Hi
I finished my 8th Tax on the 1st August and I still feel exhausted and achey. I was wondering how other people are feeling and how long the symptoms are supposed to last?
Hiya Samb
Just come across your unanswered post. I had my last tax on 21 Sept. and still achey and fall asleep when I sit down. How are you going now? Any improvement. I’m having problem with my nails - and still waiting for hair to start growing, eyelashes are just beginning to grow Yeah!!
Are you on hormone tabs, or having rads?
Cheers
Anne x
Hi Samb,
I finished tax on 14 September. I am a runner, and have run throughout chemo. I found it harder and harder on tax (FEC didn’t cause problems). My thighs seemed so weak. I have continued to run, really forcing myself to do it, running every other day, and last week (5 weeks on from last tax) things finally started to improve. My legs are still weak and ache after each run, but it is gradually improving. So my advice would be to do some regular exercise even though you feel weak. I think you have to push yourself to get an improvement.
As for the other symptoms, my nails are awful tho’ I don’t think they are getting any worse (still waiting for some to drop off tho) and I am still losing feeling in my feet. I would like to know when that will stop getting worse. My hair, however, is just beginning to sprout. Looking very sparse so far but at least it’s going in the right direction
xx
Hi Samb
I had my last Tax on 3 Aug. The final 4 were also given with Herceptin which will continue three weekly until next May. I also finished rads on 12 Sept. It is only during the last two weeks that my energy level and zest for life is returning. I can still fall asleep if I sit down for any length of time but I feel so much better.I felt like you during the last 2 Tax and I thought when it ended I would feel better but I actually felt worse. I think it was the cummulative effect of everything and I was at my lowest point both physically and mentally. There were many days when I literally couldn’t put one foot in front of the other because my legs were so weak. I couldn’t drive because I didn’t have the leg strength to use the pedals. In fact, I used to go upstairs on all fours and then need a rest when I got there! I have never known fatigue like it. But, I listened to my body and just rested and slept. You will start to feel better very soon, don’t worry. Just take it easy - one day at a time. Set yourself a simple goal each day. My goals were and probably still are quite simplistic and pathetic really but they mean alot to me. They provide standards by which I can judge my improvement.
I do hope you feel better soon. Take care.
Jibby X
Hi, I can assure you things do improve!
I had an absolutely dreadful time on Taxotere as I had extreme joint pains and severe fatigue to the point that I was in bed for 16+ days out of every cycle, sleeping for up to 18 hours a day. I ended up in hospital 10 days after the last one,neutropenic and with a huge chemo burn to the back of my hand where a vein had punctured and the Tax had leaked. 3 cycles were given with Herceptin and my onc told me the combination of the 2 drugs can be very debilitating for some patients. I was so disappointed as I stayed well all the way through FEC and rads, aside of a few days bed rest I was able to get on with most things.
My last Tax was in June and was in hospital early July. However, I’m now feeing really good and able to keep going all day. I get out walking and am pretty much back into a normal routine. I managed to go away fist week in October and thouroughly enjoyed myself. My concentration is back and I start a 12 week course in copywriting this week. I’m also applying for p/t jobs, but my GP doesn’t want to pass me as fit until the end of the year.
The best advice I can give you is to eat healthily, plent of fruit and veg for vitamins etc., an just listen to what your body is telling you. If you need a nap do so, I still get tired days and need to rest or just read for a while. I make a “to do” list for the week and see how much I can cross off, each day is another milestone.
Being honest I would say you need to give it 6 months to get back to 90% I finished Taxotere in January and still feel I am not completely over it. Day to day it’s not really a problem although my stamina is still a little down, the main problem is that my memory which was always excellent is still a long way from what it was and I get very irritated about it but am trying to come to terms with it and learn to live with it.
My advice would be don’t push it as you will make recovery slower. You will get better month on month just give it time. I think it probably takes a year as your bone marrow takes such a hammering with tax.
Izz x
I finished Taxotere july 06 then went into 25 rads,herceptin until June 07 + commenced 5 years of tamoxifen.
Around christmas time friends commented I was less tired looking but I personally only felt able to get back into my high impact areobics class May of this year just as I was coming to the end of herceptin, and even though I give it my best I am not as fit as I was. Have also noticed when out biking with my kids, I am struggling on the hills I used to fly up.
Had appt last week with Onc and commented that my energy levels were picking up to enable me to attempt harder exercise and also told her that my nails were less fragile and starting to grow, eyelashes and eyebrows also slightly thickening again, asked if this was to do with finishing herceptin recently, but she reckons this is how long it taken my body to recover from the taxotere chemo.
I dont know if you are on other treatments but taxotere is a hard one, I kept blaming the rads, herceptin and tamoxifen but it looks like taxotere does stay in the system for a good year.
Take care,
Debbie
Have any of you who have had/are having Taxotere had bad stomach’s with it??I have allthe aches and pains described here and tiredness,like i have never felt before, but it is the bad stomach that is getting me down so much.Ilost a stone in 10 days on my first cycle of it and this 2nd one is has started just as bad!! I am lucky as i only have one more left,but i certainly don’t feel lucky.So sorry for moaning, just wanted to check. Take care Delx
Hi Del and all
Yes indeed I have had a bad stomach on tax - possibly too much information but I have had to dash from thestreet into loos in pubs while out or there would have been a terrible accident. This more than once. Just made it in the hospital this morning as well! I had my last tax of three on 18 October. Like you I have lost a lot of weight, partly the stomach and partly inability to eat through the vile mouth. That is easing up a bit now, though I am still achey. But of course I am not as far away from it as some of these ladies, so just hoping for an improvement soon. Hope herceptin (which continues) won’t be anything like it!
Hang in there and look forward to putting the weight back eventually. I only have two pairs of trousers that will stay up at the moment and I still look like a clown!
Love
Dilys
xxxx
I had 4 Tax after 4 EC but I only had a very bad stomach after the first Tax. The rest of them got slightly better each time
stomach wise but worse fatigue wise. I had tremendous pain - a cross between bad period pains (almost like childbirth at times) and a stomach bug. The gripes were horrible and my stomach felt full of rocks. Thankfully, it only lasted a few days. I also have lost one and a half stone (weight was 9st 3lbs at the start of everything) and am almost skin and bone in places yet my stomach is quite large. I don’t understand it. If I’ve lost so much weight why couldn’t I lose the pot belly? Nature can be so cruel!
Love
Jibby X
Hiya Dilys and all, Thanks so much for answering me. It is such a pain having to work out if you can go somewhere and if there will be toilets close at hand etc isn’t it??The doctor has given me some pills to slow it down,bu tnot helping that much…A nurse at the hospital told me last week that women very rarely lose weight with this treatment??? Different to what i have read on here??Mouth playing up AGAIN,another par for the course hey??Got tabs,mouthwash and drops for that!!LOL!!!Thanks all and good luck with all the treatment. Del xxxx
Thanks Anne for picking up my thread!
Everyones comments have been really helpful. My aches are getting better - I’m just going with the flow. Just started Arimidex and Zolodex so not sure what that will add to the mix (apart from hot flushes and lack of libido which has reared its ugly head already!)
I don’t suppose anyone lives in the south bucks area? It would be great to hook up with girls in the same situ