Hi I wonder if anyone can help, I finished Chemo 26/8/2010 3 x Fec and 3 X taxotere, whilst I managed to recover quite well after each chemo I now find myself 2 weeks after the last one with a new unwelcome side effect.
Before Chemo like most of you I was fit and active, however at the moment I am not even able to walk easily up stairs or around the supermarket (I only started to feel like this after the last chemo)I am only 41 and this is really getting me down, if I add this to the contantly dripping eyes then I seem to be feeling worse than ever.
Do any of you feel like this and any idea when I can expect to feel better? I even needed a wheelchair when I went for my Rads planning as I could not walk to the dept.
I am so looking forward to putting this behind me and really expected to start to feel well by now, tast has not come back yet either although I didn’t really expect it would so quickly.
(all I ever do at the moment is moan and I am fed up of it)
I remember feeling just like you. I felt so much worse after last Tax than at any other time. I am now 8 weeks post my last Tax and I have just started to feel better. Hang on in there and hopefully you will turn a corner soon.
Hi Molsid,
My onc said 2 months !! My last one was the 1st Sept, and I am still having difficulty getting up the stairs. Don’t forget there is a accumulative effect and that they give it to us each 3 weeks so our bodies can recuperate a bit.
Hang in there, the worst is over
Maria x
Hi Molsid, I am 5 weeks post chemo, like you fec-t, i had a terrible time through chemo, being admitted to hospital after 5 out of 6 treatments, with neutrapenic sepsis, and allergic reactions to taxotere. Then an infected hickman line.
So i thought finishing treatment would mean i would start to feel better. I feel much worse most days. The hot flushes are just about driving me mental, day and night.
The muscle and joint pain have me feeling like a woman of 80, not 41.
I can hardly not put one foot in front of another, going up the stairs in nearly impossible, and when i get out of bed in a morning, i am bent double, and it takes abit to straighten up.
I am going to my gp on tuesday to see if there is any thing i can do to help wjth the pain.
My surgeon mentioned last week that there is a trial for fatigue, using acupuncture, so iam going to ask about this.
I am abit less worried now having read the other posts, because my mind was working overtime, thinking that there was something a bit more sinister wrong with me.
Hi Ladies, thank you very much for you replies, I was beginning to worry as whilst I had read about almost every aspect I had not come across this, guess I need to be patient.
Thanks again you have reassured me, heres to an energetic christms
Hi Molsid,
Reading your thread for a minute I thought it had been written by me I also had my last FEC-T on 26/8/10 and like you always bounced back between chemo sessions however since my last one I have felt so much worse infact if I need another one this week I don’t think I would of been able to have it!
My legs feel like lead and even the most simple of tasks have me breathless and needing to sit down again! The house is a mess and the washing and ironing piles are up to the ceiling lol! My eyes water,my nose runs, my feet are swollen and now I have a tickly cough, don’t know if it’s anything to do with it but can’t help thinking it’s something worse! Every little ache and pain is a worry!
Let’s hope we start to feel better soon! When do you start your rads? I had my planning last week and there is nowhere to park near the radiotherapy unit so hope I’m feeling better by then or I don’t know what I’m going to do!
Hoping you are starting to feel better.
Luv Tigs xx
I had exactly the same side effects, which started after the second Tax, watery eyes, runny nose, leg and muscle aches and pains were really tough, like others, I found it so hard to climb the stairs and quite often had to crawl up on all fours! My legs felt like they belonged to someone else, so heavy and stiff. My finger and toenails were painful too, tingly numbness, could hardly do buttons up.
I had my last out of 4 Tax on 23 July, and have just had mx + reconstruction on 4 Sept with rads to follow in 6 weeks…but as I sit here today typing this, I can honestly say I haven’t felt as good as I do today for a long time!
As my last chemo was almost 8 weeks ago now, my only side effects that are still with me is the peripheral neuropathy in fingers and toes, but even that is either subsiding or im getting too used to it!My operation went really well and I’ve had virtually no pain or complications… so fingers crossed I dont suffer too much with the rads later on either.
So, there is light at the end of the tunnel, the side effects will disappear, I know its hard and gets you down but it DOES get better.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but… I finished chemo nearly two years ago and am only just getting back to my pre-chemo days. Yes I felt better after a few months but it’s only now that I realise it has taken the best part of 18 months to get back to ‘normal’.
You do feel better every month - more energy etc etc but it’s only when you look back you think ‘yes it’s taken 18 months’. Don’t underestimate the effect of chemo. It’s powerful stuff!
I’m feeling just the same, my last Tax on 23/8/2010 and I have no energy,legs like lead weights, eyes streaming, fingers & toes hurt, I’m also anaemic which hasn’t helped. I spoke to the nurse on Monday when I went for my Herceptin treatment,she told me that it’s quite normal to feel like this but it’s reassuring to hear that I’m not alone. Hang in there, I keep telling myself the worst is over, onwards and upwards now. Gill x
Sounds like it’s chemo related then…the extra weight I am carrying since chemo isn’t helping either (weight that I really couldn’t afford to put on being rather over weight to start with!).
My feet are starting to swell these past few days as well gawd knows why the swelling now and not during the first 2 weeks post chemo! It’s the breathlessness I get that worries me the most, the slightest thing and I’m gasping like a fish out of water! But it can only get better lol.
How are you finding the Herceptin Gilly? I have got to start Herceptin after my rads have finished and after reading a Herceptin thread on here has frightened the life out of me and am dreading it! Just don’t relish the fact that I’ll have to go back to the unit every 3 weeks for another year to have drugs pumped into me, added to the fact that I have got to have a portacath fitted cos my veins are shot! Just seems never ending at the moment, I haven’t felt so down as I do now, not even when I was diagnosed or had the Mx! I just want to be able to go out again and enjoy myself without struggling to just get out to the car!
Sorry about the rant!
Hope you are all starting to feel better!
Hugs Tigs xxx
Just thought I’d post a word of warning. I posted a few days ago on this thread as I am starting to feel so much better 8 weeks post last Tax. As a result I have been rushing round like normal (son going off to Uni today) and yesterday I completely flopped and realised I have overdone it.
Hi Tigs,
It’s a bit early to say how Herceptin is yet as I started it alongside the Tax so still suffering SEs from that.But it can’t be any worse than Tax I reckon, and the nurse was very reassuring about Herceptin.Like you I was dreading it as I thought I’d be feeling ill for the next year and there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel but I’m feeling more positive now.I just had my 4th round of Herceptin, I had a portacath fitted before treatment which has been brilliant, treatment has been very straightforward and I’ve been lucky enough to have no problems.Good luck and hang in there.I’ve managed to go for a couple of walks this week so I’m slowly getting some energy back and you will too
Gill x
I finished chemo in March this year and had terrible fatigue up untill the end of August. But I’m pleased to say that I’m starting to get some energy back now.
Hello everyone,
I must admit it’s a relief to see that I’m not the only one struggling at the end of chemo - 3 fec 3 tax. I finished 3 weeks ago but am still struggling to get up the stairs and am unable to go round the shops. I’m getting desperate to get out but just can’t cope with the walking. Am also still reall struggling with numb fingers and toes, it’s difficult finding socks and shoes which don’t hurt my feet.
In the morning I dread getting out of bed as I’m aching so much
What a state! I thought at the end of chemo the side effects would slowly subside and I’d start to feel more normal but …
Sorry to hear that you are all struggling with this. Lets hope it clears up soon. I’m so looking forward to being able to do housework again!!
Best wishes to you all,
Gill x
