Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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one-L - I am no expert on the chemos but I do know (in layman terms) that Taxotere and Taxol are like sister drugs. With Taxol I believe you have a higher chance of neuropathy and joint pain. I know my oncologist suggested that I switch to Taxotere since my joint pain was so severe but I already knew about the potential of permanent hair loss so I decided to stick with the Taxol.
When you are doing TCH - I don't know if you have a choice of Taxotere or Taxol. I don't know if Taxol works with Carboplatin (spelling?) and Herceptin.
I just googled chemo drugs (sorry cut and paste doesn't work with my Mozilla) but the website www.tirgan.com has a list of all of the chemo drugs and side effects.
I am in shock! Taxotere is listed as a sister drug of Taxol, however, hair loss is not shown as a side effect of Taxotere whereas it is with Taxol. Makes me wonder "why".
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I would willingly give up hair for ever in exchange for knowing that cancer was gone. It seems a small price to pay. However we never really know do we?
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Jancie -- Well, as one who is HER2+ I certainly hope Taxol works with Herceptin! That is what I was given: ACTH and the T was for Taxol. My doctor had said if my SEs from the Taxol were severe she would switch me to Taxotere, but they weren't. Presumably she chose Taxol over Taxotere because it is better in concert with the other drugs. As I understand it Adriamycin, Carboplatin, Taxol and Herceptin are the standard of chemo treatment for HER2+.... and more recently there have been treatments for HER2+ that involve JUST TCH (which I understand is Taxol, Carboplatin and Herceptin -- but perhaps it's Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin?) Anyway, that's my two cents
Lilah
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Hi everyone. Good to read the progress all are making with hair growth. I'm almost 8 months PFC and at this stage I do have fuzz all over my head and in some spots it does cover the scalp. But the crown is still very, very thin and there are bald spots all over the crown. While I can see there is growth, it is still slow going and I keep my head covered with a hat all the time (except when I'm home) It's very very short and thin and fine. I doubt that my hair will ever grow back fully but hopefully my scalp will be covered in time.
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jancie, did you lose your hair with Taxol? I certainly lost mine with Taxotere and Cytoxan. I was told from the beginning that I would lose my hair, I sat in the Onc office and cried like there was no tomorrow, not from the cancer, but knowing that I would lose my hair. Losing my hair has been the most traumatic part of all of this. I would do the chemo again, knowing that I would lose my hair, but I hope I never have to face it again.
hrf, did you have thin hair before you started tx? I don't know if that would make a difference or not, but I certainly hope you get all your hair back.
I had my DH take a picture of my bald head today, so I can document its growth.
Wishing everyone a full head of hair as soon as possible.
Juannelle
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I agree Juannelle -- losing the hair was the most traumatic. Though hearing the NEWS that I would lose it was the worst, second worst was losing it. Once it was gone though I just stopped caring. Now that it's coming back, I am relieved. It's slow tho. Very slow.
Lilah
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I'm just over 3 weeks PFC and my hair is coming back in a very uniform pattern. It's about 1/2" long but thin. My scalp is very prominent but I'm pleased with the rate of regrowth. Now, here's hoping that I'll get to keep it! I have a lumpectomy on Monday and onc won't determine if I have to have more chemo until after the pathology report comes in...
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One-L - I lost my hair due to Adriamycin/Cytoxin 4 dense doses. Lost it on day 16. My hair started growing back just a little bit before I finished Taxol. I did 4 dense doses of Taxol. My chemo was once every 2 weeks. It is a given when you do Adriamycin that you will lose your hair. My hair started coming back from legs then upwards. If only I had as much hair on my scalp as I did my legs I would have been happy. My hair on my scalp came in last.
