It’s now 9 weeks since my last chemo (3 Fec/3 Tax). The tingling in my fingers is still pretty awful, & my toes and part of my feet are still quite numb. All of my fingernails fell off a few weeks ago (having first grown long & turned white). I am left with tiny, ugly nails on each finger, none of which reach the ends of my fingers. Coupled with the tingling, the discomfort of this affects anything I do. Can anyone tell me when the nails are likely to start growing ? They’re showing no signs of it so far. Also, when are my fingers & toes likely to return to normal ?
My toes are still a bit numb and I’m 5yrs over chemo(4xfec,4xtax). To be honest it doesnt bother me anymore but it did take a few years before I could get back into heels again as initally they were painfull as well as numb! I didn’t have a problem with my fingernails so I can’t help you there but I’m sure someone who did will come along soon and answer your queries.
Josie xx
Hi,
My fingernails were awful and two of my toenails came off. Six months after chemo finished my fingernails are looking good and my two toenails are over halfway grown back. However, due to start chemo again soon, but I least i know what to expect. I would recommend using a good quality hand cream and if your toenails and feet are sore then rub some cream on them before you put socks on and this will help soften them.
Take care
Snoogle
x
My fingers took about six months to stop the tingling - I still sometimes get it a tiny bit, but that may also be due to a lot of computer work. My fingernails went white and loose, so I bound them with micropore so I wouldn’t lose them - that did the trick, and the whiteness grew out quite quickly. You can still clearly see the ridge of chemo damage across the nails, and are very flaky as that part is now growing out at the ends, but judicious weilding of the emory board helps a lot.
I did lose a couple of toe-nails, but surprisingly it wasn’t painful so long as I didn’t try to pull them off. My toes still feel weird - I keep thinking I’ve got crumpled paper stuck beneath my toes! Which as we have had the decorators in the past few weeks, with dried-out clumps of old wallpaper all over the floor, resulted in me almost obsessively checking my feet!
I still have slight numbness in finger ends and toes 3 years post chemo.It doesnt really bother me now.I only lost one big toe nail-the others were ridged and thickened a bit but all stayed on.I kept them all painted with very dark polish from day one of chemo which may have helped.
Good Luck
Valxx
Hi Guys
I’ve had 2x Tax so far, 2 more to go and am paranoid about losing nails! That said, I don’t have the patience to keep them painted the whole time, so I have just been obsessively using a good quality hand cream several times a day and so far my finger nails are growing really nicely.
When did you first start seeing signs of damage to nails? I’m wondering whether I will be OK or if it is still too early to say.
I haven’t had numbness yet either, but my fingertips are much more sensitive to knocks and bangs at the moment.
Sorry for hijacking the post…
Flora xxx
Hi Flora,
Hijack away!
Just thought I’d mention that I was advised not to use nail varnish during chemo. I did at the beginning and it was agony when I was using the nail varnish remover to take it off for a repaint. Needless to say I avoided it since. A good hand cream is a good idea.
I noticed changes quite early on, but we all react differently to the different drugs.
Snoogle
x
It was chemo unit that told me to use it and on no account remove it till after chemo so I just topped up and used those pads to clean edges-The thing is it worked-no soreness,lost no finger nails and only one toe.Strange how much advice varies.I sucked ice while chem was administered and had no mouth ulcers or oral thrush either.
Vxx
my oncologist recomended acrylic nails if my nails should fall off, which does seem to be happening.
has anyone used acrylics
Everyone gets different side effects and different severities (is that the right word) from my experience. As far as nails are concerned, i was told to use dark nail varnish through chemo which I did, had no problems with the remover. I finished chemo early Dec and thought recently that I could stop the varnish but noticed that the white tops of my thumb nails were going down a bit so am continuing with the varnish. Otherwise my nails have stayed long and strong throughout. I believe that the chemo stays in our bodies for months after treatment finishes. For the last few weeks I have had really bad joint pains, didn’t get them during chemo, only after it finished. It’s pretty bad, keeps me awake at night and getting up in the morning, I’m like an old woman. Am on strong painkillers, also taking fish oil and glucosamine capsules. Hoping it wears off in time, apparently it can take up to a year to clear the chemo out. Is there no end to it!!
Dae x
Hi Dae
Were you advised by the onco to use Glucosamine - as when I asked if It was advantageous - he shook his head. Did you find it helped with regard to suppleness etc, Am trying to take the cod liver oil tablets daily. Also using hand cream as often as possible. Was advised to use a special nail ‘varnish’ to protect toe and finger nails and have to paint on nails and cuticles twice a day- so far so good! The literature with this stuff (it cost £20 so hope it works!) said not to use normal nail varnish remover, but it does wash/rub off easily. Do find my nails are soft and break off easily, so keep really short. Only just had No 2 tax yesterday though, so maybe early days. No tingling in fingers and toes yet either.
