leg pain from taxol

HellieC said:

Thinking of you ladies
Other than asking for stronger pain meds, I can't recommend anything to ease your pain. But you're right - it can be really bad. But I pray that it will be temporary for you and you will come through this chemo OK.
In my thoughts
Helen

leg pain
Gosh remember this so well, pain was unbearable for me. I walked into emergency room one time and they wanted me in a wheelchair i barely could walk. I wanted to cut my own legs off. Heat made it bearable for only a few hours the rest of time id walk and walk and walk mostly at nite the pain would hit me and id cry just as much as walked. It lasted for 3 days if not more. I was so glad when it was over. I dreaded the next chemo session knowing it would start over and over again.
If my cluster of cells dont' shrink they are going to put me back on this again, toxal/carp, and only 5 months ago or so i finished adyrmycin and cisplatin..I am famaliar with the metal taste it was terrible and I was told by my oncologist eat what you can, and keep the weight up, no losing weight. I remember not much tasted good , that was on days I could taste.
I read about a woman about to lose her hair, that was devestating for me both times, 2x in two years and right now I feel pretty good and enjoying my hair......what I enjoy more is not getting stared at so much, when have no hair the stares are sometimes unbearable.....
Wish you the best with your treatment.......
Tears

ccfighter said:

letg pain
I had severe leg and joint pain after my first round of carbo/taxol for cervical cancer. I brought this up with my oncology practice and they recommended three times a day of L-Glutamine powder. (purchase at a local health/GNC store) Second round, minimal pain. No pain meds taken but one day of tylenol. First round was taking percocets to get through the night, squirming with leg pains. With L-Glutamine, pain almost non-existent (almost). Hope that helps. Hugs to all. Fight hard, laugh often!

Leg pain from Neulasta?!
On my third round of chemo, my onc suggested we skip the Neulasta shot the day after treatment to see if that helps alleviate the leg pain. Hallelujah! The day of chemo and the day after chemo have been great - hoping this does the trick

Liz in Dallas

julia12756 said:

First round of chemo now - hoping no leg pain!
Reading all these posts makes me nervous. I'm writing this in my hospital room during my first round of chemo (Ifosfamide/Taxol). I'm here for the next 2 days for the rest of the infusion - I am hoping no leg pain!! It sounds terrible! My heart goes out to all the brave souls on this message board. But we are all fighters - never forget that and never give up hope!

Julia

LEG PAIN
Can someone elaborate on what type of leg pains these are? I am very concerned because I have suffered from leg cramps for years. When I say leg cramps I am not referring to your run of the mill, point your toe to your nose calf cramp.

My cramps are almost undescribable. They start on the side of my foot or in various places on my leg (mostly never in the calf). I had one early this week that left the muscle so sore I could barely walk. I actually passed out one time from the severity of the pain.

So, as you can imagine, the talk of leg pains makes be very nervous. Any information you can share is appeciated.

Thanks and be well....

Pat

imackie48 said:

Glutamine for me too
Today my oncology nurse recommended glutamine powder for my neuropathy in my hands, she said to use 30 gms per day, I got some today and put in my water it's tasteless, we'll see if it works, I'm hoping for some relief from my leg pain too.
Irene

Liz and others getting neulasta
(This is not directed to Irene who has a unique problem due to chronic neutropenia. )

It seems that most women get neulasta routinely rather than wait for low blood count.

I NEVER needed one of those shots during two separate episodes of chemo treatment.

These shots are VERY expensive and they obviously cause major discomfort. You might consider refusing the shot and the related pain and see what happens.

Wishing you well, Mary Ann

kkstef said:

My gyn onc did not order any Neulasta until after my 3rd chemo when my counts dropped below acceptable level. Chemo #3 and #4 were delayed several weeks each. Three weeks after #4 Dr. decided that since I couldn't get my counts any where near acceptable, that my body had probably had enough so I didn't get my last 2 chemo's.

I really did not have much problem with any side effects/bone pain from the Neulasta. I did have a couple of days of some shooting bone pains, but they were sporadic and short lived. Guess I was just very fortunate!

Yes, you are correct....it is a very expensive injection!

Best to you!

Karen

I didnt need nupegen until
I didnt need nupegen until my third round also. I didn't noticed increased bone pain from these although I did develope a headache for the five days during the shots. If nulesta is a bit too rough, you could also opt for the less convenient nupegen shots instead. For neuropathy I was told b vitamins.

imackie48 said:

Count still low
After getting 6 shots my WBC is only up to 1.5 , and I'm 7 days post chemo, so dr says its reached it's peak, when I got may chemo on 2/15, my count was 2.5 so I hope it reaches that point so I can stay on schedule. Now I can't go anywhere besides drs office, fear of infection. Would did people do before the computer to communicate with the outside world.
Irene

Irene
It seems so odd that we want to have chemo! Hope all goes well. Gota love the internet!

Leg Pain
I had Neulasta shots 24 hours after each chemo treatment. The shots are expensive ($5,000.00 each). The shots did help my blood counts but I still had two delays during the chemo treatments. Neulasta did cause a lot of bone pain. The pain was unbearable until the doctor prescribed vicodin for me. That really helped me with the pain and made it bearable. I also take vitamin B6 for neurapathy, which helps.

LizGrrr said:

Ah yes, leg pain
I started chemo on 12/12 of this year, taxol and carboplatin. Doc told me to expect 3-4 days of leg pain and gave me a prescription for hydrocodone and told me to stay away from NSAIDS (aleve, aspirin, ibuprofen). Like you, the meds did little to help ease that feeling that someone drove a hot poker through my ankles. And, the pain lasted nearly a week.