I take 10,000 mcg of Biotin daily. I have a full head of hair - very thick on the top as far as volume. The texture is the same as before chemo. Unfortunately I lost my natural blonde hair - it came back a mousey brown. I was told to not put any permanent hair color in until I was 6 months out of chemo so I did wait. I also didn't want to damage any small amount of hair that I had by dying it too quickly after treatment. I didn't actually dye my hair - I have had it frosted twice the old fashioned way with frosting caps. That was a new experience for me!
I was traumatized by losing my hair. I refused to look in a mirror. Once it started growing back I was in front of the mirror at least 10 times a day checking for hair growth! To me seeing a bald head on a daily basis was a constant reminder that I had cancer. Before that, I could escape and not think about it. With a bald head, the cancer was right there in front of my face 24/7 and I couldn't ignore it.
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Lottie & Juli,
I received TC and also had the constant tearing of my eyes. It absolutely drove me crazy! Finally, I saw my eye doctor and he said that normally there is a thin film of oil on your eye and the TC removes that film. When that happens, your eye tries to compensate for the dryness by watering. He gave me a sample of Bausch & Lomb Soothe XP drops to try, and after a few days, it did the trick. It is oily, not like regular eye drops; you can get it at Walmart. You could also try using Puralube Ointment at night. It is a thick ointment kind of like Vaseline, so it blurs your vision, but it coats your eye while you sleep. It might be worth a try before you do something more drastic.
Linda
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Jancie -- It's funny, maybe I'm just insane, but the bald head isn't what made me feel like I had cancer... it was the loss of eyebrows and eyelashes after I finished chemo. THEN I thought I looked like one of those sad children in the TV ads who have no body hair. So I was thrilled when my brows and lashes grew back.... it's weird though, they both grew back before ANY hair showed up on my head (which didn't come till I was 8 weeks PFC). I did AC 4x DD and Taxol 4x DD (with Herceptin starting at same time as Taxol). The hair on my head now is uniform, black (my hair was brown before so, darker than it was) and about oh 1/4 of an inch (maybe a little longer). It lies flat against my head (from the wig, no doubt) except right after the shower when it stands straight up and looks ridiculous. Not thick yet but here's hoping.
Lilah
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Lilah - gone are the days when I could just throw my hair into a ponytail. I can so relate to the hair standing straight up. In fact just got out of the bathroom and noticed that the hair at the crown of my head was sticking straight out and it is 3" long. I wake up looking like bedhead every morning.
I didn't even notice my eyelashes were gone until weeks after they disappeared because I hardly ever wore makeup. I was heading to church - decided to put on a face and found out that I had nothing to adhere the mascara to other than 4 lashes on one eye and everything gone on the other side. Did you notice that your lashes grew better on one side versus the other? That is what happened to me.
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Liliah and Janice - how long did it take for your eyelashes and brows to grow back? My lashes are getting pretty sparce and I have one final Tx of TC on Monday so I'm thinking more will likely fall out after that.
Sherri
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Luckily I never lost all my brows and lashes. I did have a vacant spot on one eye lid, but the lashes are back now, even though they are short for right now. My brows thinned but didn't disappear completely.
I couldn't figure out at first why losing my hair was so traumatic. But finally I decided that it was because up until my hair was gone, no one could look at me and tell I was sick. I looked the same. But when the hair was gone, then every time I looked in the mirror it was a symble that I was fighting for my life and everyone looking at me would also know. I cried and cried and would even wake up at time and would be crying. When I finally got it buzzed, it was almost a relief that I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I never shed another tear for my hair.
My grandson put it all in prospective one day. He is 5 and he prays for me everyday that my treatments will work. One day he asked me about my treatments and I told him that I would lose my hair and be bald. He looked at me and said, "Well Maw Maw, you will not lose your arms and legs, we wouldn't want that to happen. You will only be bolt (bald)." I almost fell out of the car laughing. I knew then it would be OK and I had to re-channel by feelings for the loss of my hair. When he finally saw me bolt (bald), he said, "At least you don't have to get hair cuts." He is a positive thinker.
Hair is not the most important thing in this fight. I do want to live to see him grown and maybe now I have a chance.
