I’m not sure why my side effects got easier as I finished more treatments, I was told it would be the other way around. I couldn’t even imagine if the first one was the easiest! That one was awful and made me nervous about my future treatments if they were just going to keep getting worse!
Nausea
Thankfully this wasn’t a big issue for me. They gave me a home prescription to take for 3 days when my treatments were scheduled and another one as needed that I could take every 4 hours. The oncologist said if its still a problem he would give me another and I could alternate them so I had something every 2 hours and if that still didn’t work he would give me another one so I could take something every hour.
My nausea was only twice and lasted 30 minutes each time. And I can’t be more thankful for that, I HATE feeling sick!
Food Aversion
Some things did get harder, but only because they lasted longer. Like my ability to eat. I was so put off by food even my favorites were a no-go. It felt like I was swallowing sand and everything tasted like metal. It took months after I was done before food tasted normal again and even a year out I get excited about eating my favorite things and it just doesn’t do it anymore. It tastes fine, but my comfort foods aren’t comforting anymore.
Each round of treatment these food aversion side effects lasted longer and longer. I couldn’t even stand to put anything in my mouth let alone chew and swallow it. I lived on protein shakes for several months and briefly lost about 10lbs each round. When I could finally eat again before my next round of chemo I made up for it and each treatment when they weighed me I was right back around the same weight. “No foods are off limits, maintain your body weight,” my oncologist said. And according to their records I did. I just fluctuated 10lbs down then back up again every time. Toward the end it got worse and eventually I did lose more which concerned my kids because that part was visual.
Muscle Twitching And Spasms
As time went on I found myself with more side effects that I was dealing with. Some were just annoying like twitching and spasming muscles. Every time I sneezed if felt like fireworks were going off in my abdomen. It lasted about a minute before they would relax and stop again. And my eye lids would twitch all the time. Sometimes my fingers while I was scrolling on my phone and I would accidently click on things that I didn’t mean to.
Medically Induced Menopause
My first round of chemo triggered a medically induced menopause. And let me tell you, just like everyone says, the hot flashes are AWFUL! This was only temporary and lasted about 9 months after my chemo was done, so a year total. Finally the hot flashes stopped and things are regular and back to normal again. But, lucky me, now I have to go through menopause twice! Once from chemo and once naturally when the time comes. Ugh!
Weak And Dizzy
I have never felt so frail and weak before. I got up out of my chair once and lost my balance almost landing in the fireplace. Another time I was getting laundry out of the dryer and lost my balance and hit my face on the door frame of the laundry room. I almost passed out once in the kitchen and once in the shower. About 2 weeks after my final chemo treatment things started to get better. I got a stepping machine and small hand weights to build up my strength and energy. I was so ready to feel normal and healthy again.
Neuropathy
Thankfully this wasn’t a problem for me really. I had these socks and gloves just in case. You freeze them and like the same concept with the cold caps the idea is to keep the blood vessels constricted in your hands and feet to keep the chemo meds away because it can cause either temporary or permanent neuropathy which would be a numbness, burning or tingling sensation from nerve damage. I hear it can be quite painful. Shortly after my chemo was done I could feel a very mild tingly sensation in the bottom of my feet, but it was so mild that I had to really pay attention to feel it. I only felt it while I was in bed trying to go to sleep, but it didn’t’ keep me awake. I haven’t felt it in a while so I guess it went away.
Loss Of The Immune System
I had to be very careful not to get sick while I was in my chemo treatment phase. I was told by my oncologist that if my temp went above 100.4 for more than an hour I had to go straight to the ER. The chemo kills white blood cells which is what the on body injector was for, to rebuild my white blood cells. Every visit they did a blood test to check if my white blood count was back up or they wouldn’t proceed yet with the next round. Every time mine was back up and I didn’t have to delay and treatments, thankfully. For the most part I handled all of my treatment really well.
Scalp Tenderness
I didn’t lose all my hair in the same way most people do because I used cold caps but my scalp was still very tender and it hurt to touch it during and up to a few months after I was done. I wore a hat and that didn’t bother me at all. It actually kept me from touching it.
Fingernails
Fingernails, like hair can be effected by chemotherapy. I didn’t notice anything unusual with my fingernails until 6 months after chemo. Once the part that was effected grew out far enough I noticed they were really thin, soft and splitting from the ends back toward the nail bed. This was uncomfortable and sometimes painful. I found a hardening gel on Amazon to put on them to protect them. It does crack and come off over time, but the part that doesn’t chip off on its own is actually hard to get off so I only put it on the ends of my nails, about 1/3 of the way back. Its clean and I filed it to blend in with the nail and nobody noticed it. I could paint over it, but I didn’t really want to.
It took 6 months of this before my nails grew out and were healthy and strong again.
G.I. Troubles
This was definitely unpleasant and no fun to talk about or hear about so I’ll keep it brief. Haha
Urgency (like, wear something just in case), constipation, diarrhea, pain (like, glass shards/on the verge of crying kind of pain), bleeding
I learned not to go anywhere that I don’t have quick access to a restroom. Which meant I didn’t leave the house much.
Imodium! And on the flip side of that: Miralax! Both were in my cabinet. And wet wipes!
OK moving on! haha