Hi all. My nails have been getting looser for a while now (despite teh dark nail varnish) and I found my thumb nail in the bed this morning. There’s a thin nail underneath, so it’s not sore… any idea/experience of how to protect this vulnerable little bit of nail? This chemo IS poison isn’t it? Thanks… Jane
sorry i have no advise for you But i do have aquestion… what condition were your nails in b4 all this, I ask as my nais have always been very strong, and so far (4 weeks post chemo) all my nails are behaving, while i know of a lady who lost most of hers but she is a hairdresser and therefore spent a lot of her time with her nails in diff products and chemicals. Just wondered if this could be a factor in nails going.
If it’s not sore, what is there to protect? I’ve lost LOADS of toenails over the years (winter mountaineering) and apart from a plaster to stop the loose top tearing off too early, there is nothing to be done.
If it IS sore, then a plaster again.
my fingernails were in a state after EC; all flaking apart at the ends, breaking off at the tips, leaving my finger-ends sore, and going brown. So I ignored the “received wisdom” and didn’t paint them a dark colour for Tax, preferring to leave them al fresco so that I could nourish them with lots of cream every day.
You can now see (after 10 lots of Tax) the difference. The horizontal ridges from each EC are there amongst the dark colour. But since I have been creaming/oiling them, they are back to pink at the new growth and less ridgy and they don’t crack, snap, break or flake any more. I have to trim them every two weeks now.
Ah well… onc said I should wear nail varnish for a YEAR (assuming I kept the nails) because otherwise they would flake off. Varnish is to keep water out I think… What cream have you been using Ninja?
This one - free from parabens.
nivea.co.uk/products/body-care/pure-and-natural/pure-and-natural-hand-cream
I also, when moisturising any body part (I’m going dry all over with chemo), rub some of the cream into my nails at the end so they get creamed up several times a day.
I use rubber gloves for everything else.
I’ve always found that regular use of nail varnish makes my nails dry out and flake anyway!
WOrking in a hospital, on wards, I wash/gel my hands 20 times a day or more. Use lashings of hand cream normally because of that. Not seen the one you put a link on for - will have a look. What are parebens anyway? I’m usually lazy about rubber gloves, but I’ve been using them recently!
Parabens are things we are supposed to avoid like the plague now. That’s why I now use Ecover* to wash clothes our with, so there are no traces of parabens in the fibres that touch me etc etc.
*edit: very strongly advised this by the Haven
I didn’t lose any nails completely with Tax. I’m a bit like Ninja that I have a past history of lost nails due to sport injuries, though unlike her I don’t climb mountains, and would concur about ‘cover it up with a plaster’ method.
My Tax-ed nails split a lot, and as they grew through the layers peeled off to leave a thinner layer underneath. This grew through and now my nails are fine, apart from my two big toe nails which still have beau’s lines about 1/4 inch below the top and the last of the dead stuff is peeling away.
Interestingly, because of the order I did my chemo and surgery, I abandoned nail varnish four weeks after the end of Tax so they could use those peg thingies on my fingers during surgery, and never wnet back to it. Sounds like I am just very lucky. Nine months on and near normal nails.
PS Ninja - you look even more mysterious with your new avatar!
Cat - it’s supposed to be a close-up of my owl chick tuft on my bonce but the avatars on here are very small. I think you can see the vitiligo patches though - the ones that I was unaware of, prior to losing the hair.
Hi Ladies, I have also decided to go commando with the nails, thinking the varnish would likely dry them out further. I did get worried about being in the sun with them (UV rays bad for skin & nails & reason for other ladies painting them dark it seems). I’d read this on a thread I can no longer find and a debate about some people losing nails and others not. Seems like the chemo affects people in different ways as some kept nails which were painted and others lost them, the same with those who didn’t paint.
I got some almond oil from boots for around £1.20 and rub that into them, I remember from the one time I went for a manicure, they rubbed almond oil into them. Hoping this will keep them through the ~Tax then onto the 3 FEC afterwards. I wear rubber gloves for any wet stuff and lather on body shop body butter all the time - it is very thick and really sinks in. Hope this helps. Bella