Hi. I posted on this forum last year as diagnosed with IBC in Feb 2009. Having had six ops, including a mastectomy last summer, chemo and Radio-T in November/December last year, the cancer reappeared in January. I went straight back onto Chemo (combination of Docetaxol and Capecatibine) which seems to be working and, fortunately, it has not appeared anywhere else. I have now had 7 cycles and have been having problems with my nails/fingers. My nails on six fingers are very sore - does anyone have any tips to help with this? Tracey
Hi Tracey,
Sorry to hear you’re having such a hard time. You were diagnosed just before me last year. I’ve been fortunate to have no spread or recurrence following my treatment but I did have problems with my fingers while on Tax. My Oncologist prescribed Gabapentin as a painkiller.
My nails are still flaking off due to herceptin but I’m afraid I haven’t found a way of dealing with that. I just keep them very short and hope for the best.
I’m sure some of the others will be along soon with some tips.
take care, Jan xx
Tracey - so sorry to hear about your recurrance - was it near the site of the mastectomy? I also had nail problems and pains on tax but unfortuanatly don’t really have any tips i just found that eventually after chemo finished it all calmed down…
Theresa x
Hello Tracey
So sorry that you have had a recurrence, and that you are having problems with your nails.
I’m afraid to say that 2 years after almost finishing treatment with tax I still have one nail that looks like its going to come off, and I took all the advice of wearing dark nail polish, nail silicone polish etc. etc.
I did have a year of Herceptin also which may not have helped.
My only advice would be to wear dark polish ALL the time even after you’ve finished treatment although that won’t help with the soreness.
Good luck
P xx
Hi ladies
Thank you for your tips. I will try the dark polish once the chemo’s finished, but at the moment can’t face painting the nails. I am taking Pyridoxine (B6 supplement) which is supposed to help. It’s surprising how the little things get you down - I have coped with the chemo OK, but I am having trouble doing even every day tasks because my fingers/nail are so sore.
Theresa - When I had the mastectomy last year, I had a flap taken from my back to cover my front (I am only petite, so there was not enough tissue in the front to cover me up, after they’d removed the cancer!!) The recurrence is in the flap and surround. Fortunately, the recent MRI scan shows that the cancer is currently inactive - fingers crossed it stays that way.
Jan - glad to hear you’ve had no recurrence.
Look after yourselves - although I have not posted for a while, I do regularly check this forum. Thank you for your support.
Tracey x
Hi Tracey,
The dark nail polish will help if you are on chemotherapy, it is something to do with the sun penetrating the nail bed, it has an adverse reaction to the chemo, if you do it while your on chemo it could avoid them falling off completely. Why not take the opportunity to have a bit of a pamper, a hand massage and manicure at the same time, if you lived nearer i would do it for you, is there a family member you could ask.xx
Thank you Smallstar. Good idea about the hand massage and manicure -I will book up for this.