When this is all over it will be worth what ever we had to do to get rid of the cancer. It just doesn't always seem like it while we are going through this. What is hair compared to life?
Juannelle
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Juannelle -- your grandson sounds adorable! And he is right. Because they had told me at first that I could have just a lumpectomy (then decided later that an MX was much safer in my case), I had a really hard time adjusting (well maybe there is no easy time of it when it comes to that news). I also had two lumpectomies, then chemo, then uni MX... so had time to think about it. Anyway, one day while grieving over it my boyfriend said something similar: "It's not like you're losing an arm" -- and he was right (as is your grandson) -- it's horrible to lose one's hair and to lose a boob... but arms and legs would be worse. At this point I am grateful to be alive, to be (for the moment) cancer-free, and to be on the mend (with all the hard emotional stuff behind me, hopefully).
Sherri -- I mostly lost my eyebrows and lashes AFTER I finished chemo. I finished on November 9. By Thanksgiving my eyebrows were sparse. By Christmas I had NO eyebrows or lashes BUT by New Year's I had them back. The day after Christmas I realized I had five o'clock shadow where my eyebrows had been and the hair had come in visibly by New Year's (probably thickened up a bit a few weeks after that but what I had by New Year's was good enough)! So the answer is: they come back fast.
Jancie -- as far as I can tell the eyelashes are even. I don't bother much with makeup either. Since I started chemo August 1 I wore it exactly once -- at Thanksgiving -- because my mom asked me to put some make up on so I would look bad LOL. Mothers are so pure, aren't they? She was right. I did look better/healthier with it on!
Lilah
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Hey there!
I am on week 6 of Taxol - with 6 weeks left to go. My hair fell out after my 2nd AC treatment and I just buzzed it off. I have some peach fuzz on my head right now that is mixed in the the little stubborn hairs that never left, but I began losing my eyelashes when the Taxol began, and I have noticed that my eyebrows are thinning, too. Some eyelashes are growing back in, now, but not quickly.
About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that I suddenly had hairy legs and underarms again! But, it was weird hair - all white and kinda like when puberty started! lol
I don't really know when to expect my hair to come back in on my head and I still wear hats! I wish I had the courage to go bald, but I can't bring myself to do it, yet.
I wish I had something more to tell you, but that is my situation! Hope it helps!!
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Good Afternoon Ladies!
Lilah - I agree with you - losing my hair although very traumatic was not as bad as losing my eyelashes and eyebrows. Once they fell out I felt like I truly looked like a cancer patient.
Here is my hair update - I am almost 3 weeks PFC:
My eyebrows are starting to grow back but not enough to go without a pencil and my eyelashes are slowly coming back.
The hair on my head is filling in nicely - mostly wihite/clear - but getting longer as each day passes. So far as I can tell I have not bald patches and it is coming in quite consistently all over my scalp.
No hair growing anywhere else - legs, underarms, arms or face. None growing on the nether region either although I did not lose all the hair down under - I still have a reverse brazillian happening down there - kind of like a goatee. I know very strange!
I have been taking some pictures from the eyebrows up to help me realize how much it is actually growing.
Happy hair growing to you all!
Marie
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I had the thickest, thickest very curly hair all my life. Following chemo from my first bc, my hair came back easily but not as thick. People still said I had thick hair but I knew it was not the same at all. This is my second chemo in 4 years so I think the hair follicles have gone to sleep. My hair is so thin that it doesn't cover my scalp. The crown is worse than the rest but even that is not great. I'm trying to think positively that maybe it will just be slow but it will grow but as time goes on, I'm less optimistic. I'm trying some natural remedies and hope they will boost the follicles to grow more.
