Will Chemo get any easier?

Ymdiaz0220

Im 34 years old and currently diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Did my second round of AC on thursday. Felt aweful for days. two left!! excited about that. Does it get any easier on taxol? 

po18guy

Well...

Most side effects from standard chemotherapy are cumulative, in that they build up or increase over time. Here is an article which may help, and you can call doctor or nurse for some guidance in moderating the side effects.

http://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/drug-info/Taxol.aspx

bonbondidit

Taxol

Hi

I did much better on Taxol at smaller doses (weekly) then the first dose I did at the three week's worth at a time.  MUCH better on weekly. My specialist said 40 and under or pre-menopausal tends to have a harder hit at larger doses then a large dose at once.  We all want to be done and over with chemo but I slowed it down and spread it out over a month at weekly infusions and I was much more happy If you get bone aches from it- my go to was 3 to 4 cups of epson salt bath and soaked in it for 30 minutes min and it worked great. You will feel better after some weeks off chemo in the end. Your strength slowly returns and you built up from there. Your food will taste better after about a month. I am 5 years out now. I have neauropathy in feet and hands but thats ok considering all things

 

Hope this helps

Bonnie

jessiesmom1

My Chemo Experience

I also had Triple Negative Breast Cancer. After surgery I had 4 rounds of A/C and then 12 rounds of Taxotere. I did reasonably well on A/C although I did lose all my hair as well as eyebrows  and eyelashes. The Taxotere rounds were an unmitigated disaster for me. I simply was unable to eat and lost a lot of weight. Let's just say it was one of the only times in my life that I was glad to be overweight. The puncta in  both my eyes became damaged and my eyes STILL water 24 hours a day - even now, 10 years later. In addition, I lost some of my fingernails and toenails. They did grow back. It is important to note that this was 10 YEARS AGO. I would go through the same treatment again if it meant ridding myself of cancer. The only thing I would do differently is to take better care of my eyes and consult earlier with the oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon both before and during chemo rather than just afterward. I am fortunate in that I had no issues regarding neuropathy.

I wish you the best of luck.

IRENE

Ymdiaz0220

bonbondidit said:

Taxol

Hi

I did much better on Taxol at smaller doses (weekly) then the first dose I did at the three week's worth at a time.  MUCH better on weekly. My specialist said 40 and under or pre-menopausal tends to have a harder hit at larger doses then a large dose at once.  We all want to be done and over with chemo but I slowed it down and spread it out over a month at weekly infusions and I was much more happy If you get bone aches from it- my go to was 3 to 4 cups of epson salt bath and soaked in it for 30 minutes min and it worked great. You will feel better after some weeks off chemo in the end. Your strength slowly returns and you built up from there. Your food will taste better after about a month. I am 5 years out now. I have neauropathy in feet and hands but thats ok considering all things

 

Hope this helps

Bonnie

Thank you so much for your

Thank you so much for your feed back, my doctor is also recommended my regimen for Taxol to be 1x a week for 12 weeks. i Have one more of the A.C before moving on. im praying my body takes well to treatment and cannot wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel. i Would love to continue working so hoping I do well. I will definitely be getting the Epson salt. Happy your are doing well! God bless always. 

Ymdiaz0220

jessiesmom1 said:

My Chemo Experience

I also had Triple Negative Breast Cancer. After surgery I had 4 rounds of A/C and then 12 rounds of Taxotere. I did reasonably well on A/C although I did lose all my hair as well as eyebrows  and eyelashes. The Taxotere rounds were an unmitigated disaster for me. I simply was unable to eat and lost a lot of weight. Let's just say it was one of the only times in my life that I was glad to be overweight. The puncta in  both my eyes became damaged and my eyes STILL water 24 hours a day - even now, 10 years later. In addition, I lost some of my fingernails and toenails. They did grow back. It is important to note that this was 10 YEARS AGO. I would go through the same treatment again if it meant ridding myself of cancer. The only thing I would do differently is to take better care of my eyes and consult earlier with the oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon both before and during chemo rather than just afterward. I am fortunate in that I had no issues regarding neuropathy.

I wish you the best of luck.

