I’m on Epirubicin (arm 4 of the TACT2 trial) so have Epi every fortnight for four treatments then some tablets thereafter.
Anyway, I’m now 10 days after my second dosage of the Epi but still have a covering of hair on my head. It’s difficult to say how much has come out as I got my husband to shave it to a no.1 rather than watch it come out. Some has been coming out since about a week after the first treatment but I’m surprised it hasn’t all gone by now. I don’t know if it makes any difference but I have very dark brown hair, a bit fine and flyaway.
Can anyone else on the Epi tell me when they lost it all and how long it took? I was under the impression that it would happen quite quickly but that doesn’t seem to be the case for me. It won’t be much consolation if it doesn’t now all fall out as it’s been all cut off anyway, having spent nearly a year trying to grow it into a shoulder length bob!
I tried the coldcap, but found on one occassion that it all got just too much so didn’t wear it. My hair loss started about 3 weeks after that treatment. Once it started to fall out I did the same thing and had my head shaved/clipped nos 1 all over. Once I had that done I felt strangely liberated from worrying about it all the time. I used to sit in front of the tv gathering bundles of it up. My hair was thick and dark also shoulder length and it had taken me ages to get to that length. I had my last chemo on 19th June and pleased to report that I had my first hair cut last week.
I always saw the funny side of hair loss, the looks you can get are humerous especially the little kids in the supermarker queue and the chaps at work are now as green as hell because once more I have more hair than them:)
I’m also on the TACT2 trial and thankfully nearing the end of the treatment (start my last cycle of Xeloda on Wed…yeeha!) Anyway, my hair started coming out after the 2nd lot of Epirubicin… and I was getting really down about it, so had it all shaved off… I guess it was ten days or so after the 2nd dose. At one point it did start coming in again around the back of my head, but not on top!! I had visions of me looking like a monk! That hair then fell out, leaving me baldy again… Once I started on the capecetabine (Xeloda) it started growing in and it’s now about 3mm long, or thereabouts… I reckon it will be a couple of months before I brave going out without my wig… and anyway, it’s too damned cold without hair on your head
And something for you to look forward too… the Xeloda is MUCH better than the Epi… less side-effects, apart from the rattling of course! Ten tablets a day…
Good luck with it all…
Is Xeloda the same as Capacita-something-or-other? I’ve not been too bad on the Epi - mostly just very tired especially the first four or five days after. That’s not really a problem except practically with a 4 yr old and 7 yr old to look after so not that easy to keep sleeping during the day! No sickness just a bit off for my food for the first two days but nothing major at all.
How long was it from hair starting to come out to having none left at all? I’m beginning to feel like a medical freak as I keep reading that hair loss is total and I worry why mine hasn’t all come out yet, it’s a bit patchy/thin now but still all over my head.
I am on Tac2 trial and when i had the epi every fortnight. My hair started falling out after 3 weeks. once it started it only took about 5 days then i had to shave it all off. I am having the 2nd part of the chemo now the cmf and my hair has just started to grow back, i have a complete covering of fuzz and i reckon in a fortnight i will have a passable crew cut look! it does seem to be growing very quickly which is a good thing. I am just completing 2nd cycle of the cmf today.
Hiya,
I am on Epi weekly, my hair started to fall out at week 4 so went for the No1 look. No more has fallen out and have a bit of a fuzz all over. I think I have 3 weeks left so hoping I can keep this bit of fuzz now.
good luck
Allie
Nicola… I meet someone at the hospital when going to get the Xeloda tablets… she’s on the exact same regime as me, in the TACT2 trial, at the exact same stage and she hasn’t lost her hair… yes, it’s thinned, but looks great… we’re both just about to start the 4th and last cycle of Xeloda…so you may be lucky, as that goes to show that not everyone loses all their hair. And she NEVER threw up… boy, am I jealous!