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I now have my first real hair style since ending chemo last May. I had a "baby haircut" in December just to trim some ends, but now I have a short style after my haircut yesterday. My hair color was auburn with some gray highlights (as I like to call them) prior to chemo; now it is what I consider to be a dull brown color with gray highlights. I always had thin, fine, straight hair, and it had become thinner with the hormonal therapy in the several years prior to my last chemo; now it is a little thicker and it has some strange wavelike patterns here and there. I also lost almost all of my eyebrows and most of my eyelashes; they both took a couple of months to start growing again, but the brows have slowed significantly, which I think is due to tamoxifen. My eyelashes are more noticeable now.
I am wondering whether any of you can recommend any natural hair products. I am reluctant to use anything that has a lot of chemicals in it now that I am trying to make even more lifestyle changes to reduce exposure to various toxins. Any ideas?
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lindatwo - the eye doctor says that my right tear duct is scarred shut from taxotere and that's why I have the watering - there's no where for the tears to go. My left one is barely open. They can be opened surgically, either snipped open or tubes are inserted to prop them open for awhile and then removed a few months later. I don't know what I'm going to do.
As for hair, I'm a month PFC and it's about 1/8" on top, pretty thick, sparce at the crown of my head and the sides. It's also growing in on the nape of my neck. I thought it was growing on my legs, but I think I'm mistaken. No armpit hair either but hair "elsewhere" seems to have never really disappeared completely ... I'm taking biotin 1000mg daily -- it sure is working on my nails. I just bought the Nioxin 2 "starter kit" online ... shampoo, conditioner and another product ... I'd read good things about it. I had long, thick, white hair mostly. And, like others say, I watch for growth every day. I'm happy that my eyebrows and eyelashes are still here one month after chemo, hope they hold on!
I find the hair thing more depressing than I anticipated. I was fine with it during treatment but now I want it back ... and I want it back now...
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Hi Lottie,
I too was very upset with not having hair after chemo. It took about 6 months to be able to go out without a wig. I thought it was a cruel reminder of what had been. There you are feeling pretty good but without hair and that is a constant reminder of where you have been. It does come back and you will be happy with your new hair. One just has to be patient.
Hugs,
Francine
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I am 6 1/2 weeks PFC and my eyebrows are growing like crazy. Talk about turn of events, I used to dread getting my eybrows done. I was so excited today because for the first time in 6 months I was able to get my eyebrows/regrowth shaped up. I also decided not to use the pencil today. DD and DS both thought I had colored in my eybrows - told them to look again, they're mine and they're coming back - whoo hoo!!!!
The hair on my head is still extremely short, but it is getting a lot thicker and my sister noticed a little length on two areas in the back.
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CCbaby, you look terrific!
I am 9 1/2 months pfc - just had 1 year follow up with breast surgeon - everything good there. My hair has had a few trims to keep the scraggly ends in line, and it is slowly growing longer - the side hair is almost over my ears, but the back is still short - especially at the bottom where it is incredibly kinky-curly. The rest of it can be blown dry and flatironed to keep the wave but remove the curl. I have had professional coloring but did my own highlights today with a clairol kit - figuring it was too short to really spend the big $$ on professional highlights, and I did a caramel highlight, mostly in the front. Didn't come out too bad, if I do say so myself! It does take some months before your hair can really grab onto the color. I am still taking Biotin every day - I will probably never stop taking it, just to make sure my hair stays thick.
Eyebrows grew back initially really thick back in June, but they are now the thinner line they were prior to starting chemo. Lashes are on their 3rd or 4th fall out - the bottom ones fell out a couple of weeks ago and have grown back, the top row was very scraggly with a few long ones that looked really stupid with mascara on them, and the new ones growing in too short for anything, so I had some individual lashes put on today at the salon. Must say, it certainly looks better than the weird long/short combo. They'll last a few weeks, which will help as my lashes come back in. I hope they are finished with this major fall out! It's something you really don't prepare for, especially after they fall out once and come back, and then fall out again and again.
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Thanks everyone! My co-worker put some highlights in my hair yesterday and trimmed the ends and texturized it, so it looks thicker now! My avatar pic is from last night. I am standing next to Joan Rivers, we did her hair for a comedy show here in my city!!
