Posted by anna (post) on 5/10/2008, 9:30 am, in reply to "Do side effects get worse with treatment?"
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Hello Becky
I'm sorry you're the recipient of what Taxol can dish out. Some patients get just one or two side effects, some, like I did, get the 'VIP treatment".
There isn't much you can do to stop the nosebleed, but it will stop immediately after treatment. Blood vessels in your nose are so fragile that just breathing seems to break them. Don't blow your nose, don't use a q-tip, just dab with a soft tissue.
I finished with Taxol on February 28 and my toes are still numb. Keep your nails very clean, but don't irritate them. Start soaking them in a vinegar/water solution. I was on the verge of losing all 20 of them and at the heights of it couldn't wear shoes or button a blouse.
Call your oncologist at the first sign of a rash that itches and produces little yellow puss pockets. It's another, although not very common, side effect of Taxol. I had it over both hands and might have the left-over discoloration for the rest of my life. But it can show up anywhere on your body.
You might want to cut work even more. One thing Taxol reacts very violently towards is stress. I was tired all the time, but had a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep. Up and down throughout the night and a short nap in the afternoon amounted to about 4-5 hours every day.
It's misery any which way you look at, but in the end it is all worth it because it treats the cancer as bad or even worse than it treats you. Didn't you say your tumor was shrinking? To have that happen, you take any amount of pain and suffering for awhile, right?
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