Chemo Regimen FAQs: CMF Chemotherapy

Once again, your SharePost is packed with extremely helpful information. THANK YOU.

Best of health,

Maria

Why is the oral cytoxin harder on the hair than the IV cytoxin?

I had CMF 2 years ago.  I had alot of heart burn & mouth sores.  I was so tired I had trouble walking even 1 block (I used to love to walk my dogs with my husband for a couple of miles).  I did NOT loose my hair, but it got a bit thinner & lost it's healthy look (split/dry ends).  As treatments progressed, I got worse.  Some people get better, build a resistance, as they go.  In the begining I was sick for 1-2 days, & treatments lasted 2-3 hours.  Toward the end, I was sick for 2-4 days, tired ALL the time, and my last 2 treatments took ALL DAY LONG.  If you feel sick during the treatment, tell them & they will slow the drip, that is why my treatments took longer at the end. 

I wish you alot of luck.  Keep your spirits up, have a support team ready.  I never went to a treatment alone.  My family & friends really pulled together to help.  I felt alot of love, and I needed that more then anything. 

This was a good article.  I had that nasty chemo 6 years ago and this time (having a recurrence of breast cancer) I chose this CMF route to keep my hair.  No where near as bad as 6 years ago, that's for sure.  I've had a few symptoms not listed, like the day I get the treatment (in the morning), I am really tired, but cannot sleep well that night - probably the steroids that come with the treatment.  I get very restless legs, arms, etc...and have had hiccups the day of chemo 3 out of 4 treatments so far.  Constipation was initially a huge problem, but nurses instructed me to try Sennekot and Mirilax and that has worked perfectly.  I think the biggest aggravation is the weight gain.  I feel like I'm hungry all of the time and my doctors says the same thing - don't try to diet; it will come off when the treatments end.  But it's not too comforting when my pants are tight! 

Overall, the metallic taste I had with the old chemo lasted much longer than with this formula - I drink as much fluid as I can for the first few days and have not had mouth sores, bladder issues or anything like that.  I try to flush my system as quickly as possible.

Good luck to anyone going through this.  It's no picnic, but I agree that treatment is greatly improved from even 5 years ago.  Thank God for that!