The good news is that the pain DOES go away. My chemo was on a Monday and the following Monday afternoon I started feeling like a normal human being again. By Tuesday I had a ton of energy and the whole week has been great!

The next milestone in my chemo treatment is the hair loss. Doc said it would start 17 days after the first taxol, which would be the 29th. But last night at 6pm my scalp started tingling like a ponytail headache and sure enough when I ran my hand through my hair quite a few strands came out. So far it's no big deal - just more hair in the brush and in the shower than normal, but no hunks of hair.

My 2nd chemo is on January 3 - I'll letnyou know if the leg pain is better, worse or the same.

Hang in there!

Liz in Dallas

Leg Pain
I just had my first chemo (carboplatin and taxol) on Monday, 12/17/12 so I'm new at this - today 12/19 the leg pains started - so you eased my mind a bit that it can be a symptom from the chemo meds. I'm waiting for the extreme fatigue they said you get - doctor thought it would start the third day after chemo which is tomorrow - so we'll see - just not knowing what to expect is a little scarey but I'm a strong positive person (a little challenging at times now) but I try to just get through one day at a time - I am hopeful that by next Monday I will start feeling better like you did.

Thanks for sharing - it helped

Deb in wisconsin

so much PAIN

I was diagnosed on July 3 2013. Wil be doing chemo prior to surgery.  I started cheno wih A/C ( adriamycin/cytoxan) with Nulasta the next day. I started feeling body aches on thursday of the second treatment. i ha chemo every two weeks,which was fine, gave mea break.

On Oct 21st. I started T/H ( taxxol/hereptin) along wih a new drug that got approved Perjeta?? Since starting T/H, I was taking from job after a 911 call. I hadnt been feeling well that day and started getting chills and coughing. Went to yhe bathroom and started coughing and blood started squirtung everywhere from my nose. I tried for 20 mins to get it to stop, someone called 911. The following Thursday, I was in tthe hospital for pneuomia. ..,,Thursdays just dont seem to be my day.. I WASNT able to receive treatment thatt following Monday, my heart rate ws 127-129 and oxgen was low.. I am now out of work.

I also had be complaining to doctor about mt head and feet getting cold. I wake up to put on my winter hat, and my feet doesnt get warm. I put on several pairs od socks with slippers. my shins hurt. It feels like im standing outside with no shoes on. It irritating. My body gets hot at night and my feet is freezing. 

Which brings me to Dec 18th, night before I felt like i was getting a cold and could feel pressure in my face and a headache coming. I came to doctor myself up. I woke up in the middle of the night with a thobbing headache   my whole body hurt (10+) I just cried moaned and paced all day, couldnt sit still, or lay down, thats when it hurt the most. No pain meds helped..I was tired of pacing ans started dancing around the floor an ended up doing zumba. it helped a little , enough for me to relax in the recliner. On the 19th , pain still there. im tired and now frustrated.gave it an (8+) today i wake up im still i pain. I goggled shin pain and this page came up. HELP

 

G_LUV said:

so much PAIN

I was diagnosed on July 3 2013. Wil be doing chemo prior to surgery.  I started cheno wih A/C ( adriamycin/cytoxan) with Nulasta the next day. I started feeling body aches on thursday of the second treatment. i ha chemo every two weeks,which was fine, gave mea break.

On Oct 21st. I started T/H ( taxxol/hereptin) along wih a new drug that got approved Perjeta?? Since starting T/H, I was taking from job after a 911 call. I hadnt been feeling well that day and started getting chills and coughing. Went to yhe bathroom and started coughing and blood started squirtung everywhere from my nose. I tried for 20 mins to get it to stop, someone called 911. The following Thursday, I was in tthe hospital for pneuomia. ..,,Thursdays just dont seem to be my day.. I WASNT able to receive treatment thatt following Monday, my heart rate ws 127-129 and oxgen was low.. I am now out of work.

I also had be complaining to doctor about mt head and feet getting cold. I wake up to put on my winter hat, and my feet doesnt get warm. I put on several pairs od socks with slippers. my shins hurt. It feels like im standing outside with no shoes on. It irritating. My body gets hot at night and my feet is freezing. 

Which brings me to Dec 18th, night before I felt like i was getting a cold and could feel pressure in my face and a headache coming. I came to doctor myself up. I woke up in the middle of the night with a thobbing headache   my whole body hurt (10+) I just cried moaned and paced all day, couldnt sit still, or lay down, thats when it hurt the most. No pain meds helped..I was tired of pacing ans started dancing around the floor an ended up doing zumba. it helped a little , enough for me to relax in the recliner. On the 19th , pain still there. im tired and now frustrated.gave it an (8+) today i wake up im still i pain. I goggled shin pain and this page came up. HELP

 

One suggestion

Hi - 

I am sorry you are having so much pain. I am on this site because my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in April. She had pretty horrible bone pain (in her legs but other places too) from her treatment (6 rounds of carbo/taxol). Traditional pain killers were not only ineffective but made her feel awful in other ways. The one thing that worked for her was medicinal marijuana. She used a vaporizer to take it so that there is no lung damage (she has asthma so smoking it was not a possibility anyway). I don't know where you live and would not suggest you put yourself at risk legally, but it made things bearable for my mom so she was able to complete her treatment and get the NED news in November. I know this is an unconventional suggestion but it helped my mom so much I thought I would suggest it just in case it might help you too. Wishing you the best. 

Lisa