Rash

I had a terrible rash from chemo. It started on the left side of my face and by the time it was all over, most of my skin had peeled off. However, it was worse on my left side - weird, huh? I was prescribed something which helped with the itching but didn't stop the skin from peeling. The upside was when I went to the dermatologist last year she remarked how smooth my face was for my age. I told her what had happened and she said it was like getting a free chemical face peel. 

Since then, my face is super sensitive. After wearing a mask for as little as 15 minutes, my eyebrows (what is left of them) start to itch. Then that itch spreads down my face and then one time after I had to wear it for a considerable amount of time, my right arm broke out in hives. I just think some people are really sensitive to medication. Just typing this makes me itch!!

Good luck!!

Love,

Eldri

els19 said:

Lindi

I just ordered the face serum from Lindi. I used their products last time. They have a wonderful soothing balm for cancer patients too. There's a store in the lobby where I have chemo that carries their products. A lot are for breast cancer patients, Primavera. Unfortunately the shop is closed right now because of Covid. But their on line site offers free shipping. Thanks for suggesting it. 

For some reason, reading the reviews I started to think they were a thing of the past. I've kept the link just in case.

I never use anything on my face, no creams or lotions or moisturizers, anti-wrinkles, etc. Have used Cetaphil to wash it for years, and minimal makeup. I've never had anything happen on my face, so I'm a bit afraid and that's why I had been checking this site from 2009 on! If I get it, I don't want it to itch.

I read that some people were suggested Zyrteck and that stopped the itching.

Most people blamed Taxol, some blamed the steroids.

I wanted so badly to get a dermatologist involved (I don't have one) before starting treatments, but I got thrown into this so fast I didn't have time. I'm most terrified of the itching, lol.

Molly110 said:

your cancer center

Primavera, your cancer center may have a dermatologist who specializes in people in chemo and other cancer treatments. Mine did. As it happened, I didn't need one, but it was comforting to know it was available if I did. I never had any skin reactions, but I only had six cycles. Fingers crossed that you don't experience any dermatology problems.

 

Molly

Thanks for reminding me of that.

My 4th treatment of the Adriamycin/cyclophosphamide is Nov 3. I'll ask my oncologist then.

I think right after that treatment they'll send me for the echocardiogram to check for heart damage; and I don't know if I'll have one extra week to recover from AC (it's been every two weeks) before I start the weekly Taxol. I just don't want anything to take me away from completing all this.

I think I'll have 12 because maybe because they're lower doses, but weekly? Something like that. I'm also having it all by itself.

els19 said:

Rash is gone

Primavera, the rash did go away. Things that helped were benydral and cortisone cream. The benydral helped lessen it when it was flared up the worse but then it didn't seem to make a difference. I finally received my Lindi serum and the rash went completely away overnight once I used it. I'm also using their soothing balm on my scalp. I found they do sell a set of sample sizes of their products. I wish I'd ordered it earlier because then I would have had it already in the house. Thanks for letting me know about the Lindi serum!

I'm going to order that serum. I guess it will be useful even if I don't get that rash.

I'm done with my four AC chemos and I'll start Taxol 11/17. I'm a little bit afraid of it all. I know AC was supposed to be the worst, but I had left the oncologist office when I noticed that my next chemo will take 8 hours. I checked and I saw three names in the list: Taxol, Herceptin and something else that starts with a P and sounds like progesterone. I asked the chemo nurse and she said: oh yes, very long day. You'll get the three drugs and then you'll go back to just having Taxol alone for the other 11 weeks. So I guess I'm having a test trial of everything that day, even if Herceptin was slotted for next year. 

So glad your rash is gone. 

Primavera said:

Thank you for reporting back

I'm going to order that serum. I guess it will be useful even if I don't get that rash.

I'm done with my four AC chemos and I'll start Taxol 11/17. I'm a little bit afraid of it all. I know AC was supposed to be the worst, but I had left the oncologist office when I noticed that my next chemo will take 8 hours. I checked and I saw three names in the list: Taxol, Herceptin and something else that starts with a P and sounds like progesterone. I asked the chemo nurse and she said: oh yes, very long day. You'll get the three drugs and then you'll go back to just having Taxol alone for the other 11 weeks. So I guess I'm having a test trial of everything that day, even if Herceptin was slotted for next year. 

So glad your rash is gone. 

Primavera,

Congratulations on being done with the AC treatments! I had four cycles of Adriamycin and Ifex (Ifosfamide). The Ifosfamide is similar to Cyclophosphamide.