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My doctor has told me all of the side effects, including the possible permanent hair loss. But then he goes on to say, the ones that are very rare but still may occur, he tells me exactly how many patients over the XXX number of years he's been practicing that have ever had that S/E. . . In the case of permanent hair loss, it was one woman, and that was during his "schooling years."
Anyway,
ccbaby, those women (and that includes you!) look awesome and I wanted to reach through the monitor and hug each and every one of you!
I also have another question about eyebrows. When(if) they disappear, do they fall out slowly? or in clumps? Do you wake up with little eyebrow hairs in your pillow? Or do they drop off your face into your soup?
I think I can handle the hair on my head issue (I'm trying to develop some positive, non-passive strategies), it's the eyebrows I'm having problems with!Oh, PS: as I've been aging (I'm 54) I've noticed that some areas of my body are already "thinning" in hair, and that's my underarms, the Southerlands, and my legs. I still have hair on my legs and south region, but very sparse. I rarely if ever have to shave under my arms at all. Weird, huh?
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Michele I'm 47 and for the last few years I've been noticing that my body hair is getting sparse too - this is before BC. I had maybe 4 hairs on my right leg and another 3or 4 on my left. I hardly ever had to shave my underarms.
I thought this was normal - that as we age our hair got thinner and we lost our body hair.
BUT I was having lunch with a friend yesterday who told me that as she gets older (it was her birthday lunch) she is getting hairier. She now has to use depillatory cream on her face! She showed me her arm hair and it's at least 2 inches long!
So now I'm not sure if it's aging or maye the level of hormones that is causing the hair factor!
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Ah the hair delimma. I wasn't too freaked out about losing my hair from chemo because I had to shave my head and whole body for two months when I was in the play "WIT" a couple of years ago. Once it was over everything just grew in like normal..............growing in from chemo has not been normal.........I am 6 months out from Cytoxan/Taxoterre and the hair on my head is about 11/2 inches long and quite a bit curlier than before, it has been white for years and still is. I wanted to post a picture in this text but can't get it to work..does anyone know the trick?
The disturbing thing is that my eyebrows and lashes have all fallen out again in the past week or so. When they grew in, they were really short, so short that putting mascara on was a major mess so I didn't bother. Now they're gone again.
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I have noticed as I have gotten older that I have more facial hair, my eyebrows are bushy and the southern region has thinned. I am 60 and I think these things are normal. I have very blond hair on my arms and legs and haven't noticed my arm hair growing longer. I did not lose all my arm hair or leg hair during chemo, but it got very sparse.
I am 6 weeks PFC and hope that I do not lose my eyebrows and lashes. They have stuck with me faithfully through this mess and they better not desert me now.
Juannelle
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I'm with you Juannelle - my eyebrows and lashes are still hanging on & they better not bail on me!
Thanks for the encouragement crusader1 -- I have a wig in my closet but I've only worn it once, back in October. It's been baseball caps, scarves and various other things since then. I have a big work-related fundraising dinner in a month and I'm wondering how a business suit, pearls and a baseball cap are going to work ;-)
Lottie
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Lottie - what about a nice silk scarf wrap to go with the suit and pearls...that would look nice!
Ladies, I have a question about biotin. Where can I buy it? Would they sell at Whole Foods? Do you need to wait until chemo is done to commence taking biotin? I know I'm not supposed to take much more than a multi vitamin and vitamin D during chemo. My last treatment is tomorrow so I'm thinking I could probably start taking in a week or so. Can a person take biotin during radiation?
Sherri
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Hi Sugar77, I bought biotin online, (http://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-0474-Biotin-5000mcg/dp/B000BY2N7S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1265554993&sr=8-1)
it's a fairly common supplement and is available in the U.S. at CVS and Walmart. I don't see why you couldn't take it during radiation, but of course ask your doc.
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