19. So let’s talk side effects

I’m all caught up now with my story, so I won’t be posting every day, just as and when I have something to say.

Today I wanted to talk about side effects of chemo. Everyone knows the obvious one of losing hair but there is so much more than that.

· So, yeah, there’s losing hair. It will vary on treatment whether you lose your hair or not, but in my case I have been. I shaved my head before treatment so I didn’t have to see it fall out. I’ve not yet lost my eyebrows or eyelashes but my armpit and legs hairs haven’t grown back since I’ve shaved them and “other” areas have less and less hair!

· Folliculitis, inflamed hair follicles. So due to losing my hair the hair follicles get sore. Touching my hair felt like every hair was needles going into my scalp. Some antibiotic cream later and it calms down

· Sore tongue and mouth. With the chemo killing off cells your mouth and tongue get very sore, to the point where it will hurt to eat. The nurses give you this bright green mouth wash to use 4 times a day to help numb your mouth. You can be prone to mouth ulcers, luckily I’ve only had a few on my tongue so far, but they are bad enough. Sucking on ice lollies tends to help and last night I was eating them at 4am as I kept biting my tongue and it was hurting so much I was nearly in tears. Your taste buds also change, I consistently have a horrible taste in my mouth.

· Thrush, this can be in your intimate area or your mouth. I’ve been given drops to swirl around my mouth a few times a day to stop or help reduce the thrush. I swear it doesn’t agree with me though and end up giving my upset stomach.

· Constipation and Diarrhea, I suffer with IBS anyway so I am used to bouts of both of these but this is a little bit more extreme. So I’ve been given both laxatives and loperamide. It can be very draining to have either. I also get gastric reflux, so it feel like I need to burp or be sick quite a lot.

· Fatigue, your body is going through so much this is a given really! But you do get to a point where you are too tired to sleep, to move, to do anything. If you haven’t suffered with fatigue this can be debilitating and frustrating. I can be a lot to come to terms with as you want to get on with your life as normal, but you just can’t. You have to say no, and rest.

· Brain Fog, it’s sort of hand in hand with the fatigue. Your brains just doesn’t function 100%. Even trying to put a sentence together sometimes can be difficult. I have been going back to work between treatments but I do struggle sometimes, just writing an email can take its toll.

· Nose Bleeds, the lining of your nose can get sore and cause nose bleeds. When the weather was very cold outside and I had the heating on my nose got so sore and dry inside, I had bloody boogies for quite some time. I used a humidifier and vasaline to help moisten my nose.

There are many more side effects, such as high risk of infection, lack of sex drive, nail and skin changes but I’ve listed just a few that have affected me to date. One thing that has also changed, is my periods have stopped. This is normal and they can restart once chemo has finished.

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/treatment/types-of-treatment/chemotherapy/side-effects-of-chemotherapy

Chemo No.3 has taken the wind out of my sails this time, it’s taken me quite a few days to get back to some sort of normality.