Hi
I just finished the ‘Red Devil’ treatment for 2 months, every 2 weeks. This week I will start the weekly taxol. The side effects have been really rough these last couple of months and I am hoping this weekly stuff will be better as I am told.
I bought’ice mitts’ because someone told me it will help with the neuropathy it could cause.
Wondering what others have experienced.
Thanks
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Hi snogirl,
I am sorry to hear you have had a rough time with the “Red Devil”. I hope weekly taxol will be kinder.
I am 11 days on from the end of 12 weeks of weekly paclitaxol. I was so scared at the start and was dreading it! It turned out to nothing like as bad as I had feared.
I would feel exhausted after I got home from the infusion (via IV, not a port). I was told this was due to the big dose of anti-histamine. I would just go straight to bed for a couple of hours of blissful deep sleep. I was also given an IV steroid for nausea and didn’t suffer any at all.
The day after treatment, I would wake up with a very flushed face and sometimes a slightly elevated temperature, both would subside as the day wore on. These both became less evident as treatment progressed. I generally felt a bit under the weather on day 2, but only for a few hours, some weeks were worse than others, not sure why.
I was careful about eating as healthily as I could, I gave up alcohol, tried to stay active and to keep a positive mindset. I also avoided crowded places.
In the last few weeks, I had small nose bleeds, a little bit of neuropathy in my toes, odd aches here and there and my taste buds went walk about.
I did use cold cap and was very lucky to keep all of my hair. Elsewhere, much of my hair is missing and my eyebrows and lashes are slowly disappearing. I didn’t use ice mittens or gloves, but did wear surgical compression stockings on my legs on treatment day.
I hope this helps, I think I was pretty lucky and I know we’re all different, you have already been through a lot, but hopefully taxol will feel a lot less severe.
Please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to ask.
Wishing you all the very best x
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