Terry's nails during and after chemo (ABVD).

Did anyone developed Terry's nails during and after chemo (ABVD). My Liver function is normal, my blood sugar is normal, but I still have that brownish color stripe on the upper side of the nail, My oncologist say it maybe from chemo, but not sure if it will go away. Any input about the matter is greatly appreciated.

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Comments

  • Rocquie
    Rocquie Member Posts: 868 Member
    Bill

    Good to hear from you and I hope you are doing well. I did not have Terry's Nails but rather Beau's Lines. I got a whitish stripe across the nails for each chemo. It is caused by damage to the nail matrix as a result of the "Red Stuff", "Red Zinger", whatever you want to call it. (Adriamycin). By the end of my chemo, you could count the lines, like the rings of a tree, to see how many treatments I had. They have now completely grown out.

    Perhaps your nails are similar. Chemo caused so many bizarre little side effects along side of the biggies.

    Cheers,

    Rocquie

     

  • Bill_NC
    Bill_NC Member Posts: 133 Member
    Rocquie said:

    Bill

    Good to hear from you and I hope you are doing well. I did not have Terry's Nails but rather Beau's Lines. I got a whitish stripe across the nails for each chemo. It is caused by damage to the nail matrix as a result of the "Red Stuff", "Red Zinger", whatever you want to call it. (Adriamycin). By the end of my chemo, you could count the lines, like the rings of a tree, to see how many treatments I had. They have now completely grown out.

    Perhaps your nails are similar. Chemo caused so many bizarre little side effects along side of the biggies.

    Cheers,

    Rocquie

     

    Hi Rocquie

    Mine is growing inward instead outward. It just bugging me, and I am embarrassed by the way they look, and absolutely I won’t paint my nails Smile

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    Greetings !

    I too am delighted to hear from you Bill. 

    Two of the abvd drugs routinely cause "nail discoloration," without further specifying what "type" of discoloration it is (I've never heard of "Terry's Nails" before, but even 'Terry' has some claim to fame now !    I can see Terry at a cocktail party, 

     "Actually, I'm the Terry after whom 'Terry's Nails' is named. And who might you be ? "

    My toenails all turned purple by around the third infusion, and still are discolored today, four years later.  They also became 'grainy' for a long time, and would crumble apart for the first year or so.  Conversely, my fingernails never discolored. I guess if I went to the comedian Rodnery Dangerfield's doctor, he would look at them and say "Wear socks."  I am not aware of anything else that can be done for them.  Watch your nutrition, obviously.  That is, if I may mimic my wife, "Eat your vegtables."

    The first few months after I finished infusions, my beard started coming back in. First, both sides of my face.  Then, my facial hair stopped growing ne one side of my face, but not the other. This lasted a few weeks.  Then, the sides reversed: Facial hair would grow on the other side, but NOT on the side it had been growing on.  Within a few months after that, it began to grow normally on both sides.  I mentioned this to my family doctor during a visit one day and told him I was going to ask the oncologist about it.  His reply was: "The oncologist will just say that he has not the slightest idea what is going on."  He was right.  Some of this stuff is just inexplicable, but not medically hareful, either.

    After facing stage 3 lymphoma, as long as our biggest concern remains discolored nails, we are indeed blessed.

    Bless you man,

    max

  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member

    Greetings !

    I too am delighted to hear from you Bill. 

    Two of the abvd drugs routinely cause "nail discoloration," without further specifying what "type" of discoloration it is (I've never heard of "Terry's Nails" before, but even 'Terry' has some claim to fame now !    I can see Terry at a cocktail party, 

     "Actually, I'm the Terry after whom 'Terry's Nails' is named. And who might you be ? "

    My toenails all turned purple by around the third infusion, and still are discolored today, four years later.  They also became 'grainy' for a long time, and would crumble apart for the first year or so.  Conversely, my fingernails never discolored. I guess if I went to the comedian Rodnery Dangerfield's doctor, he would look at them and say "Wear socks."  I am not aware of anything else that can be done for them.  Watch your nutrition, obviously.  That is, if I may mimic my wife, "Eat your vegtables."

    The first few months after I finished infusions, my beard started coming back in. First, both sides of my face.  Then, my facial hair stopped growing ne one side of my face, but not the other. This lasted a few weeks.  Then, the sides reversed: Facial hair would grow on the other side, but NOT on the side it had been growing on.  Within a few months after that, it began to grow normally on both sides.  I mentioned this to my family doctor during a visit one day and told him I was going to ask the oncologist about it.  His reply was: "The oncologist will just say that he has not the slightest idea what is going on."  He was right.  Some of this stuff is just inexplicable, but not medically hareful, either.

