Ice cap or no ice cap? personal experiences?
Hi All, I was newly diagnosed mid December, have had surgery and am recovering well. I am due to start 12 weeks of weekly chemotherapy using paclitaxel. I will also be receiving Herceptin 3 weekly fo...
Forum Discussion
Hi @looeeze, I am sorry about your diagnosis, but it’s great to hear you are recovering well. You will find a wealth of information about the cold cap as many of us have used it with varied levels of success. The good thing is, you can try it and stop at any time as you will know if it is working within a couple of rounds. @kezmusc had a lot of success and has put a lot of information up with pics on the forum and I am sure others will join in too. Don’t forget, you will experience thinning of your hair, but hopefully you will keep most of it.
I had 4 x AC before the 12 x taxol and the AC is known to cause hair loss, so my experience will be different to yours. It is quite an individual thing and you won’t know until you try. I didn’t have success with it and ended up losing my hair, but I gave it a red hot go and I am happy I gave it a try. Also, my hair started to grow back while on taxol (a lot of us had this) which may mean you have an even better chance of a good result with the cap.
It adds time to your treatment as you will need to put the cap on for 1 hour before the infusion starts and leave it on for half an hour after the infusion finishes - I think those were the times and I hope I got it right. This adds quite a bit to your time, but well worth it if it works I think. The infusion itself took less than 1 hour in total without the cap, so you can see that it does make for a longer experience if you use it.
Yes it is super cold - minus 4 - but I just kind of zoned out as you will get used to it. I also took Panadol before I arrived and that helped. The nurses will also give you a warm blanket to keep you warm. I would recommend doing your own research so you know what needs to happen to try and maximise your chance of success - cap needs to be tight and fit well, hair needs to be wet and coated with conditioner etc. The nurses are very supportive, but you need to make sure the cap fits properly as this is the key to success - only you will know if the cap is really snug on your head.
I am wishing you all the best with your decision, but I definitely think it is worth a try. I know what you mean, once your hair is gone, your diagnosis can become quite public, but, I bought a fabulous wig (human hair) and it looked great and I can honestly say, a lot of people had no idea I was going through chemo. Take care. M x
I had 4 x AC before the 12 x taxol and the AC is known to cause hair loss, so my experience will be different to yours. It is quite an individual thing and you won’t know until you try. I didn’t have success with it and ended up losing my hair, but I gave it a red hot go and I am happy I gave it a try. Also, my hair started to grow back while on taxol (a lot of us had this) which may mean you have an even better chance of a good result with the cap.
It adds time to your treatment as you will need to put the cap on for 1 hour before the infusion starts and leave it on for half an hour after the infusion finishes - I think those were the times and I hope I got it right. This adds quite a bit to your time, but well worth it if it works I think. The infusion itself took less than 1 hour in total without the cap, so you can see that it does make for a longer experience if you use it.
Yes it is super cold - minus 4 - but I just kind of zoned out as you will get used to it. I also took Panadol before I arrived and that helped. The nurses will also give you a warm blanket to keep you warm. I would recommend doing your own research so you know what needs to happen to try and maximise your chance of success - cap needs to be tight and fit well, hair needs to be wet and coated with conditioner etc. The nurses are very supportive, but you need to make sure the cap fits properly as this is the key to success - only you will know if the cap is really snug on your head.
I am wishing you all the best with your decision, but I definitely think it is worth a try. I know what you mean, once your hair is gone, your diagnosis can become quite public, but, I bought a fabulous wig (human hair) and it looked great and I can honestly say, a lot of people had no idea I was going through chemo. Take care. M x