Thanks
Hi Dae,
What is the special nail varnish you are using?
sue
Hi Sue, I think you meant to ask Mammie what the special varnish was. I just used Rimmel Nail Rescue (clear) then as a dark a varnish as possible, 2 coats. I didn’t actually use black although one of my friends gave me a bottle! Got dark purple on at the moment.
Re Glucosamine, I started taking it because my husband had taken it before he had a knee op, maybe the fact he had to have the op means it doesn’t work!! ha ha. My GP says it’s only effective if you take 1500mg per day (the ones I bought are 100mg per tablet!) and you don’t get results for 9 months - bit like having a baby?? Good luck with the Tax Mammie, hows it going? I had 6 of them, finished in December followed by 15 x radiotherapy. Relief that treatment all finished (not having hormone therapy, won’t help me) but you feel in a bit of a limbo when it’s finished - what next???
Dae x
Hello to Sue and Dae
The nail varnish I use I bought in France at the Pharmacy, here are the details and hope you can get hold of it, but it is expensive.
EVONAIL made in the EVAUX Laboratories. evolife.fr
Am just getting the SEs now from Monday, feel a bit rough so just as well it is disgusting weather outside.
May try the glucosamine as I have it in the drawer.
I have 3 in all Tax, so one more to go. Middle of next month and then start 6 weeks of radio in April, mmmm looking forward to that as I have a 60/70 minute drive to the hospital each way, so effectively half a day gone each time. I have no hormone therapy either and can understand the limbo feeling. At present there are deadlines and dates to meet. With the Tax am getting aching limbs especially shoulders, taste buds awry: see what this time brings with it. Good luck to you Dae - what ‘afterchecks’ do you have? They drip feed the information here. Love Pat xx
Hi Flora
Didn’t see any damage to nails till after 3rd (last) Tax. Up till then I stupidly thought they were doing well, longer than they’d been for a long time. Then they started to go white, & about then I had appt with onc. When she saw them she said ‘some people actually lose the nails’. Still didn’t think I was going to be one of them though. The nails from my big toes went first, then the fingernails went within a week or so. No-one ever recommended nail polish to me, or I would have tried it, though I think Superglue might have been more effective !
Also, although I was told that my fingernails might go a bit tingly with the Tax, numb feet weren’t mentioned at all. Fingers did go tingly after 2nd Tax, but passed in a few days. So it seems it has been the last Tax that has done this to me, & I feel really cheated.
Sorry, I bet none of this is what you want to hear. But we are all different, so cross your fingers (while you can), that none of these things happen to you.
Hi
p.s. re the nail issue, I painted my toe nails dark too and they have also survived!
Re after checks, just before I finished chemo I saw the onc doc (consultant) who explained all about radiotherapy and possible side effects! Also discussed the chemo after effects. before rads, you will get “measured” and tattooed because it has to be precise. During rads I saw the onc doc twice to check how it was going. Then I see the onc doc again about 6 weeks after rads finishes, and I believe I see the breast surgeon a year after surgery which for me is June, plus a mammogram, then annual mammograms. Don’t know any more than that. If you have any concerns at all either during or after treatment, don’t keep them to yourself, phone the onc nurse or breast nurse, thats what they’re there for. You will be bound to worry about things, I do, and need reassurance or advice.
re chemo side effects, you will find they vary each time, some get worse, others disappear - no rhymne nor reason to it! If you feel unwell at all, always take your temperature and if it goes above 38 get in touch with the hospital straight away, thats really important!
Dae x
Hi Dae
Thanks for the onward course.
An feeling very achy just now, legs like tree trunks. But I guess it will pass quickly too. Nails okay so far.
Keep well and again thanks Pat XXX
Almost 1 month since I started this discussion, & I can now feel the nail on the little finger of my right hand when I touch my skin with the tip of that finger. It still doesn’t look as if it’s as long as the end of the finger, but I can definitely feel it. So if that one’s growing, I’m encouraged to think the rest will follow.
The numbness in my feet continues, & I now feel it also in right ankle area & back Of left calf. Saw onc on Tues, she says my neuropathy is severe, & while she hopes it will get better, she has warned me that it doesn’t always return completely to normal. The repair is a very slow process she says, as these nerve endings only grow about 1mm per month.
I am taking Vitamin B complex, 1 a day, it appears that might help, but won’t do any harm, if it doesn’t do any good.
Hi - Hadmy last Tax on Monday - apart from having ‘heavy’ legs so far so good. Hope I may have got away with keeping my nails.
Get ‘measured up’ for the radio on Tuesday in preparation for 6 weeks starting in April. But thank goodness the weather has turned warm and fine - can at last go out and potter around!
Hope the hair grows soon. Be interesting to see what happens to it.
Good luck to all those still with the chemo. I am so relieved not to be having any more now, at the beginning it felt I would never get to this stage. But hold in there! Good luck to all. Pat XXX
I had my last FEC on 12th March. My nails have been fine throughout but a couple of days ago I started to bleed from under the nail on my forfinger. Now it feels like my nails have been bent backwards, they are so sore. I hope this does not mean I’m going to loose them…