    After facing stage 3 lymphoma, as long as our biggest concern remains discolored nails, we are indeed blessed.

    Bless you man,

    max

    Here's one for you

    I know I am known for Bulls#*t stories, but this one is true. I even posted about it way back when. I noticed after chemo treatments for a long time when I went to the bathroom to take a leak, it was bubbly. I haven't had chemo for over 3 years, but guess what? Still tiny bubbles. The people that answered my post no longer post except for maybe one of them. Even had an on going thread with Dixie girl about it. She was a wise cracker as well. LOL. For the people that came on recently Dixie girl{ BETH} is no longer with us. Couldn't find anyone else with the tiny bubble syndrone though. Never had any problem with my nails. John 

     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    COBRA666 said:

    Here's one for you

    I know I am known for Bulls#*t stories, but this one is true. I even posted about it way back when. I noticed after chemo treatments for a long time when I went to the bathroom to take a leak, it was bubbly. I haven't had chemo for over 3 years, but guess what? Still tiny bubbles. The people that answered my post no longer post except for maybe one of them. Even had an on going thread with Dixie girl about it. She was a wise cracker as well. LOL. For the people that came on recently Dixie girl{ BETH} is no longer with us. Couldn't find anyone else with the tiny bubble syndrone though. Never had any problem with my nails. John 

     

    Wow

    John,

    T.M.I.  !!

  • Bill_NC
    Bill_NC Member Posts: 133 Member

    Wow

    John,

    T.M.I.  !!

    Thanks All

    Thanks All for the reply, Ironically my toe nails never discolored. Also Max I believe your toe nails discoloring is due to the Rituxan added to your treatment. I did not have Rituxan in mine.

  • sureshwani
    sureshwani Member Posts: 23
    Bill_NC said:

    Thanks All

    Thanks All for the reply, Ironically my toe nails never discolored. Also Max I believe your toe nails discoloring is due to the Rituxan added to your treatment. I did not have Rituxan in mine.

    Bill same is the case with

    Bill same is the case with me.

    I had to to undergo 20 radiations to my Abdomen Area after finishing 6 cycles of ABVD. . Since my disease was Bulky in the abdomen.I finished my Radiations on 26/9/13. I am recovering from the side effects.i.e Diahorea. I shall be undergoing blood test for two to three months then a  scan. How are you doing?

    Regards

    Suresh

  • BlessedinPNW
    BlessedinPNW Member Posts: 14

    Greetings !

    I too am delighted to hear from you Bill. 

    Two of the abvd drugs routinely cause "nail discoloration," without further specifying what "type" of discoloration it is (I've never heard of "Terry's Nails" before, but even 'Terry' has some claim to fame now !    I can see Terry at a cocktail party, 

     "Actually, I'm the Terry after whom 'Terry's Nails' is named. And who might you be ? "

    My toenails all turned purple by around the third infusion, and still are discolored today, four years later.  They also became 'grainy' for a long time, and would crumble apart for the first year or so.  Conversely, my fingernails never discolored. I guess if I went to the comedian Rodnery Dangerfield's doctor, he would look at them and say "Wear socks."  I am not aware of anything else that can be done for them.  Watch your nutrition, obviously.  That is, if I may mimic my wife, "Eat your vegtables."

    The first few months after I finished infusions, my beard started coming back in. First, both sides of my face.  Then, my facial hair stopped growing ne one side of my face, but not the other. This lasted a few weeks.  Then, the sides reversed: Facial hair would grow on the other side, but NOT on the side it had been growing on.  Within a few months after that, it began to grow normally on both sides.  I mentioned this to my family doctor during a visit one day and told him I was going to ask the oncologist about it.  His reply was: "The oncologist will just say that he has not the slightest idea what is going on."  He was right.  Some of this stuff is just inexplicable, but not medically hareful, either.

    After facing stage 3 lymphoma, as long as our biggest concern remains discolored nails, we are indeed blessed.

    Bless you man,

    max

    Max the comedian...

    Max, your posts cracked me up!  And I agree, some of this stuff is just plain inexplicable.  I have the nail thing on both my finger and toe nails.  Not sure if I can come close to John's 'tiny bubbles' side effect, but the strangest thing for me was that my 'always have been' very large tonsils just disappeared after RCHOP for an abdominal tumor.  Ever heard of that one?  Yeah, me neither.  Anyway, thanks for making me laugh today!  

    Toni

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member

    Max the comedian...

