Nails

Hi VL22, I read another poster using frozen veggies with success. At my infusion center they would bring us ice water to soak our fingers in if we wanted. I tried it once and it was just to uncomfortable because my fingers became very sensitive. My fingers tips and nails started to burn and lift after my second AC and continued through T. I just made sure that I kept them as short as possible so I wouldn't catch them on cabinet doors or anything else since they were about 3/4 of the way disconnected from the nail bed. I ended up only breaking 2 off but never actually lost the whole nail. Mine kind of started lifting up or disconnecting from the tip and never made it all the way to the back of the nail bed. I was told by my MO to soak them in epsom salt often to keep them clean under the lifted nail. That really seemed to help. My MO also said losing nails were rare, I of course got almost every side effect possible. Good luck and maybe you won't have that problem:):)

I did 4 DD A/C neoadjuvant and 12 weekly Taxol adjuvant. My nails were nicer/better than they had ever been in my life when all was done. Well , except for about 1/3 of my right big toe nail that turned black but that had nothing to do with chemo - I bruised it while driving in a PowderPuff Mud Bog 3 days after 2nd A/C. Was worth it though, I took Second and won $45.00.

What kept my nails in better condition was Nail Envy by OPI. The Master Cosmetologist who did the 'Look Good - Feel Better' class at the Facility, gave each of us a bottle of it. I was skeptical that it would help but as long as I had it tried it. She said f to put it on daily which I did but would wipe off weekly. It worked great for me.

For me, icing was not an option. A SE was lowered body temperature so to have submerged extremities in ice would have only lowered it more. It wasn't too bad on A/C as piling on a couple of the warmed blankets kept it from gooing too low. On Taxol though it would drop into dangerous levels even though I was given a glassed in cubicle with it's own thermostat that they would run up as high as it would go and would pile on lots of the warmed blankets, replacing them as they cooled. I'm not sure the lowest it got as I would go 'nighty-night' as the RNs would say to me when they would start the IV Benadryl within 10 secs. I would go to sleep and wake up as abrupty as I went to sleep 20 minutes before end of Taxol. I know for sure a couple of times at least I dropped to 94 as that's what the monitor said when I woke up. Still now, I will be somewhere between 96.4 - 97.6 all the time. So there is definately no way that I could have tolerated 'icing' .

I had no issues with neuropathy either.

I did take Super B vitamins and Vit. D throughout TX (with Dr's approval) and still do. I had to start taking mega doses of K (potassium) 1/2 way through Taxol as my K levels plummeted.

Follow the recommendations above and avoid an infection from the lifting nails at all cost. I was foolish and thought I had gotten off easy when it caught up with me. After chemo my two big toe nails were so damaged and painful, I had to have them removed. It was medieval torture and the hours after removal are insanely painful.