Cinco Vidas

After chemotherapy treatments, you can have lingering side effects. Several, unfortunately, seem to hit the hands—things like numbness and tingling, rough skin, split nails, and even carpal tunnel syndrome.

To help you deal with these troubling symptoms, we’ve gathered a few recommendations. Whatever you may be experiencing, be sure to tell your doctor. Even if you don’t think it could be connected to your cancer treatments, it often is, and your doctor may be able to help.

Lingering Numbness & Tingling: According to Dr. V. K. Gadi, writing for Everyday Health, Taxol (paclitaxel) is associated with neuropathy (numbness), and also weakening of the reflexes. Sometimes just waiting it out will result in an improvement. Physical therapy may also help. Other survivors recommend massage, acupuncture, and supplements like vitamin B and glutamine (10 grams 2-3 times a day). Mark Stengler, MD and contributor to Daily Health News, recommends acetyl-L-carnitine, a natural substance that can have a regenerative affect on the nerves, along with a B-complex vitamin, vitamins E and C, selenium, and pycnogenol (an antioxidant). Read our other post for more natural recommendations. (more…)

Heidi Floyd, breast-cancer survivor, and her son, Noah.

Breast cancer was in her family. Her mother had passed away when she was only in her 40s. So she knew she was at risk—but she never expected to be diagnosed while she was pregnant.

Her name is Heidi Floyd, and today she serves as Breast Cancer Development Ambassador for the Very Bradley Foundation, traveling the nation raising money for breast cancer research. But when she was diagnosed, she was working in IT sales, and didn’t know where to turn. “The first oncologist I spoke to didn’t know how to treat a pregnant patient,” she says. “He told me my options were to terminate the pregnancy, or carry the baby to term while not addressing the cancer.” (more…)

Find yourself unable to taste food after chemotherapy? Does meat seem to have a metal flavoring? It’s not a side effect to take lightly. According to Sarhill and colleagues, in a study published in Support Care Cancer (2003; 11:652-659), for as many as 20% of cancer patients, the primary cause of morbidity was malnutrition, not malignancy—and Jae Hee Hong, lead researcher on a recent study published in the Journal of Supportive Oncology (2009;7:58-65), says disturbances in taste and smell caused by cancer treatments could have a lot to do with that malnutrition. (more…)

“Does anyone know anything about the use of ayurveda in treating cancer?” says caregiver auberon. “My brother-in-law has cancer…I just want to know all alternatives.”

Ayurvedic medicine is no magic bullet for curing cancer, but it may help some cancer patients better manage side effects. An ancient system of medicine that originated in India over 5,000 years ago, ayurveda (meaning science or knowledge of life) is a holistic way of diagnosing illness and bringing the body and mind back into balance to help restore health. Treatments and techniques can include special diets, medications, detoxification, herbal medicines, massage, meditation, Yoga, and breathing and relaxation techniques. (more…)

If you lose your hair during cancer treatments, you may be a little confused over how to take care of this new skin. Vin Diesel and Chris Daughtry have it down, obviously, but if you’ve never before taken care of the skin on your scalp, how do you go about it now?

All skin is fragile during chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and the scalp even more so, as it’s probably never been so “naked” before and may be a little tender and sensitive. So forget regular harsh shampoos and opt for a more caring approach—one you would take toward baby skin. (more…)

Some of us, when going through cancer treatments, can end up looking like we’ve been in a bad fight. Of course, it’s not back-alley conflicts causing the problem, but blood platelets that just don’t want to stick together. In other words, a shortage of clots.

“I finished my last chemo,” says a fighter on inspire.com, “and my skin seems like it’s getting more and more fragile. My dog jumped on me, barely touched me, and I got a bleeding scratch on my leg. Today, I looked down at my arm and it was bleeding…” (more…)

Patients experiencing neuropathy can have trouble with everyday tasks like buttoning a shirt or tying a tie.

American comic W. C. Fields is quoted as having said, “Happiness means quiet nerves.” Of course, he also said, “I only drink to steady my nerves. Sometimes I’m so steady I don’t move for months.”

Cancer patients dealing with neuropathy may sympathize with Fields, as the side effect can drive one to considering several stiff drinks. “My mom was diagnosed with MM [multiple myeloma) in January 07,” says caregiver apachejane. She has been on chemotherapy up until about two months ago and has severe neuropathy. The pain is so bad she just cries.”

Fortunately, apachejane reports that her mother saw a doctor who put her on several medications, which helped her to feel significantly better. But this side effect is one that many patients struggle with, sometimes for months or years after chemotherapy is over. (more…)

Your first chemotherapy treatment looms on the calendar, dark and mysterious like an oncoming storm. What can you do to help prepare yourself?

We’ve gathered a list of tips—things you can do in the days and moments before treatment to get the help you need, make sure you’re in the best health you can be in, and make the treatment as hassle-free as possible. (more…)

There’s a cleaning process going on in your body everyday. The intestines, liver, and kidneys are all involved, whisking away toxins from the environment, stress, and the food you eat—waste products that, if left in the body, can build up and cause problems—and flushing them out where they can no longer pose a threat.

If you’ve been going through chemotherapy or radiation treatments, however, most likely you’re system is overloaded with waste products. Excess toxins are known to cause fatigue, stomach bloat, headaches, muscle aches, poor memory, a suppressed immune system, even bad breath. (more…)

Most of us know we may lose our hair during chemotherapy. What we may not be prepared for is losing hair in other places—like on our eyes!

“I am 4 weeks out from my last chemo, and my eyelashes are still leaving,” says survivor katyg.

“My eyelashes and brows did not fall out until AFTER chemo was over, around six weeks,” says survivor Cheryl G. “The eyebrows seem to grow faster than the lashes (per eye doctor, it takes about six to eight weeks for a new set of eyelashes).”

Chemo drugs can cause you to lose your hair just about anywhere, but eyelashes may arguably be the most difficult to deal with. “I had the chemo and in the process lost all my hair, eyebrows, eyelashes etc.,” says survivor Em. “Within 3 months of finishing the treatment they had grown back…. Well, it’s now 5 months since I finished chemo and my eyebrows and eyelashes are falling out all over again!” (more…)