Forum Discussion

ThereseE's avatar
ThereseE
Member
8 years ago

Neutropenia and hair questions after chemo #1

Hello everyone, thanks for your stories and info.  I’m learning a lot from you all and feel comforted by the community feel here. I have just started 4 xTC and have round 2 next week. I ended up back in hospital on Easter Sunday with febrile neutropenia.. the Neulasta injections helped so much that my neutrophils jumped from .0002 to 15 - so now I’m neutrophillic ! Has anyone experienced this ?    Also, my hair has started thinning and coming out in small sections.. it’s the most distressing part of chemo for me, as prior to Easter I’d not had any real side effects. I’m thinking of having my hair shaved off as my scalp is really sensitive, but wondered whether doing this reduces the scalp sensitivity ? Appreciate your thoughts x
chemotherapy
febrile-neutropaenia
side-effects
  • kmakm's avatar
    kmakm
    Member
    8 years ago
    Hi Therese. The scalp sensitivity only happens at the beginning, before the hair starts falling round Day 14 of the first cycle of TC. It lessens quite quickly, whether you shave your head or not.

    Mine was intensely sore, irritated and itchy. I tried the cold cap but after the second cycle of TC it became clear it wasn't going to work so I went to a hipster barber and had it buzzed off with clippers. By that stage only a couple of small patches were still sensitive.

    Hope this helps, it can be distressing, but everything for the pulse eh. Hang in there. K