chemo side effects

dualgate · December 2009

I've been reading some of the posts about chemo and am scared to death. The Oncologist tells me its nothing I cant handle and will be fine with it, and these ladies are posting such terrible side effects, I just dont know what to believe. Please... does anyone have good news about chemo????

katsOK · December 2009

Hi, in your diagnosis you state you have mets. Where is your metastasis and how did you get to have a oncoltypeDX with a metastisis. I did chemo TC x 4 and found it something I could handle but I was not working during it and I am a lot older than you. Each person reacts differently to chemo so hard to say, beforehand, how you will do with it; however, the oncologists have solutions for most problems and that is what makes it "something you can handle". When something comes up that they did not prepare you for , then you phone them to ask how to handle the problem.

Faith316 · December 2009

What chemo are you going to be taking?

I imagined that chemo would be horrible. Sick all the time, vomiting, feel terrible 24/7, etc. It has not been anything like I imagined. I have had quite a few different drugs: Adriamycin, Cytoxin, Taxol, Herceptin, and now Xeloda and Tykerb. I started back in June 2008 with my first chemo treatments and am still on chemo and I have never once thrown up nor felt like I was going to. I have had a few moments where I was queasy, but actually not even too many of those.

When I was on AC, I would have an infusion and for about 2 days I would feel a little queasy. Day 4-5 I would be pretty weak. The next week, I would feel pretty good most of the time and then week 3, I would feel fine. Then the cycle would repeat. (I got a Neulasta shot the day after each infusion, but did NOT have any pain afterwards like some women do.)

When I took Taxol (with concurrent Herceptin), I had some achy bone pain but not severe, hand/foot syndrome but not severe and my legs were somewhat swollen. Again, nothing severe. Through all of those drugs (AC and T), I still did pretty much whatever I felt like doing. I still went out to dinner with friends, still went shopping, still went on vacations --- but I would try and do these things at times when crowds wouldn't be as bad. We went to the beach in October instead of July for example.

I am now on Xeloda and Tykerb and have been for 6 months. I have again had no vomiting and really no nausea to speak of. This combo does not make your hair fall out. The only side effect I am dealing with is diarrhea (which has gotten much better the longer I have been on the drugs) and hand/foot syndrome. The H/F syndrome does cause me quite a bit of pain at times, but it does not stop me from doing whatever I want/need to do. If these drugs keep me cancer-free, I can deal with h/f syndrome!

So, to make a long story short, despite having been on chemo for the past 18 months, it has not been any where near what I imagined it would be. It is VERY DOABLE. The fear of the unknown is often much worse than what my chemo experience has turned out to be. I know many women have not tolerated chemo as well as I have and I am thankful that I have not been too sick with my treatments. Lots of good new anti-nausea meds have come along in the past few years!

Don't assume the worst. It probably won't be near as bad as you think it might. Good luck and keep us posted how things are going!

bbd · December 2009

Thanks Faith for your words of encouragement. I will be starting chemo in January and am anxious. It is helpful to hear your experience.

RegulJ · January 2010

Hello there I have begun TCH (Taxoter,Carboplatin and Herceptin) treatment. My second round is January 4th. During the first day of treatment I felt fine other than being loopy from the benadryl. Day 2- I was moderately tired and mildly queasy but manageable.

For me the "worst" day were 3-8 I was moderately tired and didn't move around much. I had no desire for food or water and watched the food channel all day to stay interested. I only had to lay down 1-2 times during this period to nap during the day. I was also done for the day at 8-8:30pm.

The only seriously bad days were 7ish days after the Neulasta shot when my body was in overdrive making WBC's, now I know what arthritis feels like- however I know how to treat it now.

On day 9 post treatment I felt great- back to myself again I wanted food and water and tried to eat a larger variety of food. By day 12 I was off my anti-nausea meds.

Good luck to YOU!!!

Tirlie · January 2010

Dear dualgate!

I had 6x chemo. No nausea, but some weakness.The antiemetics I had were real effective, so I was able to do almost anything at home.

I had twice low white blood cell count, but the treatment I got was very good.

Please do not be afraid- in 6 months it is over!

Tirlie, Finland

jenn3 · January 2010

Remember that everyone is different. Some of us have minimal SE's and others terrible SE's and there are those that fall in between. I believe I feel somewhere in between. There are plenty of medications that can help with the SE's, be sure to let your dr know exactly how you're feeling so that they can work with you.

