Chemo concerns... any experience??

Hi Ladies,

Well, I found out today what type of chemo I'm getting; it'll be the standard carbo/taxo that a lot of people seem to have experience with. I'll have 4 treatments total, once every 3 weeks, starting next Tuesday. Sounds like I'll be losing my hair, and I guess the other big side effects are nausea and fatigue. Tomorrow my DH and I are going to get me a cute short haircut. I know nausea will be a problem for me since just riding in the car sometimes makes me want to yack. Does anyone have suggestions for how to deal with nausea? Any personal experience on the carbo/taxo chemo would be great!

That's just what I did - 4 treatments of carb/taxol. I tried to go every 3 weeks but my white blood count never bounced back quickly enough so I ended up going every 4 weeks.

As for nausea, one thing I was told was to make sure I ate before my treatment - have a good breakfast. You may want to eat something plain, but eat what you can. That helped me. Drink plenty of water,

The treatments took all day (from about 8 'til 5) and I was given anti-nausea meds by IV before the actual chemo drugs. I was also given pills to take - 3 pills a day for the 3 days following the treatment. Make sure you takes your meds regularly; don't wait until you're nauseated and try to fight it then.

Other people will be along with other suggestions. Different things work for different people, so if the drugs alone don't work (they did for me) you may have to experiment.

Good Luck!

I was given six treatments of taxol/carbo and I guess some of my side effects were more extreme. The nausea wasn't too bad as I transferred to mostly using wrist bands with pressure points that were quite effective for me except for the need of only periodic tablet to help out. The tablets lowered my blood pressure to far. I also didn't take the pain meds though I had considerable pain in my hips, knees and leg bones pretty much all over because they made my brain too foggy. I had two little children to keep up with and a busy schedule when I could drive and get about. I used tylenol/advil as needed and bore it. The pain and general neurapathy lasted a long time after for me as well. Drink alot and use whatever is necessary to keep your bowels moving if this is a problem for you. I seem to have difficulty with these drugs and collect impactions very quickly. I need to keep on it. There is also numbness, especially in cold weather, in the feet and fingers. This is more annoying than anything else and does come and go, but I needed to be careful not to drop things sometimes and to keepmy hands warm.Cold seemed to aggrivate it.

Here's to this treatment clearing you completely of cancer and you can move on with life quickly. God bless.

I did 2 rounds of taxol/carbo before my surgery.

I also had the bone pain and achiness that FaithFirst is describibg. Advil did a good job on it for me the first round. Second round was close enough to my surgery that I switched to Tylenol, which helped but wasn't as effective as the Advil. And I had the finger tingling and numbness for a few days. Writing checks was an interesting experience that second round! That's when I first discovered that my fingers didnt' want to do exactly what I told them to do.

Fatigue is kind of a fact of chemo life. I find that days 4 and 5 are my down days. For some it may be sooner, but I went in on day 2 for fluids, IV anti-nausea meds and some added steroids. The steroids probably kept me going a bit longer.

I didn't have to take any nausea meds at home after those treatments. The Zofran on day 1 and Aloxi (which works for 5 days) on day 2 was all I needed to keep that side effect in check. But I still carry around my compazine prescription just in case. As someone else said, stay on top of this. I'm sure your care team will tell you that. And try to stay on top of any constipation probalems as well. That was what made my first round miserable -- not the fatigue, or aches and pains, but the constipation and gas pains!

Does anyone else do a lot of belching during chemo? I seem to get quite gassy.

My experience was similar to the others that have responded. Fatigue, aches & pains, but nothing major. Constipation was a problem, so by the third treatment, I learned how to prepare for it, I had 6 treatments total. I started taking my stool softener the day before , and a few days after, that seemed to help a lot. Also, with the nausea meds, they gave me 3 different ones, in case one didn't work, I could try another. But I started, taking it (don't remember which one) the day before, and the day of, and 2 days after, and I never got sick, it seemed to work for me. They also, usually give you antinausea meds just before infusion. Best of luck to you.

Thanks everyone for your advice and experience. The doctor gave me a RX for two anti-nausea meds, Emend and Zofran. Of course my ins. won't cover Emend and it's like $300!!! So I'm hoping they can give me something else instead. It's sooooooooo frustrating to me that we're forced to get treatment according to what the **** ins. companies say instead of our doctors.

The nurse i spoke to yesterday also mentioned ginger for nausea...said to bring it along and keep it handy. I guess there have been a lot of studies saying that it works as well and maybe even better than the meds?!! I use it for motion sickness all the time and seems to work wonders.

Keeping my cool....

Hi Hope...keep your cool. chemo is'nt the most fun thing in the world to be doing, but it *is* doable. I had next to NO NAUSEA throughout my 6 rounds of carbo/taxol. The trick is to stay ahead of it....take your zofran religously, don't wait for the nausea to hit before you take it. One thing I can recomend is that talk to your oncologist about you getting started on stool softeners...between the chemo and the Zofran, you are going to need them.

I hope the chemo is hard on you but ruthless on those cancer cells.
in there, and good luck!
xoox
k9

Hope222

I just came home from my 4th round of taxol/carbo. My greatest piece of advice is to make sure to take the anti-nausea meds BEFORE you know you need them. This way it keeps the nausea at bay. Once you know you're queasy it may be too late for them to work as effectively. (Why did I forget this piece of advice myself tonight?)

Zofran works wonders though but it can be tough on your bowels so be sure to ask about taking stool softeners as k9 recommends above. I also take compazine and ativan.

Flat ginger ale, saltines and peppermint tea may be helpful too. Sip and nibble instead of gulping and big bites. Be sure to keep a bland diet for a few days too.

Have a great time getting your new haircut. I did the same thing and everyone loved it! It made me look 15 years younger and it was so much cooler for the summer.