Hi
I finished my chemo treatment 2 weeks ago 3 FEC and 3 TAX and although I have had symptoms nothing quite like I’m feeling now as my finger nails are falling off, one is nearly ready to come off and is bleeding on the side where it is still attached, I have just spent the last hour crying, stupid or what! I’m not quite sure what I have to do to try and get through this latest trial. Any suggestions out there would be greatly appreciated from you brave women?
Millsie
Hi millsie
Your post takes me back - I had 4AC and 4 Tax and know exactly what you are going through. It does get better!! My GP advised soaking the bad fingers in salt water as often as I could and it did help.
So glad your chemo is finished - unfortunately the effects don’t go as quick as we want, but just be kind to yourself, you’ve been through one hell of a journey and truly, your nails will get better.
Cheers
Anne
Hi Millsie,
I had that problem.My two little fingernails came off the nail bed about halfway down.So did me two big toenails.The rest of my fingernaiIs have become flaky so I cut them really short.I would just say to persevere with them and try not to catch your nails on anything in case they come off.They will recover.
Alli x
Hi Millsie
Know just what you mean. I was so upset about my nails. To be honest I had been a lifelong nailbiter but had stopped it and they were fantastic. After three FEC and three TAX they hung on in there but gradually I lost them all - fingers and toes. Not painful, just disgusting, and you need the right size plasters all the time as you never know. Finished chemo in October 2007. Toenails are ok now but fingers still flaky. It will pass. Honestly. But it upset me a lot while going through it all. You are not being silly. It happens and it is horrid.
Good luck
Dilys
xxx
hi Millsie,
I’m going through the same stuff at the moment - some of the nails I’m just barely holding on to. What I’ve found helps is using that buffer thing beauticians have - you sand off the flaky bits and then smooth them and then buff them up. That has helped the healthier nails look well and meant there was less risk of me catching the scales on the “poorer” nails. I’m also off to the chiropodist next week to get him/her to sort out my toenails. I’m too nervous to cut them now in case the whole nail comes off!
All the best - it will pass
Sue xxx
Thanks everyone your comments and experiences are appreciated. My finger nails are hurting but, so far, (DilysP) my toe nails are okay. I will try the salt water Anne (but might try gin!). Do I have to keep the finger nails covered with plasters before they fall off or is there anything else I can do? Alli, I did try and keep my figner nails short as I heard this could happen with the TAX but never mind I’m sure once the nails, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes come back I will feel like a new woman and a better one for all that.
Millsie
I lost every nail while on tax. They just went yellow and lifted. It didn’t seem worth trying to hold on to them after that so I just peeled them off. They were pretty smelly underneath, so actually them coming off was probably good - there must have been all sorts of bacteria under there.
I finished my chemo at the start of June and I reckon they will be back to looking normal by Christmas. They aren’t painful or anything - just embarrassing. It looks as though I have a really bad nail biting habit.
I started to paint my toenails in and nobody even noticed that they were not really there. I rub solar oil into my cuticles every night to make sure they don’t get too dry. The new nails that are growing do, in fact, look quite strong and healthy - just really, really short.
Deirdre
I’ve found nail strengthener helps with the flakiness and any softening. Eight weeks after last Tax and still looks like I’ll lose a couple more. Have to say that opening ring-pulls can be a bit of a trial but it’s not so bad. The nails that have gone were the most ridged and discoloured, so I didn’t mind too much. Apart from the ring-pulls, that is!
L.
I wish wew were told about these things
I picked it up somewhere and have been using oil - but hey are tinner and I can cut them shorter each time.
glad to hear they grow back
I painted mine with dark polish from before first tax and never removed it till a couple of months after it finished.I lost my 2 big toe nails but although the rest ridged they stayed firm.I finished tax in May 2007 and all nails have been fine and healthy since early this year though I still have no eyebrows.
Thanks everyone its does help to chat to people who have already gone through all this. I have lost the first nail after being in the bath now just another nine to go. Are there any risks of infections when the nails do eventually come off?
No I don’t think so - infection that is. It is just disgusting and dispiriting, but it does get better, honestly. Hang on in there. As my surgeon used to say, it is cosmetic rather than life threatening. Sure he was right. But it was tough to go through.
Much love and good luck (and keep those plasters handy!)
Dilys
xxxx
I have one nail that is just hanging on, my last Tax was 20th Feb. How bizarre that it’s only one finger that is struggling to recover. Most of the others came away from the nail in varing degrees and my big toenails. My doctor said to leave off the plasters because he thought that I could get a fungal infection.
Horace - Yes my eyebrows are still hardly there, very fine and blond! Do they come back to their full strength does anyone know?
with love Pauline
My eyebrows shot back more or less over the last couple of weeks or so…from nothing to almost back to normal in a really short space of time.
Still getting used to it…and shhh…don’t frighten them, they’re just little… but eyelashes are thinking of making a comeback, yippee…
L x
For me eyebrows are a fond memory after 2 years I just have some stray hairs in not quite the right place on one side and none at all on the other.I do have eyelashes though quite short they are there.Rest of hair back to normal except armpits and I dont miss that!
Hi everyone
Thanks again. Only 3 finger nails left to come off - the others have gone without much pain but I do hope I keep my toenails. Glad to hear your eyebrows have come back Lanterna. How long since you finished chemo? Thanks Dilys and it’s right it is only cosmetic and eventually everything will grow back - maybe even better than before. I just need to be patient.
Lx
Re Nail problems on Taxotere:
Horace mentioned painting your nails with dark polish, and this is what my oncologist recommended too. I’m in the middle of my taxotere (2 done, 2 more to go), and had sore nails after the first one, but have kept them coated in hardening base coat, dark polish and top coat ever since, and (touch wood) they seem better this time round.
I know this advice was too late for you Millsie, but hope life is seeming better now - I think people underestimate the emotional impact of things like losing your nails - it is a big deal.
Best wishes
Just to say that I kept my nails painted with dark polish too, but they still came off.
They still don’t look good, but they are long enough for someone to have said to me the other day “Oh, you bite your nails quite badly, don’t you?”
I still don’t have any eyebrows and the eyelashes are pathetic.
Deirdre
Hi All
I finished chemo in October. My fingernails all turned yellow, but now just starting to fall off. They are starting to come off from the cuticle area, also raised and lumpy. I don’t want to pull them off. Any good suggestions to help them come away…please??
Kirsty xx
Hi Kirsty
I know Pauline said to avoid plasters, but I found the only way was to keep them covered until they came off easily on their own. Otherwise I would catch them, for example digging in a handbag, which was painful. And one once came off in a restaurant when it was uncovered which was extremely embarrassing! Sorry, no good suggestions to hurry the process except to keep them very short.
They do come back. I finished chemo in October 2007 and they are doing ok now though still flake when they get to a half way reasonable length.
Good luck with it
Love
Dilys
xxxxx