Hi everyone,
I’m due to join the chemo club in a couple of weeks, is it true that as well as being one boob down, and bald I’ll also put on weight? My poor hubby…how could he fancy me like that!!!
Dawn
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Hi
Well my oncologist insisted I would put on weight, but had 3x FEC and 1 X TAX and still weigh stone lighter than before diognosis, so not sure. My chemo nurse told me not everyone puts on weight, I am small framed and have dropped from 8 to seven stone, so I think it is individual. Mind you I’m bald, with one boob and boney, so not great for my hubby either, especially as I think he prefers the more rounded figure. Trying to eat more but difficult with slimmy, swollen mouth.
Good luck. I’m sure he will love you whatever you look like, my hubby seems to and it does not get me out of sex. The thought of what I look like makes me feel sick, but I think he’s grateful for anything he can get.
B
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Hi Dawn
Don’t worry. I dropped a stone and a half with chemo and am still that lighter weight. Not many good side effects but that was one of them!
Good luck! It does pass, honestly.
Dilys
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Hi Dawn
Sorry you have to join the club. After my first epi I didn’t eat much (and didn’t lose any weight) just drank lots of water and sucked pineapple for dry and horrible taste in mouth. After the 2nd round my taste changed completely and even with a bloated stomach I was eating like a horse. I was weighed last week and was horrified to find I have put on 7lbs but my eating seems to have returned to some sort of normality and I feel more comfortable although don’t know if I’ve lost any weight. It affects us in strange ways and you may find you have a completely different experience but I would say don’t worry about it. As long as you maintain some sort of control(unlike me who just scoffed anything in sight for a week) you will be fine.
As for being bald, I have been left with a very soft covering, don’t know why it didn’t all fall out, but getting use to it and quite like wearing different scarves.
Hope it all goes well
Debbie x
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your comments, I’m not really worried about the weight gain but I did think ‘Oh great and there’s the cherry on top’ when I read that a lot of people suffer with that too!
B, I LOVED your comment about being bald and bony…it made me laugh to think of the flip side to weight gain.
I suppose all in I’m just getting anxious about starting chemo, part of me can’t wait, the other part could wait forever!
Hey ho, let’s keep smiling
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I didn’t put on any weight with chemo (4FEC and 4Taxotere)…beats me how anybody does what with the horrid mouth and all! I have put on 7lbs since starting Arimidex though, but at 7stone 7lbs, I think I can join the one breasted bony club!
I’m not bald any more though (finished chemo last November), I’ve got a head full of VERY curly hair from having straight locks previously.
xxx
Ho hum - weight gain for me, but I didn’t really realize it until today when reviewing some photos on screen - I think, from diagnosis in March, that I’ve gained about 10lb, but it really really shows… I was getting to that stage anyway, being 45 et al, - it seems to go one way or the other … and am now looking at a 1.5 breasted (recon not finished) bald pot bellied dry skinned (nay - peeling…) beige woman who doesn’t resemble ME at all. However, I feel the same inside, and my OH still seems to fancy me so I’ll deal with it when it’s over…
It’s very difficult - the taste thing makes you want to constantly have something in your mouth which is great if it is just ice lollies and water, but in my case it’s salty foods like cheese and olives and bread and toast with lots of flora… and then I have times when I’m starving due to the steroids too… I’ve gone from a 12 - 14 dress size and it seems to be all on my arms and face and belly and bum…(is there anywhere else?!!) - but I’m alive so let’s go with that!!
Good luck with your chemo - just go withit and see how it is for you - some of us do better than others with side effects - don’t dwell on them…!
Td xx
i have put on a stone in weight and the chemo nurse told it was because of the steriods!
