Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hi Battle-on, So sorry to hear your news. I’m feeling better today and just want to get to my hospital appointment and get this horrible blister sorted out (it has got bigger!).  My partner is taking me as will have to use a wheelchair from main entrance to where the therapy unit is, as too far for some to walk with a badly blistered foot! I would love to have your recipe if that’s OK with you.  I actually find my MacMillan nurse pretty useless I am sorry to say.  She is lovely but not too good at finding out things for you i.e. counselling local to me, using the hospital’s hydrotherapy pool for exercises (never got back to me on that).  I will soldier on, as we all do, and wish you all the very best. xx ... View more

Hi lucy53, turns out the the tablets the Acute Oncology Nurse gave me we’re not painkillers but were for Vitamin B6 deficiency. Not sure how these are meant to help. I know she said to contact my GP for painkillers, but when I phoned them yesterday there was no answer, also I know I can’t get there because I can’t really walk. Today I don’t even have the strength to get dressed, and that is very unusual for me.  I don’t think I can even get to my hospital appointment tomorrow so will have to call them to find out what to do. It’s all a bit of a mess and I’m seriously considering stopping the treatment and changing it to something else as I can’t be doing with having mobility issues like this, it’s affecting my quality of life just a bit too much. ... View more

Hi Battle-on Just joined today and saw your post.  I have been taking Capecitabine for the last 6 months and have tolerated it well up until now.  It has reduced my liver mets and my bone mets are stable.  Hand and foot syndrome seems to be the major side effect and I have only started to suffer with this in the last week.  I had been moisturising hands and feet regularly but think the moisturiser I was using was not really strong enough to help,   now I’m in pain and suffering a bit!!  I’ve only just found out the cream I should have been using (Udder cream, you can buy on Amazon) and am now taking Ibuprofen for the pain/swelling.  This is the only side effect which has reduced me to tears out of all the treatments I’ve had as it is affecting my mobility and I had been using a treadmill to start to get exercise due to shielding due to COVID since last March.  I think this aggravated the side effect, so feel I’m caught in a vicious circle as trying to lose some weight by exercising but the foot problem is now stopping me! I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2013.  Chemotherapy started in January 2014, had lumpectomy in June 2014, radiotherapy in August 2014.  Was on Tamoxifen/Exemestane for 5 years, then Abemaciclib and Fulvestrant injections for bone mets for just over a year, now on Capecitabine. I was in despair this morning so rang my Acute Oncology Nurse who is arranging for some stronger painkillers (a name I have never heard of so obviously prescription only) that I can take and as I am due to go back to the hospital this Friday for a pre-treatment appointment she is requesting that the Nurse takes a look at my foot as a sore/blister is developing and that’s what’s causing all the pain and discomfort.  I’m sure it will all be sorted out but just letting you know what could happen if your moisturising regime is not up to scratch!!  I am a bit annoyed that I wasn’t told at the start the names of any specific moisturiser that I should be using (so just assumed that anything would do) and that Ibuprofen could also help.   Hope this helps!! xx   ... View more

Hi all I think I’m on about cycle 6 of Capecitabine and have tolerated it pretty well until now.  My Oncologist has said that from my last CT scan liver mets have reduced and bone mets are stable.  Trouble is I am now suffering badly with hand and foot syndrome, more so feet than hands.  At the moment I’m unable to put my right foot flat on the floor due to pain from a sore/blister which is developing.  My left foot is not too bad.  I am hobbling about on tiptoes in relation to right foot, but this is also starting to cause pain and sensitivity now on the ball of my foot!  I have only just discovered the Udder cream, as was just using normal moisturising creams before which obviously weren’t the right type for the specific effects of hand/ foot syndrome and glad to say that dryness/tightness of skin is improving. Also just started to take Ibuprofen for the swelling and pain,  but feel I have started this a bit too late. The pain and discomfort has reduced me to tears on a few occasions now, so this morning in desperation I called the Acute Oncology Nurse to get advice.  She has said she will arrange for me to pick up some pills for the pain (not sure of the name, but not something I’ve heard of before) which my partner is picking up for me later today.  I am also due to start my next cycle this Friday so have to get to the hospital (I would normally drive myself but not sure if right foot will be up to it, so hoping these tablets will just take the pain away before then) she has arranged that at that appointment a nurse takes a look at my foot too.  Currently taking 5000mg per day (i.e. 10 x 500mg tablets)  for 14 days and then 7 days off. Should I ask for a lower dose until my foot recovers, would that work? ... View more