Taxotere is a nightmare

No problems with the Neulasta here. I take a Claritin everyday as I've had a chronic cough due to post nasal drip since tx 1 of TC- it also helps with Neulasta issues. Also take Advil day of shot and a couple days after.

tracie, I did too. The nurse told me to warm it before injecting which helps with the sting. (I set it on the counter half hour then put it under my shirt to get to room temp.  Clariton I was already taking daily and so many people on the boards swore by it I was happy I was taking it.  I did have deep back and sacral pain the first couple of nights.  I found the best thing for it was one of the pain meds leftover from surgery.  One of those at night to help sleep just seemed to break the pain cycle and I was okay after that.  A few other women on it when I was taking it found the same thing.  Remember to ask your Onc about disposing of the syringes every municipality has different rules. 

 The whole Taxotere and neulast ache thing?  The best thing I found was yoga.  Some real gentle stretching yoga every morning.  If I had it to do over again I'd have gone to acupuncture too.  A few women here said acupuncture was offered in their infusion center.  That would have been great.  The other thing I would do is splurge on a massage now and then.

Tracy, it's supposed to be and easy shot to give; yourself - syringe already filled, concise clear instruction sheet with illurstations. They told me to take it out of the fridge 1/2 hour before the shot and I could do it myself.

Sure.

I have a friend who is a nurse. Guess who gave me the shot (though my dh said he would do it if she couldn't).

Best of luck.

Leah

Tracie, the illustrations & insructions show you where on your stomach, thigh, or upper arm to give the shot (though how you would give yourself a shot in the upper arm is something I can't figure out).

Best of luck.

Leah

(I edited the last post for my typos. I think I excell at typos.)

Tracie-I go back to the cancer center to have it injected and I live 45 minutes away. I couldn't stand the thought of giving myself a shot!!

Not to diminish the problems that some people have on taxotere, but I have to post my experience in this thread just to balance the fear factor for newbies who may read this.  I did CT x4.  I finished at the end of november.  It thought it was a breeze, particularly compared to what I had imagined.  I had one "bad" day where I slept most of the day and had mild muscle aches.  After that, I had 3 "not great days" where I was fine if I was just sitting, but significant moving around (like walking up stairs) left me out of breath.  Other than that and the hair loss, I had no side effects at all and functioned like normal.  Actually, that is not correct - I had some taste issues, but they were very mild.  Mainly, I could not taste salt very well.  Everything had to be salted to death to taste good.  I worked straight through it (full time in a high stress, demanding job).  My SEs never got worse.  In fact, the last treatment I had only one "not great day" before full recovery.  Never needed neulasta.

Good luck to you all who are on this one! 

lr4993 - Thank you! It is important to remember that everyone will have a slightly different experience...some similar, some not so much. 

another vote for Acetyl-L-glutamine for neuropathy. I had numbness in my left heel, souls of feet were sore and some tingling in my left hand. Started taking it after TX2 and now just a little bit in my left heel.

Just iced my fingers with peas this last tx5. Yes the nails were lifting, swollen tips and killing me starting with TX3.This time I iced them during treatment and they are feeling better and a bit less swollen.My onc told me to watch out for infection. So far so good. I did get some fungus in my toe nail from the lifting and water getting underneath. That had to be cut way down to the nail bed but not as uncomfortable as I thought.

Be careful of drinking too much water as you can have unbalanced electrolytes. In addition to the 8 glassed of water consider soups or sports drinks.

So far I think the SE that is getting to me the most is the painful fingers. At one point I had trouble buttoning jeans, zippers, remote control, phone buttons, electric toothbrush button or anything that required a strong pinch or press. It's better now. My next worse is the burning tongue but that's only for 4 days. After that it might be the taste change but it really isn't that bad. Things just get a little more bitter and it's only for a week. Yeah chocolate tastes bitter so maybe not such a bad thing.

Really not so bad if it weren't for the fingers. Ice them!!! Bring a couple of bags of frozen peas with a face cloth to put over them. Seemed to work well for me.

Lago, You can get tea tree oil in a little bottle like finger nail polish, paint it on your nails.  (c:  Made an appt with KG.

I'll see if I can find the tree oil. What does that do? BTW let me know how you make out with KG.