Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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ever - you can develop neuropathy after you have finished chemo - it would be delayed onset neuropathy. Neuropathy is more commonly a numbness or tingling, but can also be expressed as pain. Talk to your onc about it, but I also am wondering how fast they are infusing your Herceptin? If it is 30 minutes, you might ask for a slowdown and see if it improves your hands. Have you started Tamoxifen yet? If so, that could also be the culprit - I had trigger finger problems with Femara.
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EverForward that sounds like a SE of one of the AIs but I see you are Tamoxifen. I wonder if it could be from the Tamoxifen.
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I'm still on TCHP and have what feels like sensitivity in my fingers, especially the tips. No numbness or tingling, but I'm aware of them. Not sure how else to describe it. I've mentioned it once to my onc but am going to mention it again. At the time he seemed to not care about it.
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CassieCat be sure to mention it again. Also mention (if it's the case) that it's worse than last time. If it gets really bad they will reduce your dose but right now it doesn't sound too bad.
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Thanks for the advice. It isn't any worse, at least. My fingernails, on the other hand, are getting worse.
That is bumming me out.0 -
Yeah the fingernail thing sucks. I had it pretty bad. Never fully recovered although most people wouldn't know.
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I remember waking up one morning feeling like my ring finger nails had been smashed with a hammer. The pain was gone after a few days but those fingers are the worst for the nails letting go. They are just barely holding on.0 -
I don't suppose there's anything I can do at this point? Would icing during infusion #6 be worth the trouble at this point? Or black nail polish that I read about on taxol threads?
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Everforward - sounds arthritic in nature to me. Especially b/c of soreness/stiffness in the morning, combined with popping (if it feels like it is coming from the joint), and then it loosening up and feeling better.
Tamoxifen typically doesn't cause joint pain but it can indeed. A good friend of mine just had to stop it due to severe joint pain - she could barely walk. The same thing had happenned to her when on AI's. She did better with Tamox for a while, but then it started up again.
I would discuss with your doc, don't let it progress.
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cassiecat I did the icing and the black nail polish. Didn't help.
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After about 2 months post TCH, my nails also started peeling, like they were made of veneer. I went back to using gel polish to keep me from picking at them. The ring finger nails are barely hanging on anyway.
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thank you both. Guess it's just a nasty taxotere SE.
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I have some mild neuropathy in my toes from chemo, which is more severe for about a week after the herceptin only. Also, after my Diep recon I had back & rib pain, which would be expected because you walk bent over for a few weeks after surgery.It seemed to be improving but it too flares up after herceptin. Might slower infusions help this?
I didn't lose any nails during chemo, but I did get horizontal ridges on every finger nail, one for each chemo, six in all. Its like rings on a tree, I can count each treatment. Its greadually growing out. Also, I now have 3 ingrown toenails. Podiatrist says chemo is the cause, it made my toenails curve.
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debiann - slowing your H only infusion can't hurt, and then you could tell if the H is exacerbating your discomfort. I did not have any leg and hip pain during chemo but I sure did from 30 min H infusion. Slowed it to 90 mins (what it was during infusion with chemo) and I had no more pain. The horizontal ridges are Mees' lines - symptomatic of poisoning - and yes, we were poisoned in a controlled fashion.
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I can't say my fingers were ever sore but my fingernails were very sore right before they all started lifting. They also turned very dark brown/reddish color. Sorry I can't help you much
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Thanks special k. I will ask for an increase in infusion time. My next treatment is Dec22, so I want to feel as good as I can afterward so I can enjoy the holidays.
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Is the T or C or the H in TCH hard on your joints? My knees and ankles are starting to bother me 3 months post last full TCH infusion.
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Taxotere caused me lots or aches. Herceptin still causes me a bit of back stiffness around infusion. And I'm on an AI too
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EverForward, it sounds like you have mild neuropathy. I have the exact same thing, except it's in also in my feet, and it's in addition to other neuropathy symptoms- it doesn't really go away during the day, and I also have tingling and numbness. I am having to take painkillers in the morning to be able to walk around, even.
