I have just had my 3rd FEC and going through the fatigue, sore mouth, nausea etc. I will have my 1st Tax on wed 28th and I am terrified. Heard so much from the forum that it’ll hit you more than FEC… plaese can someone tell me that it is not that bad for them… any good or not so bad experience.
Each time I was on FEC , I was hospitalised, once for 8 days and 2nd time for 3 days … i hope this time after 3rd FEC with daily injection for 7 days, it will keep me out of hospital.
Apart from low white cells, I have a low hemoglobin. Is blood tranfusion on the cards. Any one had blood tranfusion, how does it feel. Terrified!
Terrified. Terrified. I am very tearful . Help please.
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I really feel for you Sarig. I had a bad time with FEC too. Have been terrified all the way through and continue to do so, one more chemo to go. I’m having 4 taxotrere as the FEC was too strong for me. I am hating taxotere but I know the horrible aches etc will pass. It’s the going through it that is so hard. I can really really empthasise with you being so terrified. Normally I’m at my worst 5 - 8 days after the taxotere. The mouth thing is horrible but I’m finding ice pops and Difflam mouth wash bearable. I think that the GCSF injections give me flu like sypmtoms as well.
It’s so hard that we have to go through this. I’m feeling very tearful too and very down, if that’s any help? Probably not. I’ve not slept well for ages,
I start Taxotere after having 3 FECS this Thurs…with first dose of herceptin on Wed. They don’t want to give the first ones together in case there is a reaction they will know which one. I too am scared about the Tax… I take the injections to keep the white blood cell count up too. They give me aches in my bones for 2 nights after starting them so I am wondering how much more the Tax will give along with the other shots… yep I am nervous about this all. I have surgery to follow too so I am worried about that too. I will let you know how it works as mine will be started before yours. Of course, I am sure everyone reacts differently sometimes. Best wishes to you!
Hi
I hated FEC, had 3 of them. Just finished my 3x Tax. If found FEC worse, just because of the sickness and nausea. I ahve had no nausea whatsoever with Tax. Yes, there are other ‘features’ instead (yakky mouth, flu like symptoms and joint pain) but I found each thing lasts 1-2 days at most and the steroids hold them off for couple of days.
None of the chemo drugs are nice I guess - but I prefer the aches to the sickness anyday!
I really feel for you. I had 4 taxotere, last one was 14 September. I found the experience really horrible and would not wish it on anyone. However, having said that, I survived it and you will too. Just keep focused on the fact that it is the best treatment available and it gives us all the best possible chance to beat this horrible disease.
A couple of tips that may help you:
I found a combination of diclofenac & cocodamol worked for the joint & muscle pains. Paracetamol & ibuprofen on their own did nothing (despite what the nurses at the chemo suite said). Diclofenac is a prescription only drug - I happened to have some left over from a previous episode of back trouble. You could try ibuprofen & paracetamol (maximum dosage of both).
For the horrible mouth, fresh pineapple is nice to eat, and for drinks you can try lime cordial, ginger ale & coke (I don’t like fizzy drinks so I left them to go flat).
As for the nail problems - I found my nails continued to get worse after I had finished, but now, two months on, they are much better. They look horrible, all discoloured, but they no longer hurt. Unfortunately the numbness in my feet is still getting worse. I saw my onc last week at radiotherapy and asked him when it would stop getting worse - all he could say was ‘sooner rather than later’ which really wasn’t much help.
Best wishes to all on taxotere, just keep on going and you will get through it.
xx
Just one thing, I was told not to use paracetamol as it can disguise a temperature, and to stick to Neurofen or something of a similar make up, is it cocodamol?
Sorry if this confuses folk, we are all told different things which is a little alarming!
Thank you so much everyone for your encouragement. I am preparing myself for the worst since I had it bad with FEC.
RoadRunner, I will ask the onc for diclofenac & cocodamol. As for the nail problems, does it hurt, if so what can I take? I read that one might lose nails too, that surely hurts - i want to take something to avoid this. My nails have black marks with FEC, dread to think what will happen with Tax. I don’t mind it being blank as long as the nails do not fall off.
Bestie, how do you cope with the joint pain? Was paracetamol enough?
LeeUK - I wish you plenty of good luck for your 1st Tax - keep us updated.
Namibia, I am having trouble sleeping too. Normally I managed to dose off at around 7:00 pm but gets up around 3:00 am and then couldn’t sleep anymore. Does your doc prescribe sleeping tablets? I might ask for some.