    Max, your posts cracked me up!  And I agree, some of this stuff is just plain inexplicable.  I have the nail thing on both my finger and toe nails.  Not sure if I can come close to John's 'tiny bubbles' side effect, but the strangest thing for me was that my 'always have been' very large tonsils just disappeared after RCHOP for an abdominal tumor.  Ever heard of that one?  Yeah, me neither.  Anyway, thanks for making me laugh today!  

    Toni

    Weirdest

    Toni,

    An RN at a hospital told me the weirdest chemo side-effect I have ever heard of: She insists that she knew a female patient on chemo, which caused one of her eyes to permanently change color.  That is, one eye (but not the other) changed from blue to brown, or brown to blue (I cannot recall which).

    Other than my "facial hair" experience (described above), I still have one other odd sensation:  My biopsy was under my left armpit. But my RIGHT armpit, in the exact same area, often feels cut and swollen, as if it contained swollen nodes. My onc has felt both areas numerous times, and says that there is absolutly nothing swollen or abnormal present, one tiher side.  But, my surgeon told me that the region he cut for my biopsy extraction was virtually identical to the area on women that he has to cut to do breast cancer biopsys, and he told me that there is a  nerve bundle there,  and that quite often the region never returns to normal in feeling .   But even that does not explain the feeling on BOTH sides. My onc says it is just some sort of neurological oddity.

    Keep smiling,

    max

  • Shoopy
    Shoopy Member Posts: 210

    Weirdest

    Toni,

    An RN at a hospital told me the weirdest chemo side-effect I have ever heard of: She insists that she knew a female patient on chemo, which caused one of her eyes to permanently change color.  That is, one eye (but not the other) changed from blue to brown, or brown to blue (I cannot recall which).

    Other than my "facial hair" experience (described above), I still have one other odd sensation:  My biopsy was under my left armpit. But my RIGHT armpit, in the exact same area, often feels cut and swollen, as if it contained swollen nodes. My onc has felt both areas numerous times, and says that there is absolutly nothing swollen or abnormal present, one tiher side.  But, my surgeon told me that the region he cut for my biopsy extraction was virtually identical to the area on women that he has to cut to do breast cancer biopsys, and he told me that there is a  nerve bundle there,  and that quite often the region never returns to normal in feeling .   But even that does not explain the feeling on BOTH sides. My onc says it is just some sort of neurological oddity.

    Keep smiling,

    max

    Max...

    WOW!  I have complained about "phantom swollen node feelings" to my doctor in  the past.  In fact, as I sit here typing this I have the sensation just under my right jaw and near my right thigh along the groin.  Occassionally, I get them in my underarms.  I can never feel a swollen node and neither could the doctor.  

    The groin feeling, he explained, is probably because they did a needle biopsy there and probably nicked a nerve.  The other places he's told me are probably "in my mind".  Now that I think about it...the feeling in the neck is directly above where I had the node surgically removed along my collar bone.  It's completely plausible that it could be a similar situation to what you're feeling and caused by another nicked nerve.

    Makes me feel so much better to hear someone else experiences these "phantom feelings".

    Karl 

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    Shoopy said:

    Max...

    WOW!  I have complained about "phantom swollen node feelings" to my doctor in  the past.  In fact, as I sit here typing this I have the sensation just under my right jaw and near my right thigh along the groin.  Occassionally, I get them in my underarms.  I can never feel a swollen node and neither could the doctor.  

    The groin feeling, he explained, is probably because they did a needle biopsy there and probably nicked a nerve.  The other places he's told me are probably "in my mind".  Now that I think about it...the feeling in the neck is directly above where I had the node surgically removed along my collar bone.  It's completely plausible that it could be a similar situation to what you're feeling and caused by another nicked nerve.

    Makes me feel so much better to hear someone else experiences these "phantom feelings".

    Karl 

    "Lumps"

    Shoopy,

    About a year after my treatment ended, I felt a "lump" in my throat.  It bothered me a lot (emotionally). Since I was only about a week away from an onc visit, I waited.  He felt the area and said that they were non-lymphatic glands, and absolutly nothing to be concerned about.  One of the biggest reliefs of my life, for certain.  And to repeat:  I routinely have "swollen" feelings under both arm pits, mostly after physical activity (like raking the yard).  The onclologist has felt these areas several times while they were botherning me, and said there was nothing there at all.

    Similiarly, I had my gall bladder removed when my port was taken out, four years ago.  The pain that I had in the gallbladder is still there -- it never changed, although the whole gall bladder is gone.  It is just one of those things. After tissue has been cut or damaged by disease, I guess there is no reason to expect it to ever feel "normal" again . Amputees often report that a missing leg or foot will itch or hurt. I guess it is a similiar phenomenon.

