I received my second dose of FEC last Friday and was in bed until yesterday! I found all the side effects worse and lasted longer this time! Does anyone know if it gets worse after each one? Although after my third Fec I will be having three Tax!
Hi wibbly,
What a great user name. I found i was the same after my 2nd, 3rd & 4th doses of epi so hopefully it will not get any worse for you. Hoping you feel much brighter very quickly,
best wishes rivergirl
Hi Wibbly!!
I was also bad with 2nd dose but also on 5th & last one (FEC)
But you must remember that everyone is different and I have known some girls to fly throught it!
I hope that the next few FEC are easier for you.
Mel
xx
Mine were all different - first was okayish, as was 2nd - third was an absolute nightmare (sorry!) and the 4th was a breeze. Seems like we all react differently - I was told they were cumulative, so to expect it to get worse with each one - but didn’t work that way for me.
Hope you get on okay
Margaret x
I had my fourth fec last wed . During each of the first three I was ok the first two days afterwards but then for the next five days felt awful, for the remaining days I just felt poorly. This timing remained the same throughout each.
What did change was that with each successive dose during the five days I felt much worse and yet seemed to compensate afterwards by being much better.
Now after my fourth the timing again is the same but I do feel better all the time.
Of course for everyone it is different and even for the individual each time seems to change. BUT for so many the constant seems to be that it is do-able. I never thought that I would get through and it is only now after the fourth that I see a light ahead. ( feel like crying because I do really feel the end is in sight).
Hope that you do feel better.
Margaret
I
second was worst for me - but as I was so ill they reduced the dose for 3 and 4 …
to be fair I think that as the first wasn’t too bad i was not so careful re: drinking loads etc for #2 - so make sure you do all that
good luck
FizBix xxxxxxxxx
think ishould have called myself “wobbly” - not looking forward to first Tax tomorrow!!!
Hi Wibbly, I’m a bit like you. Had 2nd FEC Thursday past and it was definitely worse than the first one, which I fairly bounced through. I was pretty sick (despite anti emetics!) and felt quite sorry for myself, just wanting a cuddle from OH. It took me Friday to recover. However, Saturday I was bouncing around again. We are warned its cumulative, but here’s hoping it doesn’t get any worse for you or me! I’ve to have 4 FEC, so I reckon I’m half way through. Of course, then I’ve to have 4 Tax - and that’s scary. It’s all this unknown stuff isn’t it? And no two people are the same, we all react differently, so whilst this site gives great tips, we may not be as lucky, or may be luckier, than those in the threads.
Fiz - best of luck with your first Tax, I’ll be thinking of you, and I would love to hear how you get on. Forewarned is forearmed etc!
Love to all, be good to yourselves
Sue xx
Hi Sue
I have finally had my first Tax
also, it was five and a half weeks since my original appointment and have to say I now feel great - the cumulative effect has gone!
so am quite hopeful that I will feel back to normal quite quickly after all of this is over …
lots of love
FizBix xxxx
Hi All
Due my 2nd FEC tomorrow and slightly nervous. I breezed through the 1st one with tiredness on days 4-6 and one ‘moment’ of nausea and no sickness.
I’m sure hoping that I have the same side effects but knowing my luck…
Will let you know
Anita
HI Anita,
Sorry not been around - been in hospital with an infection. I hope you got through your second FEC ok, and would love to know. Because of the iv antibiotics my vein in my arm has collapsed, and I’m waiting to get a Hickman line fitted - hopefully in time for my 3rd FEC next Thursday. Of course, I can’t get the line until my white cell count is 1, and it was 0.44 yesterday when they finally let me out. That’s low, but I’ve never been so healthy and yet in hospital since having kids!!! I’m just going to take it easy and take care of myself and hopefully will get another test on Monday. Am running out of patience with this. Some of the docs at the hospital were more than useless, wanting to take blood from my left arm (and I had the lymph nodes removed 2 months ago). I had to refuse treatment at that point - no way were they exposing me to risk of lymphodema unless it was life or death. The lovely man at the Maggies Centre said I was right to stick to my guns, the registrar and SHO would be on rotation and never see the consequences of their actions. I thought a doctor in an oncology unit would have at least the knowledge WE have!
Anyway - home now and resting. Roll on 3rd FEC.
Love to all
Sue xxx
glad you’re feelig better Sue - well done for sticking up for yourself - poor Magz175 ended up with someone ignoring her and going ahead with her “bad” arm anyway! … nothing short of a violation in my opinion …
perhaps we should all pack a hospital bag with a tennis raquet in it - just in case …
lots of love
FizBix xxxxx
Hi Fiz,
Really glad you coped well with first tax - and may all the others be easier than you feared. Avoiding the cumulative effect could be why my onc offered me 4xfec, then 5 wks radiotherapy then 4xtax. It’s still an option, but I would prefer to do all chemo first and get it over and done with. However, we’ll see how it goes. Poor Magz. I am having a card laminated that stated NOBODY is to pierce the skin on my left arm unless they want to risk being sued (both my dad AND my BCN said I should do that!). If I keep the card in my purse then they’ll find it if I have an accident. Was Magz lucky enough to avoid lymphodema despite the incompetence of the medic? She should complain LOUDLY, PUBLICLY (local paper always good!). It’s unbelievable really.
Hope you are still recovering well from your tax. Take it easy
Love
Sue xx
Hi
tis true everyone has a different experience but I found my tiredness lasted a bit longer after my second and third FEC. I have it done on a Monday, usually feel sick in the evening but I take the tablets and eat some stodge and it goes away. On the Tuesday I stay at home and curl up with books, magazines and DVDs (and eat more stodge) and then I try to get back into things but usually need early nights up until the second week. I just give in to it and conserve energy whenever I can so that when I want to do something eg go out with boyfriend at weekend I can do it. But we now go out earlier and come home earlier. I drank him under the table yesterday afternoon though, LOL.
funnily enough I get tired if I don’t skive during my working day…
hi all really concerned now ive read it can get worse after 1st one, ive felt so crap after my first fec treatment , dont know how i will get through next if its worse. i know everyones different; i hope i am god bless
Hi Wibbly
I had 4 EC and 4 Taxol - I found the Taxol much better as no nausea at all, didn’t even need anti-sickness pills (and I really hate feeling sick) so was very happy after the changeover. Others on this forum have reported the same. I had white blood cell count problems on Taxol but wasn’t at all aware of this, and was surprised by the blood test results. I felt a bit tired after both types, but I don’t think it got worse as the treatment progressed.
Sarah
hi everydaymatters - just to say that if you are really ill and can’t cope they will redue the dose - they did that with me… i does help a lot
love FB XXX
Everydaymatters
The first one can be bad cos they need to find out how you are affected to get the right drugs to help. Make sure you tell them what has happened cos there are lots of different anti-sickness remedies, thrush remedies etc etc and as FizBix said they may adjust the dose. You don’t have to suffer in silence there’s lots of different options.
AJxxx
Sadly mine did get gradually worse even with sickness drugs being tweaked. For me it was the side affects such as tiedness, sore mouth and heartburn that increased while length of feeling sick decreased a bit. But, everyone is different. Take care of you, it is a rough regime on the body, and you must’nt be too hard on yourself.
Good luck
Irene