Taxotere girls: I need some info

Diane,  I am sorry you are struggling with discomfort.  I, too had some aches and pains, and had the same tx as you.  22 weeks of chemo!

Now, I have gone holistic with the blessing of my oncologist who says knowing me, she understands and feels that the least medical intervention, the better.  She did recommend for me to take Femara, and I tried it for a few months, but it was not for me.  I felt like a 90 year old lady w/ aches and pains and told myself that is no quality of life.

I have been going for Reiki therapy and for me it has been profound.  I also take Lugol's iodine which acts as an estrogen blocker without the bad side effects.  

I highly suggest for you to do some research and listen to what speaks to your heart.

I have a friend who is now a 12 year b/c survivor who did it holistically and she has been inspirational to me in this journey.  Any help I can offer others makes me feel like I am paying her back,

To heal from bc is body, mind and spirit.  Medicine alone, can't do it!

Listen to healing tapes, Andrew Weil, Bernie Siegel, Deepak Chopra, Anyone who speaks to your heart.

Diane, I had 4 rounds of Taxotere & Cytoxan, with a Neulasta shot after each infusion.  I had bone/muscle pain throughout chemo, but it was worst 3 days or so after each Neulasta shot (and especially after the first one).  My onco had warned me about the bone & muscle pain.  She said the pain from Taxotere could get pretty bad, and it might be hard to distinguish that pain from the Neulasta pain.  In any case, she recommended ibuprofen and exercise (walking, mostly).

Once I finished chemo, she put me on Arimidex, which causes its own wonderful aches and pains.  I expected the joint pain from Arimidex, but my onco said there was also likely to be arthritis-like joint pain that was an after-effect of chemo.  The way she explained it was, chemo is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent.  It often suppresses the pain from pre-existing arthritis (I have/had osteoarthritis), but we don't detect that benefit because of the bone/muscle/joint pain that the Taxotere causes. However, once the chemo drugs are out of our system and the anti-inflammatory effects are gone, our old, pre-chemo problems resurface.  In my case, she said the aches and pains of my osteoarthritis would probably reappear a few months after ending chemo, and be more severe than they had been pre-chemo.  That would continue for, oh, 6 months or so (I think she said).  It's sort of a rebound effect after the chemo is gone.

I was once dx'd with fibromyalgia, many years ago.  I don't know if I really have it, and I've never taken anything for it because the characteristic aches are infrequent now.  But, since finishing chemo, I've noticed I have days of generalized muscle/joint aches (myalgia) that seem to be more frequent and more persistent than before chemo.  I don't know if it's fibromylagia, or osteoarthritis, or something else; or maybe it's just due to Arimidex (which in my case would be most likely).

This rambling answer is meant to tell you that you are not alone, and your pains are not unusual; but I'm not sure we know what's causing them. 

This is going to sound strange, but, is your Vitamin D3 intake adequate?  There is some evidence that low Vitamin D levels in the blood are associated with greater perception of pain.  That is, people who have low Vitamin D levels are more likely to feel pain and sometimes need greater amounts of pain-relieving medication (analgesics), than people with high levels of Vitamin D.  My onco told me that, too.  She's really good.

otter 

Your not alone. I did 8 rounds of TAC, and had 5 to 7 neulasta shots, after each round.  There were days, when I could barely walk, and I have dog.  Once I got two blocks, and thought I would have to call the police, to give me a ride back home.  I made it home, eventually.  Now it's been just over a year, since treatments, and had to have a bone scan, because of wide spread pain.  I must have lit up like a Christmas tree.  Multi focal degenerative arthretic changes, from head to toe, since my first scan, prior to chemo.  But no cancer!!!  I'm also, getting older(53yrs.old), and they just had to say age related arthritis...it also, runs in the family. But, I think the chemo. really jump started the arthritis. Walking helps me.  Hope you feel better, soon.