Huge respect for you Northern Hemisphereites

[AussieAssCancer]

I'm into day 2 of my 3rd adjuvant FOLFOX and we officially start our winter tomorrow and the cold sensitivity from the Oxaliplatin is a shocker!

I don't know how you guys brave it in the middle of your winters with snow/blizzards etc. It wasn't even that cold this morning and I had to wear my London fog jacket (think heavy, thick woolen, trench coat) so I could put my hands in the pocket and roll the collar up around my throat. Will be looking for some gloves and a scarf tomorrow!

Anyways, just wanted to give a shoutout to you folks who have it waaay harder than me in terms of the Oxaliplatin side effects with your weather.

Other than the cold sensitivity, fatigue and genera blergh feeling, so far so good.

Peace out homies!

[jhocno197]

It doesn't get terribly cold where we live, but after my husband's second treatment, we had an ice storm & the power went out. I was freaking out trying to figure out what in the world he was going to drink since everything in the house was going to be cold!!

Glad to hear your treatments are going well so far!!

[Ragman]

Thanks, Aussie. This message really resonates with me. I live in Baltimore, Maryland in the USA and had a lot of my chemo in the winter. The cold sensitivity to Oxaliplatin was probably the worst side-effect I experienced. The cold air wasn't pleasant but like jhocno197 mentioned finding something to drink that didn't trigger the sensitivity was about the worst. Basically, I kept cans of water and seltzer water on the radiator to heat up. Anything even resembling a cool drink (even lukewarm water) was like drinking shards of glass! Hang in there buddy, it's tough all over with this crap!

[megan120]

I live in North Idaho, and the chemo last winter was torture. I would go outside and my eyelashes would spasm and the cold air would make me slur like I was having a stroke or I was drunk. The six rounds of folfox that I had in the summer were so much easier.

[Nik Colon]

I live in MN and started oxi in January which is usually the coldest month, yeah, not fun.

[nomoretacos]

I'm in Sydney and totally dreading the full force of winter that is yet to come, though I agree other folks have it much worse.

I'm having a hard time distinguishing between neuropathy and cold sensitivity. I've had numbness and tingling pretty constantly in my fingers for the first 4 days from my last cycle. If i keep my hands warm and toasty then everything is fine, but as soon as I take my gloves off even at room temperature, or the moment they get cold, I will experience numbness and tingling. Would this be neuropathy or cold sensitivity? sorry to hijack the thread!

[AussieAssCancer]

Hey nomoretacos, cool name

I would say it's cold sensitivity more than neuropathy and I suffer the same thing. Even if I come back to my office after washing my hands in warm water and the air-con blows on my hands.

Perhaps mention it with your oncologist and see what they say. I take neuropathy to be longer lasting/more permanent and to effect things like doing up buttons etc. I can still do my cufflinks without any troubles so I'm not too concerned, but my oncologist did say to keep them updated because they'll reduce/remove the Oxaliplatin from the mix to avoid permanent damage.

Some of the good folks on here will no doubt know more and I've read some have the oaxli stopped after a few sessions. Including my 3 neoadjuvant rds, I'm now up to 6 with Oxaliplatin and expect that as long as there's no neuropathy they'll keep it in the mix!

Good luck and keep us posted on the rest of the treatment!

GK