    Bless your upcoming SCT .

    max

  • Bill_NC
    Bill_NC Member Posts: 133 Member

    "Lumps"

    Shoopy,

    About a year after my treatment ended, I felt a "lump" in my throat.  It bothered me a lot (emotionally). Since I was only about a week away from an onc visit, I waited.  He felt the area and said that they were non-lymphatic glands, and absolutly nothing to be concerned about.  One of the biggest reliefs of my life, for certain.  And to repeat:  I routinely have "swollen" feelings under both arm pits, mostly after physical activity (like raking the yard).  The onclologist has felt these areas several times while they were botherning me, and said there was nothing there at all.

    Similiarly, I had my gall bladder removed when my port was taken out, four years ago.  The pain that I had in the gallbladder is still there -- it never changed, although the whole gall bladder is gone.  It is just one of those things. After tissue has been cut or damaged by disease, I guess there is no reason to expect it to ever feel "normal" again . Amputees often report that a missing leg or foot will itch or hurt. I guess it is a similiar phenomenon.

    Bless your upcoming SCT .

    max

    Lumps

    Wow Max, I got my biopsy on the left side too. Although I finish my My ABVD 4 months ago my Oncologist still have not order CT scan until 6 months after.

    I am still feeling like I am holding a newspaper under my left Arm where the biopsy cut took place, he checked it and say nothing to worry about but I am still bothered by it.

    I also checked with other oncologist opinion he recommended to go for PET scan 4 months after the chemo is over. I am not sure who to believe anymore.

  • Bill_NC
    Bill_NC Member Posts: 133 Member

    Bill same is the case with

    Bill same is the case with me.

    I had to to undergo 20 radiations to my Abdomen Area after finishing 6 cycles of ABVD. . Since my disease was Bulky in the abdomen.I finished my Radiations on 26/9/13. I am recovering from the side effects.i.e Diahorea. I shall be undergoing blood test for two to three months then a  scan. How are you doing?

    Regards

    Suresh

    Hi Sureshwani

    Hi How are you, I have my first CT scan after the treatment in Dec 10, 2013. so far I got DR visits for twice for blood work only. Hope and pray GOD that evereything is OK. I am just bother by a fatty lump under my left ARM wher the surgery for Biopsy was preformed. 

    Why you getting radiations. I thought ABVD will take care the nodes on it's own. Hope you doing well.

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    Bill_NC said:

    Lumps

    Wow Max, I got my biopsy on the left side too. Although I finish my My ABVD 4 months ago my Oncologist still have not order CT scan until 6 months after.

    I am still feeling like I am holding a newspaper under my left Arm where the biopsy cut took place, he checked it and say nothing to worry about but I am still bothered by it.

    I also checked with other oncologist opinion he recommended to go for PET scan 4 months after the chemo is over. I am not sure who to believe anymore.

    My method

    Bill,

    My manner of deciding these things is as follows:  If one of the doctors is an attractive female, believe that one .Cool

    max

  • Shoopy
    Shoopy Member Posts: 210

    My method

    Bill,

    My manner of deciding these things is as follows:  If one of the doctors is an attractive female, believe that one .Cool

    max

    Wiser words never written...

    However, I have found that the female oncologists aren't exactly attractive.  It's the PAs and NPs that are far more easy on the eyes.

  • Bill_NC
    Bill_NC Member Posts: 133 Member

    My method

    Bill,

    My manner of deciding these things is as follows:  If one of the doctors is an attractive female, believe that one .Cool

    max

    LOL

    Both oncologist I checked with are Men , they are good enogh to take to Halloween parties. :)

     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member
    Shoopy said:

    Wiser words never written...

    However, I have found that the female oncologists aren't exactly attractive.  It's the PAs and NPs that are far more easy on the eyes.

    Even in Area 54 ?

    Shoopy,

    You are so correct. The NPs and RNs are soooo fine where I go for treatment  !!  But, I guess I am in treatment heaven, since most of the female docs are very attractive also.  To be fair to the women readers, I guess most would say that the male doctors are attractive also. If not, they make $400,000 a year, which renders them attractive nonetheless !

  • BlessedinPNW
    BlessedinPNW Member Posts: 14

    Weirdest

    Toni,

    An RN at a hospital told me the weirdest chemo side-effect I have ever heard of: She insists that she knew a female patient on chemo, which caused one of her eyes to permanently change color.  That is, one eye (but not the other) changed from blue to brown, or brown to blue (I cannot recall which).

