Swollen fingers and ankles

Sometime around my 4th round of FEC my fingers and ankles began to swell. I have had to take my rings off and there is one pair of boots I can no longer wear. I had my last dose of chemo on Dec 19th and have now started Tamoxifen but there is no sign of this swelling decreasing.
Has anyone else experienced this and has any idea how long the swelling will take to reduce. I don’t feel right without my wedding ring.

Hi Valentine

Sorry to hear about this side effect for you. I didn’t have FEC so I am not sure how long it may last but wanted to offer some support as I went through awful fluid retention on Taxotere. My weight went up by 2 stone!

I finished tax in Oct and although fingers and feet are ok now, I still have fluid in my legs and have been having manual drainage for this which has helped.

So I think its normal for some people, and hope it is not too long before it starts to get better.

Good luck

P xx

Hi Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My sympathies re the fluid retention. I had it from 4th cycle of Taxotere and it did take a few months to start to disperse. If you think of how long it took to accumulate, then you can see why it won’t just vanish overnight. I hated not wearing my favourite rings. Perhaps you can wear your wedding ring on a chain in the meantime. Also, as peacock has suggested, try some draining massage - I had a lovely leg and foot massage with ice cubes which did help release the fluid (interesting sensation though!).

Hang on in there & good luck!
xxx