You will find that there is a pattern to how you feel and once you know what your good days and bad days are you can make plans to go to dinner, go to the show, small get togethers with friends, etc. It is doable - you will find that you have more strength than you knew you had.

Good luck and know that you can come to these boards to vent, get information or just talk to someone going through the same thing.

Karen09 · January 2010

For me the waiting for treatment to start was the worst part. I had 4 x FEC and 4 x Taxotere. The first FEC was really hard but I got my side effect meds changed and they weren't as bad after that. Hang in there!

joyner1963 · January 2010

Dear Dualgate,

I felt exactly the same way you feel when I was told I had to start chemo and began to read about the 100's of potential side effects. All of the advice and experiences on this thread are very true and accurate. Your experience with chemo will vary from treatment to treatment, day to day, week to week. I would like to reccommend a wonderful product I just used at my last chemo on Jan 6th.

It's called Sansuco Transdermal Patch. The anti-nausea medication used in the patch is Aloxi.

I had NO nausea of any kind for the FIRST time since treatment started. It's expensive and some insurance companies won't cover it. My cancer treatment center gave me a one time FREE patch. My insurance will pay 70 % for the next two I will buy. The average cost is $300.00. BUT, it helped me to feel almost normal for the next 7 days after chemo.

Hang in there. You can do it. We all know you can !

Good luck.

Georgia Joyner

NatureGrrl · January 2010

I have good news about chemo: it saved my life.

After 6 months of A/C and Taxol I had a short period off before my surgery.

My surgeon wanted to do a mastectomy but my oncologist felt a lumpectomy was in order. I decided to do a lumpectomy knowing that I might have to go back within weeks for a mastectomy if my margins weren't clear.

Well, not only were my margins clear, they couldn't find any cancer anywhere, including in the 17 lymph nodes they took. My surgeon was flabbergasted but pleased for me. I just finished 6 weeks of radiation and am on estrogen-blocking pills now and am ready to move forward.

As hard as chemo was, I'm grateful it was there.

Don't let other people's stories scare you. Yes, chemo can be/is hard, sometimes really hard, but remember that the people who write the most are often people who are having the hardest time because, of course, they need the most help with what they're going through. You generally don't hear nearly as much from women who don't have such a hard time.

Everyone's experience is different but most of us fall in the middle range -- not the worst, not the best. It's the classic bell curve you learned about in school.

Chemo can be really rough but most of what scared me were the stories I knew from how chemo used to be 20 or 10 or even 5 years ago. They can control the nausea & vomiting MUCH better than even a few years ago. There's fatigue, of course, and other symptoms, depending on your chemo, but your oncologist and his/her staff should be on top of this for you and help you get through it with as little misery as possible.

One really important thing is to keep your doctor informed! Don't hesitate to call them if you're having problems. I have the most incredible support team in my oncologist's staff and they always told me to err on the side of calling rather than suffer and not call. They are there to help and you're paying them for just that, so use them as much as you need.

I had to quit reading some of the posts about the worst-case kinds of things because I'm prone to anxiety anyway and some of the posts were scaring me a lot.

Also, if your oncologist has a therapist on staff, think about talking with that person (or see someone outside their office). Mine was able to see things going on with me emotionally that I couldn't see because I was too immersed in everything and that helped a lot, especially when I got really depressed. And it just helps to talk. I have friends and family I could share with but sometimes an outsider who wasn't trying to "fix" me was easier to talk with than someone who was offering advice in an attempt to help.

Anticipation is always the worst part of anything and chemo is no exception. Getting through your first treatment will help you a lot -- or at least it helped me -- because I saw that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I saw that I could get through it. There were plenty of times when I felt like it would never end but I knew it would, and it did. And it saved my life. Keep the goal in mind, get lots of support from family and friends, keep us posted, and know there are lots of us cheering you on! You can and will do this; even when you have doubts, know that there are lots of us who know you'll make it through this. Best of luck, and warm hugs.

NatureGrrl · January 2010

PS Now that I've posted I looked at the date of your post... a month ago... please let us know how you're doing!

pmajenski · January 2010

Hi,

I went through chemo 2 years ago with 4 young kids at home (A/C and taxol and then Herceptin). I, too, was overwhelmed with the idea. But, I have to tell you that it's very tolerable. I was totally able to function and attend every soccer game, hockey game etc....yes, I did go to bed at 8 p.m. for parts of the time...but nothing awful. Also, if you have chemo every 2 weeks, the second week, you should feel almost 100%.

chemo side effects

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