Forum Discussion
- Ok - onc and LOSEC ...
- But I have heard with a 12 weeks the risk of neuropathy is less...
- I did 4 dose dense and for me Taxol was much better - I got a bit of neuropathy -?hands and feet - but manageable and I would say 90% gone. Lots of olive oil at night cotton gloves and socks, Vit B Supp. So my feeling is you are over the worst of it. The biggest problem with Taxol for me was constipation - glycerin Supp and Movichol ( choc taste for me but I think it comes in Vanilla and Lemon) were my friends. Some get a bit of reflux - most once will give you a loser script. I drank chamomile tea and linden tea.
- Yep - 12 weeks of Paclitaxol but hoping that goes easier. I'm spending most of today sleeping as it's all I'm up for.
- Bugger - just realised - do you still have Taxol to go?
For me Taxol was easier - I could not work but I functioned at home with breaks and got moving - the AC took my breath away. - Sister - that is a lot more then I managed - kudos to you!! I don't think the movement I did in the pool could be called swimming, certainly no lanes, and usually I can swim, but that hour of being in the water was bliss to me. Back to it now...
I finished over 12 months ago - remember it vividly.
For me it got better pretty quickly - after three weeks took a trip to Sydney and felt fine to participate in most things - a little flat in the evenings, and still drinking gallons of fluids.
Hair back in two - three months to not having to wear scarves.
You got this!!! - I have been on AC (just had my last dose yesterday - woo hoo) and have tried to walk as much as I can. The first few days will be (maybe) a slow pace down the driveway but only if I think I can get back up again, then I'll move on to a 1km stroll building up the distance and the pace as I am able. I try to manage 5km at around 10.5 mins per km in the second 2 weeks but have discovered that, while I can do it on a gently incline, steep territory is absolutely out of the question. I've also been doing very slight resistance exercises under instruction from a specialist physio. And I've been doing a little bit of swimming (in the slow lane) and did some gentle kayaking at Easter. All of this has been with approvaI from my oncologist. I do believe it helps a lot. I'm going to see an exercise physiologist through a Rehab Oncology programme next week so I will find out more from what he/she says.
- Ohhh the do gooders I get it - I really do!!
The biggest part of the message is that there is evidence that moving during chemo - before and after - might increase blood flow and might improve therapeutics. Let's put the feeling wretched aside. If that is true, and physiologically the hypothesis fits, that is important.
I did AC 4/Taxol 4 dose dense - felt crap to the point where I could not go up a flight of stairs without stopping midway during the AC - HB dropped to 7-8 - was offered a blood transfusion - no thanks ( ...reasons for that ).
Probably the best advice I got was from someone who told me to suck it up and get on with it - that made me furious, not guilty - I was sooo angry with her, but I moved. That woman is a pediatrician, a breast cancer patient, a mother and a grandmother.
I think the point is to move as much as you can - and to move around the chemo (which even on 2 weekly dose dense I could ) - because you bounce back a little by the end of week 2 and it did not really get me on Day 1 - my worst days were 3-5 - dizzy, nausea, almighty constipation and of course rather out of breath...sleeplessness and ohh hot flushes galore.
(Some of the work refers to patients that have to be on low dose chemo long term and the side effect profile for that is a little gentler, and preservation of muscle mass is critical in that group.) - I don't doubt the science behind this, and I did try and do light exercise when I could (not often on FEC - horrible stuff). But bugger me, the number of well-meaning people I bumped into had seen this Catalyst episode and tried to helpfully suggest I should try doing more exercise! So many people. So on top of everything else, I started feeling guilty that I wasn't exercising enough. I'm very glad this information is available, but I have to confess that were times I secretly wished this episode didn't exist!
- I probably shouldn't comment on dexamethasone as I'm took very little, but agree with @wildplaces that if you can avoid it, that's worth trying. I had a small amount automatically with A/C but none at home. With weekly taxol however even the stuff atvday oncology played havoc with my digestion so my oncologist took me off it altogether. No good if you have nausea, but equally not much point in taking any if you don't need it.