I had a little bit of pain in the tips of my fingers after my 5th TCH treatment, so they cut back on the Taxotere for the 6th, but it got markedly worse over the course of a few weeks after that last infusion.
In my case, it's really irritating, (especially when I can't find things in my purse because my fingers *feel* normal at that moment but a lot of sensitivity is gone) but not debilitating. I'm back to hiking up to 4 miles at a timea few days a week with numb and tingly feet, with yoga on the days in between. I can't say as it's helped the neuropathy, but it makes just about everything else better
Something I've found to be helpful is keeping my hands warm at night- I wear a pair of fingerless gloves when I sleep. Actually, I wear them a almost all all the the time now
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Blownaway, I think it's both the T and the C
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oh! And I started gettin shellac manicures after my nails started peeling. So far it seems to be helping them hold together nicely. Plus it lasts a couple of weeks, which is a bonus :
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Hi girls, i will chime in. My last TC was 11/21 and I still have aches in some joints, at night. It seems to be only in my hips and right foot, oddly. I am doing herceptin and perjeta now only, no other problems so far. Taxotere is a gift that keeps on givin
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Thanks Bippy & JenKay - When I see my onco and complain about knee/ankle pain & wobbliness, I will know that others have the same s/e's and won't let him fob off my complaint.
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Well, to clarify, the neuropathy pain I mentioned is hands & feet, not knee and ankle. Neuropathy generally starts (and often remains) only in the extremities. Buuut now that you mention it, all of my joints have been achy since I was doing chemo. I thought for a while it was due to lack of activity, but now that I'm exercising and stretching again and everything is still so freaking creaky and stiff and sore there's no way it's from anything but leftover chemo effects or one of the drugs they're dumping into me. I'm just kind of used to it at this point, which is kind of sad :
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They will tell you it's not from chemo.
Seems funny that we all have it though.0 -
Nobody ever told me it's not from chemo. They DID tell me that there's really nothing to be done for the achy joints except to get as much exercise as possible, be healthy and treat my body well, and it will resolve eventually. There's not much the doctor can do about it unless the pain is so bad that you need pain meds. There's a couple of things that *might* help the neuropathy, but basically it's the same deal.
But that's kind of a GOOD thing. Once I realized I was stuck with it for the duration I quit waiting for it to get better and just went on with my life with the creaks and pain and numbness etc. as a part of it. I just have to be extra-careful not to trip over stuff and my hands don't like to do anything that requires really fine motor skills. Oh, and I gave up on Xmas cards because it hurts to write :
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I've just started my first course of chemo today (THC-P), so I know virtually nothing! (Took lots of notes from the managing nurse... am still trying to decipher my writing and go through all the pages of hand-outs she gave me!)
She mentioned that B-complex vitamins could help with neuropathy. Is that true? Or just maybe works with some people at some times?
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April, good luck to you as you move through this first round. For me, the not knowing what would happen as my body responded was tough. My 5th round became my easiest, and my 6th has been decent so far. My MO didn't say anything to me about B-vitamins, but he did want me to use Tylenol over Aleve or Advil for pain. But when there were times when Tylenol wouldn't touch the pain, he did say I could use Advil (which always works better for me for pain relief). I think it's just more taxing on the liver, if I understood correctly.
I kept a daily journal of what my side effects were, what meds I took and when, etc. so that I could try to adjust for those things for future cycles. It also made it easier at my appointments to tell them just exactly how good or bad I had been feeling, what meds I had taken, etc. I'm a planner by nature and it helped me to try and get a handle on any patterns that might emerge.
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April I have heard B-complex vitamins can help. My MO was against taking anything new so I didn't take them. I wish I had. I have a little left over numbness in my left heel.
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One of the issues with bone and joint pain is that it can be leftover from chemo and can dissipate, it can be from Herceptin, so hard to tell if you have finished chemo and are still on Herceptin, or it can come from hormonal therapy, which starts before Herceptin ends. Trying to determine cause is problematic because the treatment is layered. Some neuropathy expresses as pain also, not just tingling or numbness.
April - I took B6 during chemo, along with L-glutamine, for neuropathy prevention.
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