I can’t compare taxotere with FEC because I’ve only ever had taxotere. I feel like Pollyanna when I say this, but I didn’t have a terrible time on taxotere and I even managed to go to work some of the time.
The worst bit was the aches and pains on about day 4. I can’t take most painkillers because of stomach trouble so apart from a couple of paracetamol I managed without painkillers. I found that what really helped was to keep as warm as possible. I was being treated this time last year and I had the heating on round the clock, I had extra blankets on the bed and a hot water bottle! My feet were the worst so I had these special slippers with wheatbags in them - you heat them in the microwave and they keep your feet lovely and warm. Long baths helped too. I treated myself to lots of Lush stuff to cheer myself up a bit.
The only other persistent side effect was diarrhoea. If you suffer from that, I recommend getting moist toilet wipes for sensitive skin. Baby wipes would also help but remember they can’t be flushed down the loo. It sounds ridiculous but using nappy rash cream helps! I used Sudocrem. Hope no-one minds me mentioning this sort of thing but I wish I’d known these tips before my bottom was all sore
Some people think taxotere is worse than FEC, some think it’s the other way round. I met one woman who worked every day on FEC and had no side effects apart from hairloss! I hope sarig is one of those who has it easier on taxotere.
On TAC - 3 out f five of us have white stripes across our nails - a stripe for each session! They haven’t dropped off but they are more brittle - best to keep them short.
I was told to avoid paracetamol too, because it disguised temperature change, but later i was told that if i took it, but felt unwell, to let them know i’d taken it if i needed to call them.
I took ibuprofen from day 2 onwards regardless - tried it as precautionary, but found it still hit me around day 4 - but the ibuprofen definitely helped. Re: Cecelia’s point above, I think that’s a good bit of advice if you feel unwell or have temperature as the paracetomal can artificially lower the temp and make you think you are not as unwell as you actually are! Although I only ever had a temp with FEC, with Tax I took prophylactic antibiotics from days 7-14.
The best thing about tax for me was that I didnt throw up
It gave me diarrohea so perhaps ask for tablets to stop this from your GP
I also got sleeping tablets from my GP as when the horrible aches and pains kicked in the only thing i could do was try and sleep through it
I took co codamol for the pain again avoiding paracetamol
Eating little and often helped - i never felt really hungry and never fancied a big meal
It is tough but it is doable so wishing you all the luck and support that i can
Jools
A couple to add to your list ! If you get oral thrush (inside of mouth completely coated with white) then Fungilin pastilles to suck clear it up pretty quickly (on prescription). Lime juice cordial is great for the yukky taste. Also I can’t see mentioned in the above posts to paint your nails with a dark colour. Apparently if you stop the light getting to them it may prevent discolouration and nail loss. I bought black nail varnish but it looked so awful that I stopped using it and instead used something else I saw recommended on this site : Rimmel Nail Rescue - very good.
But don’t assume that you’re going to have a bad time on Taxotere. I have heard it said that people who have a bad time on FEC are much better on Taxotere and vice versa. I was not too bad on FEC but had a bad time with Taxotere.
Good luck - hope it goes OK - let us know.
Anthi x
I found taxotere much easier (and FEC dreadful). I was pretty normal for the first two rounds and a bit tired by the fourth (it was a while back so they didn’t know so much about how much to use), but it was alot easier than FEC.
Hi
Anyone out there who found FEC and tax both ok ? I am fine on FEC , some symptoms but nothing major so I’m really hoping this doesn’t mean I will have a bad time on Tax.
tomorrow is my first Taxotere day…today had herceptin with no problems at all. I have to have the GSCF or whatever the initials are for white blood cell count and wonder if that is going to make my bones hurt even that much more… any ideas ???
take care all and I will let you know how it goes.
Hi LeeUK,
I too am starting Taxotere tomorrow and feel really nervous. I’m really surprised at myself because I only finished my last chemo in March of this year. Perhaps it’s the steroids?
I’ve been reading all the Taxotere threads today to see how people are coping and must admit I’m not looking forward to all the aches and pains because I have enough of those already!
I was OK on FEC (6 cycles) - the hardest part was losing my hair. I’ll just have to lose it again. *sob*
We’ll have to keep in touch and compare notes. Good luck for tomorrow! Gentle hugs to everyone on this site, lurkers included!
