Taxotere side effects - hands

[Sheryl H]

Once again I turn to all of you with a question. I completed 4 treatments of A/C previously and upon the advice of another oncologist, decided to do 4 of taxotere. The first one went pretty well. With the second round, my hands turned red, as if they had been sunburned, and peeled. I had my third treatment last Thursday, and although they decided to decrease my taxtotere by 15%, my hands are starting to show red again. Has anyone else had this and is there anything you can do that helps? My oncologist gave me some cream, biafine, but that is all I have been using so far. Thanks for any answers you may have. This has not been terribly painful, although it certainly looks terrible, so if there isn't anything I can do, I can certainly live with it. Always on the lookout for anything you ladies can offer though. God bless all of you.

[doh2pa]

Hi Sheryl,

I did 7 taxotere last year and had nail issues, not specifically hands. However, someone on this site said to take bags of frozen veges to put across the nails during infusion to cut the blood flow to that area, and perhaps decrease side effects. Seems to me this might work with the hand issue too.

Good luck. Taxotere can be rough but the good news is once done things do return to normal pretty quickly.

Donna

[margo]

This happened to my hands. By the 2nd round, it looked like I had a bad sunburn that was followed by peeling. It was quite uncomfortable. I recall that by the 6th or 7th round it started to reduce.

[harrie]

I had bright red skin under my hands and under my feet and would be exaserbated if exposed to heat. I had it come and go starting with my first chemo. I believe what we have is the Hand-Foot Syndrome which is a side effect of the chemo. It is caused by small amts of the drug leaking out of capillaries in the palms of hands and soles of feet. Exposure to heat and friction increases this leakage. Results can be redness, tenderness, and peeling. Can look like a sunburn.
Prevention can be to take a steroid such as decadron before chemo, day of chemo, and day after chemo. Also wear gloves when you wash dishes, watch the excercises that make a lot of friction (jogging, jumping, etc), no long hot showers, etc....
harrie (maryanne)

[harrie]

Continuation on the hand/foot syndrome....
Cooling is suppose to help......ice packs on feet, bag of frozen peas may help.
Lotions: avoid,
Instead use emollients such as Aveeno, Lubriderm, Bag Balm. I used Aveeno and it felt great.
Tylenol for the discomfort;