Meds before Chemo

Thanks @Unicornkisses for all the tips. Sounds s@#t but at least I know some tips to help me through it. Thank you xx

Hi @TripleTea, Neulasta will give you horrid bone pain, especially around the shoulders, hips, jaw and ribs. Amazing where the white cells are mostly made!
It is confronting the first time to stick that needle in, and to make sure you get it right, but take it slowly and you will be fine, the instructions are very clear. The needle doesn't hurt at all, it is very tiny but the Neulasta stings. A tip from another survivor, don't rub the area, it makes it worse.
The chemo ward should give you a little cooler bag to take it home and you keep it in the fridge.

You will need some Loratagen (Clarytyne) antihistamine to reduce the bone pain.
Get it before your next chemo round.
The generic brand is fine, I got mine from Chemist Warehouse. Strange, but it works.
It won't stop the pain entirely, but with some regular Panadol it will make it bearable.
The pain only lasts about 4 days, so take the Loratagen each morning starting the morning before the first injection, and for the 4 days after. After that you should be fine.

I felt quite proud of myself that I could give myself the injections, I have been needle phobic most of my life, so it was an achievement for me. 
Chemo is shitty, take your small pleasures where you can!

It is thanks to all the other lovely ladies on here that I knew all I did to help offset the chemo side effects, they are fantastic, keep leaning on us all, it gets you through.
Jennie

Hi @Unicornkisses. Yes I apparently need to give myself neulasta injection 24hrs after chemo starting next round. What else do I need to know?
thanks
Tracy

Hi @TripleTea, it happened to me after the first FEC. Hard to take when you are psyched for the next dose and desperate to get to the end of it, 1 week sounds like an unconscienable delay.
Does this mean you will now be having Neulasta injections?
If so, there is more you need to know.
Enjoy the next week if you can and stay healthy! Jennie

Thanks @Unicornkisses. I know everyone is different but it's still good to know. I had a call at 7.30pm tonight to say that tomorrow's chemo has been put back a week as my blood count is too low. I guess that would explain why I fainted having the blood test and they took 5 tries after fainting to get the blood. Bugger as I was mentally psyched but good to have another week of feeling good. Unfortunately it is inevitable isn't it. 

@TripleTea, I had a lot of side effects with FEC.
from memory, nausea was low grade but constant, not to the point of vomiting. I took the Maxalon that was supplied, but it didn't help much. In the end I just took it at night so I didn't wake up feeling too sick.
The Oncologist was reluctant to try other Antinausea meds because of my Migraine and the preventatives I was on, he said they affected something in the brain that could make them worse, so I didn't find out if anything else would have been better.
I did drink lots of ginger beer, ginger ale and cups of tea with honey, I found that helped the nausea a bit. I had to drink water with a little apple and raspberry cordial in it as plain water also made me feel ill.
A lot of my nauseous feeling was more to do with the metallic taste in my mouth, that really got to me. Unfortunately that was not better with Docetaxel.
The nausea was not such a problem with Docetaxel, that had its own set of problems.

I did find that the second dose of FEC was better tolerated, and I was better at managing the side effects, and the third dose was different again. Yes, better as I went along.
It was great that I could predict how I would get better on FEC, usually by day 10 I was starting to feel human and the third week after I felt full of energy and almost normal.

@Cynth6 I too had the dexmethasone give me a itchy butt. The nurse said "I haven't had this but they tell me it will make your bum prickle" no sooner than she said it my butt was prickling away. If she hadn't told me I would have been thinking WTF! 

@Spiv1803  I had dexmethasone & anti nausea by IV before chemo started & Dex to take 2 days after as well but nothing day's prior to chemo. Round 2 tomorrow! 

@Unicornkisses were you sick with the FEC or just low blood count? I had a lot of vomiting & nausea first time round regardless of steroids & antinausea. I have doxetaxel after 3 rounds of FEC. 

@Ildiko, I too ended up in hospital after the Docetaxel.
I had FEC before, with no problems but low neutrifils, so had the Neulasta injection after each one, but with the Docetaxel, even though I had the Neulasta the day after chemo, by day 4, my temperature started to climb.
I was hospitalised on IV antibiotics after the first two Docetaxel chemos, with every scan and test under the sun, nothing showed up except extra lung nodules.
For the last dose my Oncologist prescribed oral antibiotics to start taking on day 4, my temp started to rise a little that night, and again on the night after, both times reduced with Panadol, then I had no more problems with high temps.

I have spoken to others who have said the same thing.
Perhaps it is a reaction to the chemo drug rather than an infection, as in my case no infection was found anywhere, but they kept up the antibiotics just in case.
It seemed too much of a coincidence that it always started on day 4 evening.

@Giovanna_BCNA

@Ildiko   I have put Giovanna on here as she is a nurse that maybe able to answer your query when she comes back on line.  Take care and I hope you're managing with treatment

I have had 2 treatments of chemo & landed in hospital after each one.  Both times for high temps & low neutrophil counts.  1st time 0.04 2nd time 0.01.  My neutrophil count is up now, but I keep having high temperatures every day mid afternoon.  38+.  Just wondering if others may be experiencing similar symptoms.