I did because I was so worried about the allergic reaction happening when I was sleeping. I know it's easy to say but try not to worry.

Leighrh

Allison... I was on a 3 week AC schedule.  Actually tried to do the last one within 2 weeks but blood work was a no go... white count was too low. So we learned that the 2nd week after AC was my low week as far as blood work went.  So we just continued with the 3 week schedule to start Taxol.  I guess I am lucky because for the past 2 weeks I have felt great! Not looking forward to more poison and certainly not looking forward to this weekly business.  I am going to try to go into this believing that it's going to be as easy as my MO says..... thinking positive rt?  LOL  It's gonna be easy, my hair is going to start growing.. life will be great!!  LOL!!!! (all said with a huge dose of sarcasm!!!)

pennsygal

Leighrh - they will monitor you very closely with the first Taxol infusion. I had a reaction, and they were on it, with more benadryl, checking bp, etc. When it was clear the benadryl wasn't helping, they stopped the infusion. I started on Abraxane the following week, which is basically taxol in a different suspension, and have had no problems.

As Allison said, if you are going to react, it will happen in the first 15 minutes.

Carrie37

My MO agreed to take me off the Benedryl after week 3 on Taxol. No allergic reaction and the Benedryl was making me feel just awful. I feel so much better during infusion!

On another note; I am really missing my tastebuds this week.

MJS1266

Leigh, I too had read about the bad allergic reactions and was nervous to start Taxol. The nurse stays with you for about 15 to 20 minutes but nothing happened. I finished all 12 weeks without a problem. My hair started growing back aroung week 9 or 10. I didn't loose my eyebrows and eyelashes completely until after Taxol. I got them back relatively quickly. Good Luck, MJ