The HAIR is falling.....or maybe not?

breastcancer.posse · May 2009

hello all...I have gone through my first round of Chemo and am sched. for #2 in about 4 days. according to the experience of the first I will be playing pretending in the clouds for a couple days thereafter. otherwise, the four anti-nausea meds. really "insists" that I pretty much keep to sleep.
NOW......the HAIR???! For the past 3yrs I have had various undiagnosed symptoms, I have lost as much at 50% of my formally thick hair. During each shower/style there I would be shedding away. The strange thing is I have not lost "any" as a matter of fact there is some new hair growth. To say the least I am not getting my hopes up, actually I purchased two pretty cool wigs yesterday. My husband and I think it may be some sort of, "Custards last Stand" event? However, I am very curious!! Any Input???

seof · May 2009

I would say wait and see.
I would say wait and see. For many people losing hair from chemo does not start till the 3rd or 4th week of treatments....it varies. Depending on what drugs you are on and how your own body reacts, I have heard of some temporary regrowth while still on chemo. Not all chemo drugs cause hairloss. You can go to chemocare.com to see about the drugs you are taking, or ask your Doctor.

Maybe someone else will have more useful info.

Live as well as you can for as long as you can, seof.

tgf · May 2009

seof said:
I would say wait and see.
I would say wait and see. For many people losing hair from chemo does not start till the 3rd or 4th week of treatments....it varies. Depending on what drugs you are on and how your own body reacts, I have heard of some temporary regrowth while still on chemo. Not all chemo drugs cause hairloss. You can go to chemocare.com to see about the drugs you are taking, or ask your Doctor.

Maybe someone else will have more useful info.

Live as well as you can for as long as you can, seof.

hair
Hair loss does depend on the drugs you are given ... and your own individual reaction to those drugs. As they say ... it's different for everyone.

From my own experience ... I've been having weekly infusions of taxol and herceptin. When I started ... my oncologist told me I would "probably" not lose all of my hair but it would for sure get thinner. So ... just in case I ordered a hat and a scarf from the tlc catalog. (after all ... Girl Scouts are always prepared!)

Now ... in my mind ... "thinning" meant a few hairs here and a few hairs there ... and I'd read that it is often easier to manage the thinning if your hair is cut very short. So ... on day 13 (after my 1st infusion) I had my hair cut very short. Then on day 15 I ran my hands through my short hair and ended up with a hand full of hair. I did it again and ended up with another fistfull of hair. Obviously my hair was thinning ... but it was in bunches and hunks ... NOT a few hairs here and there. I knew I couldn't go around that way ... with hair flying all over the place so I called a friend and told her it was time for her to shave my head ... and it's been a big relief not worrying about "shedding."

hugs.
teena

breastcancer.posse · May 2009

tgf said:
hair
Hair loss does depend on the drugs you are given ... and your own individual reaction to those drugs. As they say ... it's different for everyone.

From my own experience ... I've been having weekly infusions of taxol and herceptin. When I started ... my oncologist told me I would "probably" not lose all of my hair but it would for sure get thinner. So ... just in case I ordered a hat and a scarf from the tlc catalog. (after all ... Girl Scouts are always prepared!)

Now ... in my mind ... "thinning" meant a few hairs here and a few hairs there ... and I'd read that it is often easier to manage the thinning if your hair is cut very short. So ... on day 13 (after my 1st infusion) I had my hair cut very short. Then on day 15 I ran my hands through my short hair and ended up with a hand full of hair. I did it again and ended up with another fistfull of hair. Obviously my hair was thinning ... but it was in bunches and hunks ... NOT a few hairs here and there. I knew I couldn't go around that way ... with hair flying all over the place so I called a friend and told her it was time for her to shave my head ... and it's been a big relief not worrying about "shedding."