I must admit that I felt terrible throughout the entire three months I took those drugs, although my doctor did change up the post treatment medications and added some extra fluid transfusions the week after treatment. I was very glad to be done with that phase.

I didn't find the Paclitaxel/Carboplatin cycles I had first to be that difficult for me, so I hope you have an easy time as well with your next chemo phase.

els19 said:

Good luck

Wow, that's a long day. My infusion is five hours and that's long enough. I get taxol slowly because I had a reaction to it the first time I had it. Are you going to try icing? It really is working for me and preventing the neuropathy that the taxol caused last time. Sending you hugs and positive thoughts. 

Oncologist said they start everyone on Taxol slowly to test for reactions. It's probably 6 hours for that one and then the rest. I wasn't counting on anything other than Taxol, but it looks like I'll get a taste of the others the same day.

I've been dragging my little freezer to the AC infusions. The first time I could only use the booties because I didn't have a port. Same with the second time. Third time I could do it better. But I have to step up the way I do it. It takes a while before I get over to the chemo room and I feel like everything gets warmer with all that waiting time. The freezer keeps things cold, but of course I have to freeze the gels in advance in a real freezer because that tiny freezer will never really freeze anything. 

Yes, icing hands and feet was always my priority. Did your nails turn black at all? I have a faint little black on the base of my nails on the right hand. That's the hand that I didn't ice for two treatments because they were using my veins. I never fussed about my nails at all, keep them short and no nail polish, but I do not want them to separate from their beds. I need to type! My toenails are OK.

Molly110 said:

Taxol reaction

Congratulations on being done with the first phase. You'll be okay with Taxol, even if you have a reaction, because the chemo nurse(s) will be really vigilant about it, and they know exactly what to do. Your reaction, if you should have one, will be over before you barely know you're having it. I had a reaction to the second taxol cycle, and the instant my face flushed and my breath caught the room was full of people, each of them efficiently doing something different, and then it was over -- all in just a few seconds. It was over before I could even be scared. For the remaining 4 cycles, they slowed down the infusion and gave me the dexamethasone (the steroid) and benadryl (antihistimine) the day before by pill and even more than usual by IV the day of. The only problem with that was that I needed more mitts and bootie gels because the chemo days were longer. 

 

I think you said you were at Dana Farber? Your treatment team will have so much experience with the taxol that they will not let anything bad happen to you if you do have a reaction. And most people don't, since it's a standard part of how taxol is used to give those premeds and to watch for a reaction once the taxol starts.

With everything you have already handled, I hope you find the new drugs manageable. 

Fingers crossed.

Molly

I'm in New Jersey. John Theurer Cancer Center. Oncologist did tell me at the very beginning that they do the first one really slow. I was glad to hear because I had heard about the reactions and the reason to slow it down only at this site. I have 12 of those, so I'm bracing myself for that. I have two pairs of booties and two of mitts, and a whole bunch of gels that I try not to carry with me all at once because they're so heavy. I'll have to get them all together for the first infusion. The mitts lose their coldness really fast, and are really big. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but last time, I grabbed the pair of booties I had and put them in my hands and inserted the gels on top and on bottom. They felt a lot better and not so loose.

Primavera said:

Oncologist said

Oncologist said they start everyone on Taxol slowly to test for reactions. It's probably 6 hours for that one and then the rest. I wasn't counting on anything other than Taxol, but it looks like I'll get a taste of the others the same day.

I've been dragging my little freezer to the AC infusions. The first time I could only use the booties because I didn't have a port. Same with the second time. Third time I could do it better. But I have to step up the way I do it. It takes a while before I get over to the chemo room and I feel like everything gets warmer with all that waiting time. The freezer keeps things cold, but of course I have to freeze the gels in advance in a real freezer because that tiny freezer will never really freeze anything. 

Yes, icing hands and feet was always my priority. Did your nails turn black at all? I have a faint little black on the base of my nails on the right hand. That's the hand that I didn't ice for two treatments because they were using my veins. I never fussed about my nails at all, keep them short and no nail polish, but I do not want them to separate from their beds. I need to type! My toenails are OK.

I was on Taxotere and Carboplatin. I only made it through three chemos but I lost all my fingernails and toenails - the nail on my left big toe fell off TWICE! Now, five years later, my fingernails are not all connected to the nail beds as are my big toe toenails. I wear short acrylic nails because my real nails look awful.

Good luck!! I hope the icing works for you. Neuropathy is the pits!!

Love,

Eldri