    Other than my "facial hair" experience (described above), I still have one other odd sensation:  My biopsy was under my left armpit. But my RIGHT armpit, in the exact same area, often feels cut and swollen, as if it contained swollen nodes. My onc has felt both areas numerous times, and says that there is absolutly nothing swollen or abnormal present, one tiher side.  But, my surgeon told me that the region he cut for my biopsy extraction was virtually identical to the area on women that he has to cut to do breast cancer biopsys, and he told me that there is a  nerve bundle there,  and that quite often the region never returns to normal in feeling .   But even that does not explain the feeling on BOTH sides. My onc says it is just some sort of neurological oddity.

    Keep smiling,

    max

    Max

    Yep, changing eye color definitely ranks up there in the weirdest side effect contest.  And phantom swollen nodes has got to be disconcerting at best.  But that you still have gall bladder pain after having it removed is not something I'd wish on anyone.  If I still had the same pain I had prior to having mine removed I'd have called it a life a long time ago. ;)

    Toni


     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,803 Member

    Max

    Yep, changing eye color definitely ranks up there in the weirdest side effect contest.  And phantom swollen nodes has got to be disconcerting at best.  But that you still have gall bladder pain after having it removed is not something I'd wish on anyone.  If I still had the same pain I had prior to having mine removed I'd have called it a life a long time ago. ;)

    Toni


     

    Perspective

    Toni,

    I was run over by  a car years ago: Eighteen fractures, caved-in chest (what trauma surgeons refer to as a "flail chest") , displaced sternum, leg nearly torn off (kneecap found in my pants leg; femur ripped completely in two midway down, and broken again at the hip socket), twenty-five days in ICU.  I was awake and unmedicated when a trauma doctor thrust a chest tube into my right side.   Two years learning to walk, with trauma-induced ossification of the hip, two wholly collapsed, untreatable discs in my back.  A therapist was doing range-of-motion therapy on my arms in ICU while I was on a ventilator (and hence could not speak).  She did not know that both of my scapulars were broken (the docs thought that only the left one was broken at that time), and she pulled the scapular apart while I watched, such that my right shoulder is higher now than my left.  Abdominal trauma left me with a hiatial hernia and horrible reflux.  The docs thought at the time that I had liver failure, but it was actually just out of wack due to severe bruising.  My  blood gases were so messed up that the head of respitory therapy told me later that my 02 and C02 levels "did not indicate life."  I have had two more severe auto crashes since.

    I went for a chest x-ray a year later, and when the tech saw the film, he carried it around the office, showing it to coworkers.

     And then advanced lymphoma and six months of abvd, with ALL of the side-effects thrown in for good measure.  Following that, a little gall bladder pain is hardly noticable ! The last time I felt normal or OK was 26 years ago.   I say to my gall bladder scar:  Bring it on baby !  Gimmmie what you got  !  This song is what I say to a mambie-pambie little gallbladder incision:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=DE&hl=de&v=vIFsQbM3ofY&app=desktop

    I am just thankful to be above-ground and cancer free,

    max

  • jimwins
    jimwins Member Posts: 2,107

    Perspective

    Toni,

    I was run over by  a car years ago: Eighteen fractures, caved-in chest (what trauma surgeons refer to as a "flail chest") , displaced sternum, leg nearly torn off (kneecap found in my pants leg; femur ripped completely in two midway down, and broken again at the hip socket), twenty-five days in ICU.  I was awake and unmedicated when a trauma doctor thrust a chest tube into my right side.   Two years learning to walk, with trauma-induced ossification of the hip, two wholly collapsed, untreatable discs in my back.  A therapist was doing range-of-motion therapy on my arms in ICU while I was on a ventilator (and hence could not speak).  She did not know that both of my scapulars were broken (the docs thought that only the left one was broken at that time), and she pulled the scapular apart while I watched, such that my right shoulder is higher now than my left.  Abdominal trauma left me with a hiatial hernia and horrible reflux.  The docs thought at the time that I had liver failure, but it was actually just out of wack due to severe bruising.  My  blood gases were so messed up that the head of respitory therapy told me later that my 02 and C02 levels "did not indicate life."  I have had two more severe auto crashes since.

    I went for a chest x-ray a year later, and when the tech saw the film, he carried it around the office, showing it to coworkers.

     And then advanced lymphoma and six months of abvd, with ALL of the side-effects thrown in for good measure.  Following that, a little gall bladder pain is hardly noticable ! The last time I felt normal or OK was 26 years ago.   I say to my gall bladder scar:  Bring it on baby !  Gimmmie what you got  !  This song is what I say to a mambie-pambie little gallbladder incision:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=DE&hl=de&v=vIFsQbM3ofY&app=desktop

    I am just thankful to be above-ground and cancer free,

    max

    Glad you're here, Max :)

    Max, I'm thankful you're here too - even after all you have been through and now you look like a black and white cat ;).