Side Effects "Help"

[harrie]

Elaine, you can get the Rembrandt intense stain tp at Longs or I have also seen it at Walmart. Amazon.com also has it.

[anne2]

Try using Sea weed mouthrinse and toothpaste from Whole Foods. It helped my mom avoid mouth sores. If you must suck on candies, try ones without sugar and preferably xylitol because it helps to prevent cavities. Equally, I would see my dentist about calcium phosphate toothpastes availible by rx or you can try Enamelcare by Arm and Hammer OTC. I hope it will subside.
Anne

[abitjaded]

Sorry about your misery. Taxol made me feel like I had the flu for months.

When I rode in the car I felt awful. I do have motion sickness and felt really whirly. Could you have a dramamine or the like? Ask your care team.

Try, try, try to eat. Food helps, I have seen reports that suggest anorexia can exacerbate the side effects of Taxol (I could not eat and ended up with peripheral neauropathy). I was on lots of oxycodone for the misery (it really worked). Don't be afraid to ask for pain medication!! But had to drink Instant Breakfast, chase it with Metamucil and down a senna and colace to counter the constipation from the oxycodone.

My Dentist gave me a gel called Oxyfresh Dental Gel. After brushing with a really soft Rembrant brand brush with the Biotene, rinse and smear the gel around your mouth. Have them check your mouth for thrush and other infections.

Hang in.

Carla

[Ruth]

Taxol made me feel like I had the flu also. I lost a lot of weight ~ all my nursing baby weight and another 15 pounds happened on A/C with the mouth sores. I didn't know frozen drinks or popsicles could help until it was too late. I did get a prescription for this magic mouthwash but it only numbed my throat enough for a little while so I could eat quickly. Sugar hurt my throat worse so I stuck with mashed potatoes, rice and french onion soup. Yeast thrives in sugar so I didn't want to put any in there to give it energy!

Carla ~ Thanks for posting about the meds. I forgot what pain medication I took but it helped me sooooo very much and I wanted to tell her. I also tried to take it 6 hours before I knew the achiness would start. Mine was very consistent that I started hurting about 18 - 24 hours after treatment.

Brenda ~ hope you feel better! I wish we could help make this go away.

Hugs ~ Ruth

[Carolyns]

I suffered for two weeks until my Dr. put me on Aloxi. I get this in an I.V. just prior to the chemo along with a small dose of some type of steroid. My infusion is on Thursday morning and then by Saturday night I start using Zofran (pills) every 8 hours. It works like a dream for me. The only thing is that I must use Senekot S right away to avoid constipation.

This combo changed everything for me. I can function and keep hydrated. It is really important to drink as much as you can.

Good luck,

Carolyn

[westswon]

Hi Brenda. You need to really and strongly talk to your docs. I stopped the whole H-C-T after three treatments when I went and got a second opinion. I had dreadful reactions--hospitalized for the first one. It is NOT normal to be in such horrid pain--or no one would DO chemo. The nausea can be controlled, the aches from Neulasta -my WBC went to 35,000! created painful migraines. Stand up for yourself. Five years ago, neither of us would have even gotten chemo. I was incapacitated for months. Now another doc says in her 25 years she has never seen anyone so "over-treated".. find an ONC who ONLY treats breast cancer... just my two cents.. westswon