IRENE

Thank you so much for your

Thank you so much for your feed back and am very happy your doing well. they have me doing chemo prior to surgery. just hoping my next stage which is the taxol, small doses over the course of 12 weeks works in my favor. And pray my body takes well to treatment. Looking forward to seeing the light at the end of tunnel so I can overcome and things can begin to get back to normal. 

nehagill

It would get better

As the chemo progress, it would get better as your body would be more used to take and eliminate taxol out of your body with every passing session. Though chemo works differently on every person so its your experience which would account how well it went with you. I hope you feel better with your chemotherapeutic sessions.You can also start with some supportive therapies such as accupuncture, it can help you to ease the pain and cope up with the side effects of the chemotherapy better. You can go through this link to understand the  supportive therapies better https://www.voiceofcancerpatients.com/articles/benefits-of-acupuncture-in-cancer.

Hope I could help

meadowglade

My experience

I too, was diagonsed with TNBC. I did the A/C once a week, and then the taxol. I was lucky and had few side effects. I was usually naseated the third day after my A/C treatment, then was fine in a couple of days. The taxol I wasn't sick with it and was a bit more tired, but okay. My one year cancer free will be April 9th. I did the chemo, then surgery, radiation and capcitabine. The capcitabine was the one I had the most trouble and had the side effect of hand/feet. My feet and hands were red and very dry. Gold Bond lotions helped me with that. I hope things go well for you. 

Hugs! 

 

Meme14470

My journey started out with

My journey started out with lumpectomy, healed one month and had mediport put in for Chemo treatments.  I had 4 doses of A/C 2 weeks apart, they were very tough to get through! My hair started coming out with my second A/C treatment and I had a rare side effect that reddened and inflamed my entire mouth, mostly all I could do was drink copius amounts of water and eat only soft bland foods.  At some point my salvary glads stopped working completely! It is not pleasant to have zero spit in your mouth! I also had weaker weakly doses of Taxol for 12 weeks but still ended up with neuropathy on both feet.  Went on for 2nd surgery to widen the margins and started radiation a month later for 8 weeks.  My saliva stayed absent for about another 9 months before it blissfully stared to flow again.  It took at lease 12-18 months to physically recover from all that I went though and I am still not up to par.  This all happened 4 years ago and have had NED since!  Keep crossing my fingers at all my appointments and mamograms!  Trying to keep the beast at bay!

Pennyforyourthoughts

Dealing with Chemo

I'm  a new chat memeber. My journey started in late September 2019. ER+ PR+, HER2-. I was given AC chemo every 2 weeks for 8 weeks followed by 12 weeks of Paclataxol (same as Meme14470). I had significant 'chemo brain' for 3 or for days after the treatment of AC, but other than that, very little side effects. The taxol kicked my butt. The 'chemo brain' was significantly worse for this and then of course the neuropathy set in. My fingernails are trashed. They became very brittle and lifted off the nail beds. I have whittled down 3 of the 10 to nubs. My toes are less effected, however are lifting a bit. One large toenail had to be removed because it became infected. I was prescribed Cymbalta for the neuropathy which did not really help. I also got this nasty rash (EGFR) on my arms and upper torso.

So as the doc says - its different for everyone. I hope you have an easy as possible journey. I keep  reminding myself that many have gone through this before me and they did it. 

Best to you!

Maggie2150

Taxol they say is not as bad

Taxol they say is not as bad I found that the chemo is cummalative and it bad all through I was sick in bed three days a week but I drank alot of water and ate good healthy food and I was back up working the other four days a week Taxol was once a week for me you can do this and when it's done you ll be amazed. Keep your mind right. Pray I did for God's strength if you believe.. During chemo definately bring someone stay busy time will go by quicker.. 

 

 

Iona5

Do not despair

This post is over a year old at this point, but for anyone that comes upon it, do not despair. I had 4 rounds of AC at 2 week intervals and begged my medical team to stop because I was so sick, foggy, and miserable. A wise nurse told me to hang on through week 1 of 12 of the taxol round. Taxol was, comparatively, nothing. No nausea. No dexamethasone induced insomnia. No brain fog. Minor fatigue. The infusions only lasted an hour. My fingernails came loose, bit this was minor compared to the AC. I know everyone is different, but hang in there. Also, full THC cannabis is your best friend through this. Not only did it cure the nausea and heartburn, but also fixed the extreme anxiety, the insomnia, and the fact that my hair hurt when I put my head on my pillow.