Hair loss and chemo question among other things.

Tpeezy4sheezy

Around the first of the year I was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In a few days I will start my 5th treatment. Each treatment is 21 days and I’m scheduled for one more If all goes well.

Anyways, around my second treatment I noticed if I even touched my beard or hair that I would see hair coming out. It got so bad with my beard that when wearing a Covid mask one day u could see the outline where the mask had rubbed the hair off my beard. So I shaved it off and it’s been pretty smooth now for a few months. My hair on my head was coming out really fast too. Right now I still have quit a bit of hair left even though it’s getting pretty darn thin up top. It has saved me money not having to pay for a haircut.

My question is this. Can a person basically hit a peak on hair loss while on chemo and the process slow down or even stop? It just seems like my hair has been the same for about a month now. It may be getting a little thinner up top but it def isn’t as bad as it was during the second treatment as far as fallout rate. I don’t think anything is really growing back but when I take a bath I dont see hair all in the tub like I used to either. Any info would be great. I’m just curious to know if I’m gonna have to shave it all off or that maybe hopefully this is as bad as it’s going to get for the most part. Oh btw the chemo hasn’t been that bad at all like I thought. I figured I would be puking every night. So far I’ve only gotten sick 2x in around 100 days of chemo. The worst side effect for me is probably numbness in my finger tips. My energy isn’t too bad and honestly I feel better then I have in years. Maybe it’s the steroids I dunno. I was wheel chair bound around Christmas time (i had a tumor pressing on my spine and the leg pain was so horrible). It literally was like a Charlie horse that lasted for hours and hours. I would lay in bed screaming and crying asking god to kill me. I’m a grown man who has had gout and other painful conditions and this was way worse. I lost so much weight and muscle I would get out of breath walking 30 feet. Now I can walk 95% as well as I ever could so it’s been a miraculous transformation from where I was months ago. I literally wanted to die I was in so much pain. So for all those that are giving up hope; don’t give up. I was sure that I would have to live with that pain forever and thank god I was wrong.

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

TP,

Hair loss can happen in virtually any manner imaginable. Regardless if all of the remining hair falls out or not, within a few months after the final infusion, hair usually returns. But sometimes it does not, or is thinner, and the color can change. My hair returned, but with a very fine texture; it had been very coarse in texture before. But it is 12 years later now, so the texture change for me was permanent. My neuropathy has remained for those 12 years now, so sometimes side-effects persist. The severity has reduced, but my neuropathy was severe, often causing numbness to the knees or above from the feet, and up past the elbows from the hands. ( It sounds like you likely are receiving either vinblastine or vincristine. ) My energy level has remained profoundly reduced since even before treatment started. Exhaustion is a hallmark of lymphoma itself, but also of the drugs that fight it, so knowing what exactly is causing fatigue is difficult or impossible to isolate.

I have always said: I'd rather have side-effects than have cancer.

max

Angelcoffee

Wow.. that's a man perspective or woman too...I have chemo treatment.. I'm hungry, tired full of energy. I walk and exercise and workout. Every few days...how do I stop 🛑🚏 loosing weight and muscle mass....