AC and hair loss

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kimber3006
kimber3006 Member Posts: 586

Again, I'm sure this has been posted before, but I've lost patience searching through the threads.  I had my 3rd AC on Monday and I still haven't lost all of my hair.  Granted, probably 85% fell out after the second treatment, maybe 90% tops, but I still have a uniform fuzzy covering over my whole head.  I'm sure you all know what I'm worried about.....is the chemo working if I still have some hair?  Call me crazy, but I think what's left there might even still be growing a little bit.....

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    too funny-I made the same exact post after my 3rd treatment.  I lost the top first and then instead of the mulett look I shaved my head. I never lost all my hair so I kind of regret shaving it so close. I never had a clean bald head-I had little spikes all over and then in the back I had slightly more. It tends to grow a bit in between treatments.

    I never lost my eyebrows but they did stop growing. I lost all my leg hair but not my arm hair.

    I lost half of my eyelashes.

  • kimber3006
    kimber3006 Member Posts: 586
    edited January 2010

    Thanks!  I saw that Taxol side effects specifically mentioned losing eyebrows and eyelashes, so I was expecting them to go with the next round.

  • diana50
    diana50 Member Posts: 2,134
    edited January 2010

    kimber

    your chemo is working; remember it is also an accumlative effect; that is why they give you "rounds' of the stuff.  also, there are actually some chemos for other cancers that people don't even lose their hair.  you will be bald as a newborn before you know it** my eye lashes and eyebrows disappeared after i was pretty much finished with chemo.

    diana50

  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    wait-are you doing taxol or Aux- I think during taxol your hair grows back.

  • kimber3006
    kimber3006 Member Posts: 586
    edited January 2010

    Thanks, Diana.  Can I just say again how glad I am to be dealing with the hair loss in winter while I can wear all of these cute toboggans?  It's a pain to have to be so cautious with cold and flu season out there, though.  I've become a hermit.  Thank goodness for the internet!  I'm far to social a person to be home so much!

    Pure - I have one more AC, then start 12 weekly Taxol.  The side effects for Taxol list hair loss specifically, including eyebrow, eyelashes, etc.  I'm hoping I'll be able to bounce back faster with the Taxol.  It certainly was a shorter list of side effects than the other two - keeping fingers crossed!

  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    Gottcha- a lot of people mentioned their hair grew back during taxol.

  • kimber3006
    kimber3006 Member Posts: 586
    edited January 2010

    That would be a beautiful thing!  I got a wig last week.  I'm not sure if I'll wear it or not.  It was nice not to look so much like a cancer patient, but at the same time, it doesn't look at all natural to me...kinda creepy.....

  • AnacortesGirl
    AnacortesGirl Member Posts: 1,758
    edited January 2010

    Okay, I had to go look in bathroom mirror to re-check after reading all this.  This is so weird.  I started with 12 weekly taxol.  Lost all my hair after 3 weeks.  Continued to lose hair everywhere else except for eyebrows and eyelashes.  Now I'm a month into weekly AC and I only have about 10 eyebrow hairs left on either side.  No eyelashes.  However the fine hairs on my head are definitly growing.  Even a few rough stubs.  Can even feel a little stubble on the legs (shoot!). Still got 11 more AC's to go through so it still has time to make it all drop again.

    There was another lady on the boards (YoYo44) who, last I heard, started with 12 weeks of taxol and never lost her hair.  Just some thinning toward the end.

    Hair loss is just an se (doesn't mean the chemo isn't working!) and I guess it's like the other se's.  Hits all of us slightly different.

  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited January 2010

    I never lost everything - I was wispy throughout my FEC, then it started growing back on the Taxatore. I never got that shiny bald look.

  • hrf
    hrf Member Posts: 3,225
    edited January 2010

    When I did FEC a few years ago I lost everything everywhere but then it regrew quickly once it was over. This time I did TC (Taxoetere not Taxol) and I kept a few dozen hairs on my head plus eyebrows and lashes) However, now I'm almost 7 months PFC and all I have on my head is fuzz and my scalp shows through and I have bald spots. My brows fell out two times and have not fully grown back either. My lashes are tiny.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited January 2010

    My hair started coming out in big clumps after the second treatment of AC.  It felt like spider webs falling in my face between the clumps, so my daughter came over and buzzed it all off. I felt so much more comfortable after that and I was suprised how round my head is!  I lost all my eye lashes and eyebrows when I started the Taxol.  I finished chemo in Sept, and by Oct my eyebrows were growing back and now there back, and my eyelashes are back but much thinner and lighter colored than they used to be.  I sometimes use mascara on them now.  There was a time before BC I would never go out without mascara.  My hair is back and very thick and curly about an inch long.  Mostly white, and my daughter put my blonde back in but it didn't deposite or take because of all the chemo I guess, so I have very short hair with blonde and white highlights now.  Still looks better than the pencil grey and white it was.

  • everyminute
    everyminute Member Posts: 1,805
    edited January 2010

    I never lost all of my hair - I did a crew cut before my second treatment and kept some spiky hairs throughout. 

    I did lose all my eyelashes and eyebrows BUT it want until after my last taxol treatment but the good news is they came back in force and were very thick - I still lose them in cycles - never all at once but a shedding period every few months.

  • jenn3
    jenn3 Member Posts: 3,316
    edited January 2010

    Within the first week of AC I started shedding, by the 10 day mark it was falling out in clumps, at which time I had my closest friend give me a buzz cut.  By the 2nd week everytime I washed my head the stubbles came out.  I ended up with a few stragglers, but I would say by the 3rd week I was bald.   Once I started Taxol my hair started growing back, but I lost my eyelashes and eyebrows. 

  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    your eyelashed and eyebrows are probably left over from the ac

  • victoriasecret
    victoriasecret Member Posts: 333
    edited January 2010

    My hair fell out right on schedule..dd ac x4 dd taxol x4  finished dec7 th hoooRAY...never lost  eyelashes or brows (completely)but very fine ..my dd did my makeup and said I had about 5 lashes left ...I mascara those babies...I did have the shiney look ...but now have the baby bird fuzz growing in ..very salt and pepper..I am embracing that and plan on keeping it as I have not seen my natural colour in 20 yrs...start rads next Fri..ml C

  • victoriasecret
    victoriasecret Member Posts: 333
    edited January 2010

    Just thought I would add ...remember the day it was coming out in hunks...in the shower..that was a good boo hoo moment..my dd told me "mom you rep a bald head" ....BAH !!!

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