I have just finished 3 rounds of FEC and used the cold cap and whilst my hair is now extremely thin it is still here, gonig to be going onto 3 Taxotere (scary!!!) stsarting on 9th October and would like to continue with the cold cap, anyone else used this on TAX and if so how effective was it???
Thanks for any advice etc
Yes, used it, waste of time.
4 FEC and 4 TAX, hair dropping out before 2nd FEC and continued until 3rd TAX and then green shoots appeared. I should have abandoned it but continued in order to make the point that mostly it just doesn’t work that well, if at all.
I used cold cap on full course of tax - 8! and kept full head of hair. 2 years before that I had ECF (not quite the same as FEC but both have the culprit for hair loss of epirubin and on that my hair thinned.
dawnhc
Just to add my 2 pence worth… I kept my hair on FEC with thinning like you mentioned. On Tax (3 cycles) everything went, eyebrows, eyelashes the lot!. I gave up with the cold cap after the 1st Tax as the hairloss became evident and it had become so painful as my hair was just so thin. One advantage of Tax though over FEC = NO NAUSEA!!! such a relief…
Good Luck
I have had 4 AC & had one Taxotere (3 to follow). Used cold cap and hair thinned after day 12 on AC (had hair cut short into bob after that).So hair thin but still no need for hats or wigs. Have used cold cap all the way through and washed hair daily and no further hair loss at the moment. Lost underarm hair, leg hair , hair down below, eyebrows a bit thin on AC but now on Taxotere my hair is growing on head, legs, underarms, and down below! Will still use cold cap just in case as it’s not all over yet!
Good luck…
Hi, i used the cold cap for 4 Ac and my hair thinned a lot but was still there! It remained stable whilst on Taxotere, though my eyebrows and lashes became very sparse.
Good luck with the rest of your treatment.
Can I please ask a question on this thread?
Can I ask what type of hair people find the most success rates when using the cold cap.
ie: those of you who had good results, do you have thick hair / short hair / dark or light hair?
Just wondering if there is some kind of pattern for success with using the cold cap. Mainly because I am due to start chemo on 16th Oct and am naturally crapping myself. I am starting with 3 x FEC and 3 x Taxotere. I am putting all negative thoughts to the back of my mind and steaming in…i had two days of tears and nightmare scenarios last week and it took its’ toll on me, so I am now going down the ‘lets just get on with it’ route!
Thanks in advance for your replies x
Hi
my hair’s naturally fine but there’s lots of it, although I had it cut short prior to treatment. I’ve now had 2 out of 6 tax and been using the cold cap. I hate it with a passion as it’s so uncomfortable and I have it on for about 4 hours in total. However, so far it appears to be working in that my head hair remains firmly attached (I can’t say the same for hair down below). And 4 hours of discomfort every 3 weeks has to be worth it if you get to keep your hair. For anyone thinking of trying it, I would say give it a shot. You can always stop if your hair starts thinning/falling out.
Alison
Thanks Alison. I have the same type of hair as you - my hairdresser always jokes that if I lost half my hair I’d have more left than most (god, I hope she’s right)
I was told I would need cold cap on 15 mins prior and 45 mins after so I agree, it’s a small price to pay if it helps.
Hi
My hair was very fine before chemo and had been coloured blonde for years and years always was glossy, but I am a healthy eater the majority of the time.
It was shoulder length and then after the first AC it started shedding so I then had it cut to just below my ears and then cut later into a short crop. Stopped colouring it once chemo started (can’t wait to get it re-done though). No further shedding on TAxotere, and as I said dearlier it’s actually sprouting a bit now.
I wash my hair everyday with a shampoo made by Indola (from a beauty suppliers) and use their conditioner and repair treatment. I swim in a chlorine pool and found that if I used a rubber swimhat it pulled my hair out so I just used a lycra swim hat - it got wet but stopped it falling out in the water whilst it was in the shedding stage.
Good luck with your treatment.
Used the cold cap for all my treatments 4 AC & now 3 TAXOTERE - makes it a long and sometimes uncomfortable day but for me it has been worth it so far.
When my hair first started shedding I was extremely upset and thought I’d wait and see how bad it got before having it shaved…so glad I didn’t go down that route now.