hugs.
teena

Mona....is that you?
Thank you for responding and for sharing your experience.
Yeah, I thought it might be to good to last. I’m only 11days out from my first treatment. I guess I was just expecting some major loss, concidering what I have been losing prior to treatment.
I too plan on shaving it to avoid “shedding”, this time of year it is just bad enough trying to keep up with the dog. So, some family and friends are going to be joining me at my “Where’s Baldo” party, greeted at the door with a stocking to cover their scalps with, so they don’t feel left out!
Thank you again for sharing,

rjjj · May 2009

breastcancer.posse said:
Mona....is that you?
Thank you for responding and for sharing your experience.
Yeah, I thought it might be to good to last. I’m only 11days out from my first treatment. I guess I was just expecting some major loss, concidering what I have been losing prior to treatment.
I too plan on shaving it to avoid “shedding”, this time of year it is just bad enough trying to keep up with the dog. So, some family and friends are going to be joining me at my “Where’s Baldo” party, greeted at the door with a stocking to cover their scalps with, so they don’t feel left out!
Thank you again for sharing,

bc.posse
I lost my hair about 3 weeks after my first chemo. It was shedding pretty good so my Hubby shaved it off. I am now sporting duck down on top and the back is growing in pretty good. I am still getting Herceptin treatments and they say my hair will grow back. Herceptin does nothing to your "good cells". I have finished the other chemo and now am on my radiation.
Your family and friends sound fun. I like the idea of a "wheres Baldo" party.
You didn't say..Why has your hair been thinning anyway? before treatments?
I bet you will be more beautiful than the Mona-Lisa bald or with hair (it will grow back)
luv
Jackie

crazylady55 · May 2009

bald is not so bad
As others have said hair loss depends on what chemo meds you are on. I was on TAC and my doc said that I would start to lose my hair on day 14-21 after the first round. Sure enoungh on day 14 the first handful fell out. I seemed to lose it slowly and had enough for an "old man's comb over" until my 5th round. I woke up one morning and a huge fistful fell out so I picked up my husbands razor and shaved it all off. Now I am 2 months after chemo and I have enough hair that you can finally see it, I hope by the time I finish rad in 5 weeks and return to work I will at least have a "buzz" cut.

It took awhile to get use to but it is not too bad. Good luck with your treatments. Experiment with which anti-nausea med work best for you. I found if I did the Emend and followed up with Zofran I could tolerate the minimal nausea and still be functional. Compazine knocked me out completely, so it was my last resort.

KathiM · May 2009

tgf said:
hair
Hair loss does depend on the drugs you are given ... and your own individual reaction to those drugs. As they say ... it's different for everyone.

From my own experience ... I've been having weekly infusions of taxol and herceptin. When I started ... my oncologist told me I would "probably" not lose all of my hair but it would for sure get thinner. So ... just in case I ordered a hat and a scarf from the tlc catalog. (after all ... Girl Scouts are always prepared!)

Now ... in my mind ... "thinning" meant a few hairs here and a few hairs there ... and I'd read that it is often easier to manage the thinning if your hair is cut very short. So ... on day 13 (after my 1st infusion) I had my hair cut very short. Then on day 15 I ran my hands through my short hair and ended up with a hand full of hair. I did it again and ended up with another fistfull of hair. Obviously my hair was thinning ... but it was in bunches and hunks ... NOT a few hairs here and there. I knew I couldn't go around that way ... with hair flying all over the place so I called a friend and told her it was time for her to shave my head ... and it's been a big relief not worrying about "shedding."

hugs.
teena

GREAT pic!!!!
I lost mine, 3 days before my 2nd treatment of Adriamycin/Cytoxin.

I remember saying, after my first chemo for the rectal cancer, "Well, at least I didn't lose my hair!"

God DOES punish immediately...lol...After my bc diagnosis, 6 months later, I turned to the nurse and said..."The only thing worst than losing my hair on this round, is that I have the cancer whose color, pink, I look TERRIBLE in!!!"

HUgs, Kathi

The HAIR is falling.....or maybe not?

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