I am well depressed now 
I have put on nearly half a stone since Dx and due to start Chemo on the 18th. I am 16.3 stone and a diabetic (due to the weight) so I can’t afford to put on any more weight… 
Hi Khyrah, I know its early days for me only had 2nd chemo yesterday but don’t feel any different weight wise. I am trying to stay in control and eating as normal. I got weighed at the clinic on Friday when I went for my bloods checked and was told I had put on .3 so not much, when I mentioned this to my sister she said yes but you had your new boob on for that weigh in, so yes as it does seem quite weighty when I take my bra off I am going along with that. I have done quite well so far on the chemo hope it stays this way, although saying that I had a really bad tooth infection following ulcers and sore gums, so had antibiotics cleared up now, but got some more antis in case it flares up again. Take care junieliz
Don’t worry Khyra - you know how to handle the weight - it doesn’t come without eating (except when on steroids as they make you retain water, so that’s not real weight gain!) so just watch what you put in and it should be ok. Says she, just having eaten cereal at 4am…
Td x
Hello
I was surprised by how hungry I was the first week after my first chemo (12 days ago), I ate toast and biscuits and crumpets and buns. I bought loads of fruit but they just didn’t hit the spot! I’ve put on over half a stone since my op but I guess it’s as much to do with not being able to exercise as sitting about eating! My OH is plumping up too 'cos he doesn’t want to go to the gym without me! We still love our cuddles tho!!
Hi,
I had 4 x Taxotere & Cytoxan and just put on about 2/3 lbs. I found that for some of the cycle I wasnt very hungry because of the funny taste in my mouth, even went off my red wine for about a week each time, so I guess that helped! I was told to expect to put on weight so was very glad I didnt.
Hope that helps.
Best of luck.
Katie
I am starting chemo on monday and was also told that my weight would hopefully not change either way too much (Although I must admit was not adverse to losing a few pounds!!) I was very worried about the steroids in that they would make me look very bloated but again was told that the doseage would be too small for this to happen. I too have a false boob and the icing on the cake will be no hair and a fat body and round face!!)
Any tips for making living with chemo a bit easier??
Hi everyone,
I love, love, love the comments here. It’s laughable to think we’re all coping with this horrible thing and still worried about our weight, I’m SO glad I’m not on my own (sorry). So I’m now considering writing a book…it’s title?? well there can only be one…Does My Bum Look Big After Chemo? What you think?? It’s gonna be hit isn’t it!!
Marita, you an your hubby sound great, you enjoy your cuddles, it’s what arms were invented for!
Hey I went to see my ONC today and while waiting I read a book of thoughts by everyone who had been affected by the big C, my favourite entry was by a boy aged 9, and here it is
I’d love to be a firefly,
I’m sure I’d never be glum,
because how can you be grumpy,
when the sun shines out of your bum!
It tickled me, I’m mad aren’t I?
Love to you all
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PS Katie
OMG I’m gonna go off red wine??? Can these side-affects be any worse???
Hello,
I am glad I am not on my own. I have put on 2 stones since starting chemo in April. I have just had my last FEC on 5th August and yes…I am 2 stones heavier. I went from a size 12 to a 16. None of my clothes fit me, NONE. How depressing is that? Please tell me… I am due to have surgery next Thursday 11th Sept and when I am flly recovered I will definetely join Wight Watchers and sign up in a gym. I am sick of feeling so heavy. When I complained with the Oncologist, she kept on saying: ’ Don’t worry, I am happy you have put on weight, instead of losing and I reassure you that you will lose…!!’ How can she reassure that my mouth will not ve putting in the same amount of food as before…Hard!!!
xxx
hi all
Well it took me a year to steadily and purposely shed a stone but luckily kept most of my size 16 clothes so if I put on weight now at least I won’t have to fork out for anything new. However since being diagnosed and having my first FEC chemo I’ve lost a further half stone, my cheek bones are prominent and for the first time in years I look slim but now my size 14 clothes are hanging off me (strangely I’m liking that look - may as well feel good about something from breast cancer!) but i still don’t want to go shopping for new stuff as I think this weights just going to go up and down during the weeks between chemos depending on level of sickness.
Its true that its funny we are still so conc about our weight, hair can be faked, weight gain or loss cannot
I have no appetite - also due to the metallic mouth taste, but am aware that rapid weight loss is not smart so am drinking lucozade for energy and calories and veg juices for vitamins.
Ems x
Hi, i too have put on weight since dx in FEB. Put on a little with epi but was the xeloda that did it. Finished chemo now and hav9ing rads and arimidex and have put on 2 stone. Feel like a whale I am always so hungry and my stomach is huge. Could it be fluid or too many cakes and buns as my onc said it was?
Rach
Guess what - I put on 7lb in 24hours after the last chemo - and couldn’t breath either - fluid retention!!! Yesterday I lost 5lb… so maybe I just need to use the scales for checking if I’m about to drown with pulmonary oedema!!
I think you should call the book
‘Chemo made my bum like this…’
Hey - it’s an excuse!!
Td xxx