Last week I had my first FEC Treatment beside the horrendous sickness the first 4 days,the day after having to call out the on call doctor twice as the sickness was so bad and I did not seem to get any help from. The chemo ward at my local hospital as it was a sat the day after my chemo, I am now 8 days post chemo and I have just started with saw eyes and I have sore gums and ulcers in my mouth and also my eyes are stinging like mad. One of my main problems been that as well as the breast cancer I also have MS so I’m not sure what is side affects of the chemo or is MS related
I am also having moods swings and my poor fella says I am getting very snappy, as if we did not have enough to worry about
Any help would be great PLEASE
Hi Tatty and welcome to the BCC forums
In addition to the support and shared experiences you will soon have here our helpliners are on hand weekdays 9-5 and 10-2 on Saturdays, please feel free to call 0808 800 6000 for further support, information and a listening ear.
I am posting a link to the ‘Treatments’ section of the website where you will find lots more information and support ideas;
You may also find the following thread useful, it’s a long standing one called ‘Top tips for chemo’ and you can scroll through for lots of user experiences:
http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/community/forums/top-tips-help-get-you-through-chemotherapy
Take care
Lucy
Dear Tatty
i am sorry you have had a rough time. Everyone experiences differently the treatment. You should be on the up as you enter week2 and 3. For me first FEC was the worst but have managed better since.
Remember to tell your ONC about these side effects and they should change medication next time. I find gentle excersise important, if you can manage a bit. Borrowing husbands Man sized hankies essential.
Sending a virtual hug and wishing you well.
Hi Tatty,
My first FEC was definitely the worse. The sickness was bad but ONC changed my anti sickness meds. and I wasn’t sick again when I had the other 5. You do tend to feel rubbish for the week after but the next 2 weeks are usually fine. I also found gentle exercise helped. Sleep when you feel like it and be kind to yourself!
Mouthwash helped with the sore mouth - can’t remember the name but I got it from my G.P. I’m sure someone will reply with the name!
xx
Hi Tatty, so sorry to hear what a hard time you have had with your first FEC. I think that it is inevitable that the first chemo is the hardest as the Drs/Onc/ you don’t know how it will affect you - and we all react diffentrently. I had terrible stomache pains during FEC 1 and had to go back to hospital to have it checked out - it wasn’t anything v serious just the steroids irritating my stomache lining, I was given extra meds and never had the problem again.
I was advised by a friend to keep a diary; I wrote brief notes of how I felt each day, when any SEs occurred etc. Not in enormous detail but enough so that I knew what to expect in future cycles but also so that I could accurately tell the Onc what had happened. As others have said tell your BCN and Onc what is happening, my experience is that they will be able to help and want to. I also found the top tips (Link sent by Lucy) to be very useful - maybe it just helped me feel a little control during a time when the medical profession seemed to be running my life!
Take care.
Hi Tatty, like you had terrible sickness with FEC and was taken back into hospital with 4 hours after my first treatment as it was so uncontrollable. After the first time I had a syringe driver for the first 24 hours. It’s a small battery operated box which delivers continious anti sickness meds via syringe and a butterfly needle positioned under skin and because it delivers the drugs sub-cutaneously you can be sure that your getting enough anti sickness, for me every time I took a tablet I threw up! Have had 9 FEC and driver has made the whole thing much mOre bearable. I got the driver via the district nurses so may be worth setting up with your GP first? Best of luck
Hi Tatty,
You poor girl to have sickness with your first FEC. Did you have Emend? I was given it as I have a phobia of sickness and although I had some nausea (controlled by metoclopramide) I was okay.
I am not surprised you are snappy with all you have to cope with!
I also had mouth ulcers and a sore tongue as well as sore eyes starting about day 7 post chemo. I was given Episil for my mouth and bought hydromellose eyes drops from my local chemist
I hope you feel better soon. Do not be afraid of phoning about your side effects, they should be able to help you.
Take care
xx
Hi Tatty - sorry to hear your first FEC was so horrible. Mine was too. I couldn’t stop vomiting and was also rather let down by my GPs practice on that occasion (a locum, not my regular doctors who are really very good). I was eventually given an injection of Cyclizine by the district nurses which only took about 5 minutes to stop the nausea and vomiting (if only I’d been given it all those hours earlier when the hospital had said that was what I needed). The second time I was given another anti-sickness tablet called Emend (also called Aprepitant) but again I started vomiting and had to call out the district nurses for another injection of Cyclizine, again it stopped it straight away and I didn’t vomit again. The 3rd FEC they gave me Aprepitant but also Cyclizine tablets and that time I didn’t vomit or suffer with nausea.
I struggled with awful mouth ulcers too. I found Difflam really helped - it’s a painkilling mouthwash which the hospital gave me. They gave me another type of gel in sachets but I didn’t find that helped me at all. I did eventually get some Iglu from the chemist - it puts a coating over the top of the ulcer to stop things touching it which seems a good idea as things like mouthwash disappear quite quickly. But check with the hospital that that is okay for you to take.
As others have said, the first week or so are the worst and then it’s possible to have some quite good days before the next session. I found I struggled more as my blood count dropped but from my 4th onwards (taxotere, otherwise known as docetaxel) they also gave me a Neulasta injection to boost my blood cells - that helped a great deal.
Do tell your team about your side effects. I also bought some eye wash from the chemist but mention it to your team as they may have something suitable and you need to be careful what you take while on chemo.
Best wishes
X