Question on minor side effects

dschreffler
dschreffler Member Posts: 58 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I completed chemo and radiation on April 6, 2010. Was on Xeloda and oxaliplatin for 6 weeks.

Wondering when ability to tastes gets back to normal? Not a big impact, but as I make my own beer, mead, wines, and ciders, the ability to taste is a big part of the process.

Also, anyone experience neck pain following chemo? In the past week have had difficulty truing head - neck stiffness, some pain. It may be that I was sleeping"wrong" as I was avoiding the radiation burn on the backside that threw my neck out -so sleeping on stomach/side which I rarely did before. Just wondering if this is a side effect of the drugs.

Again, minor stuff, but curious.

Comments

  • C Dixon
    C Dixon Member Posts: 201
    #2
    After about 3 weeks after I
    After about 3 weeks after I finished 12 rounds of Folfox, I began experiencing a stiffness in my entire upper body that was alarming. My onc didn't know what to do, so he prescribed massage. I didn't have time to do that but what I found was that when I exercised to the point of getting sweaty that things seemed to loosen up for a day. So I just kept at it and I would say it was gone within a month. I know it was the internal body heat because on the days I ran (ok, jogged) in the summer heat in SC, I experienced the most relief. I learned this in yoga class. Body heat loosens up your muscles and makes them more pliable and able to stretch deeper.

    I also got on the internet to see if anyone else had this and I did find quite a few people on various message board who experienced this same thing. Some said it was chemo induced arthritis but I wasn't wanting to accept that diagnosis.

    I have stiffness in my neck now from the CPT-11. I just finished 12 rounds of that and my neck has been stiff the whole time. Just recently I have made myself exercise (haven't been quite as good with that as I would like) to see if the same thing would happen and it is getting better.

    Other than that - advil and look up some neck stretches on the web and do them several times a day.

    Hope you loosen up!

    Catherine
  • biglaur
    biglaur Member Posts: 72 Member
    #3
    It's the minor stuff
    that makes you feel normal...I wouldn't apologize for asking. My husband and I love a good bottle of wine (we lived in Italy years ago) and it was very frustrating to not be able to enjoy it. My onc kept telling me to try just to increase my appetite...but it all tasted like vinegar. I did 11 rounds of FolFox, Avastin and a clinical trial, then 6 months of Xeloda. My "taster" was shot for a looooong time...but I'd say 4 or 5 months after finishing the Xeloda the enjoyment of sipping a good cab came back...just be patient! Laurie (oh, and we did a bicycle trip to Bordeaux in the middle of Xeloda...3 weeks of a break to give my hands and feet a rest...and I couldn't drink ANY of the wine)
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #4
    I'd forgotten some of the taste issues
    All's back to normal now. For me, everything tasted too spicy (and normally, I like spicy foods.) Any pepper (we're talking table pepper) made food taste firey. My husband was very glad when I could finally eat normally spiced foods again.

    I don't recall it taking too long.

    Other side effects - it's varied. 2 years out of chemo, and I still have neuropathy, but I had unusual reactions to the chemo in the first place.
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #5
    abrub said:

    I'd forgotten some of the taste issues
    All's back to normal now. For me, everything tasted too spicy (and normally, I like spicy foods.) Any pepper (we're talking table pepper) made food taste firey. My husband was very glad when I could finally eat normally spiced foods again.

    I don't recall it taking too long.

    Other side effects - it's varied. 2 years out of chemo, and I still have neuropathy, but I had unusual reactions to the chemo in the first place.

    Minor issues.....
    Taste and the ability to drink and eat cold foods came back about 3 weeks for good after post op chemo...Stiffness was bad enough that everytime I moved my neck or head my feet would tingle (neuropathy). My neck was stiff for 6 months or more but got better with time as everything else (wine included) seems to do...Riding in a vehicle or mowing makes me real stiff in the legs like I am 100 years old feeling. Then after a minute or two its all better. I can only go about 2 hrs without getting out and walking some to prevent getting to sore or tight...Yeah, maybe some of it is age but Im gonna blame it all on the chemo.......Buzz

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