Silly vanity . . . I know I shouldn't complain, but I will anyway

[AnnClare]

Okay, I know I shouldn't fuss. A lot of folks have it worse than I do.

BUT . . . I SWEAR my hair is thinning as I progress through FOLFOX. Only two more to go, so I'm hoping this trend will reverse itself when I'm done.

Also, I have SO MANY hyperpigmentation spots on my face. I religiously wear SPF 30 every day, and the only sun exposure I get is incidental, i.e., while driving to and from work. One of my colleagues is an esthetician who took a course in oncology skin care. She said that the 'spots' have to do with the liver being over-worked during chemo and said it's likely the spots will dissipate once Tx is done. I've read the same on the internet as well.

Not only do I have to wear a crap sack on my belly, but now from the neck up I'm looking dodgy as well. I know these are silly things to worry about, but damn - this shiz takes such a toll on our bodies. Must it attack our self-esteem too?!

[Soccermom2boys]

Don't shoot the messenger, but just last week, three full months after completing last round of FOLFOX, did my hair finally stop thinning excessively. I have fine, thin hair to begin with so to always have that large clump of hair in the shower drain was depressing. Just this past week did I finally notice that the hair loss in the shower was back to my pre-treatment amount. So I tell you this only so that when you come off of your treatments, be patient with the length of time it takes for these "little" things to get back to normal.

I did not have the skin discoloration as you mentioned, but I am glad to hear your research says it will rectify itself post-treatment. And absolutely I agree that we go through so much mental and physical torture dealing with all that we do, sucks to have to feel like you look like a cancer patient as well! Yuck, yuck, yuck--these are not silly things, they are part of our overall well-being and our self-image so it's only natural for it to be upsetting. Sadly it is also a reminder of how little control we have over our bodies and this beast, cancer!

Why can't the hair on my legs fall off (and stay off!) with the same tenacity that the ones on my head were?! Hang in there girl, hairier days are eventually coming!

[michellecairn]

Before I started FOLFOX my hair was very thick and very long - down to the middle of my back. I got it cut to a short style right before treatment and donated 4 ponytails. I had 6 treatments, then a 6 week break and then one final FOLFOX on March 7th. My hair continued to fall out/thin until almost the end of April.

I did end up with a bald spot where the swirl starts. My "new" hair is now about 2-3" long and it just wants to stick up! When I try to put my hair in a little ponytail I like to joke that I have a Mohawk strip. And I too was wondering why my leg hair never fell out!

I can definitely relate to the vanity issue. My weight has been dropping since February, and now under my chin I have a little wrinkly patch from where the skin didn't bounce back. It reminds me of one of those "hangy" things on turkeys lol.

And to top it all off my kids told me today that having cancer has made me look older. I agreed with them.

But as much as I want/like to complain about the vanity issues, I'm just glad for this moment in time to still be alive to complain about them.

[teri3]

Mine thinned too but started growing back as soon as I stopped folfox. I had it cut much shorter than usual after treatment because the old hair was damaged and the new hair in all lenghths. But with spots mine went away on Folfox but some came back.

[AbbyDoo]

Well on the bright side it just thinned I have a dear friend on different chemo that lost it all. Mine thinned to and I lost my curls. butt I did get new nails after chemo stopped.
What really sucks is: my thong now sags from all the weight I lost and my ugly scars just don't cut it at the beach.
Hang in there, try to stay positive your almost done.

[nomoretacos]

My hair thinned out during my first 5-6 cycles but now appears to have ceased falling out. Hairs used to be everywhere! It really is a blow to your self esteem.

And I can kind of relate to the skin pigmentation, i had a full body rash due to an allergic reaction and the rash pigmented so I look pretty ridiculous but luckily my face wasn't affected, i'll probably be more sad about it once summer comes around.

[midlifemom]

Ann Clare, fuss away. My vanity issue was the toenail discoloration. Luckily I can do pedicures.

I had the hyperpigmentation.
First - Spf 30 won't cut it. Go to a 90-100 everyday. My spots started to clear up after that. Also, wear a big floppy hat if you're going to be outside more than two minutes, even in the shade. My spots did go away as i made these changes and as the weather changed and i spent less time outside.

Good luck!!!

[AnnClare]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. It's good to know I'm not alone in this, AND that things will get better (which I suspected, but it's good to hear personal stories.)

One of my teachers in massage school was a long-time (20+ years) breast cancer survivor. She had gorgeous hair, which she attributed to Aveda products. They're on the pricey side, but I LOVE the smell, so guess what I "treated" myself to last night? Placed an order online (gotta love the internet). I know my hair won't magically begin to grow or thicken, but at least it'll smell amazing!

I also had VERY long hair (almost to my bum) that I cut to shoulder length after finishing chemoradiation, mostly because I wanted a change. I intend to grow it long again, at least mid-back length, once this mess is over.

Two more treatments - then my body can get some rest and begin repairing itself! And yeah, why ISN'T leg hair affected? No fair.

[BeansMama]

I am sorry you are feeling the self esteem issues. I lost a bunch of hair early so I just went with the buzz cut and bandanas since I had visible bald spots.

I have expanded to wigs (finally just within the last week or so) I was beginning to feel like I wasn't feminine at all anymore. This disease robs us of so much, is there nothing that is sacred? The wigs help me a lot. It is strange after all of these months to finally have hair sometimes but it is nice to not have people staring at me either.

I hope you find the solution for keeping your self esteem boosted. Have a spa day, do something that makes you feel good. You deserve it dang it!

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

[Noon32316]

I feel ya on this one. I used to have thick hair that has now thinned out tremendously. Weird thing is I don't mind the thinning but the sweeping the floor multiple times a day, clogging the bathtub drain, constantly picking hair off the pillow and my clothes bother me so very much. And what's up with the uneven hair loss ratio - why can't the hair on my legs and underarm fall off instead of from my head. Totally unfair to say the least. I've cut myself trying to shave my legs a few times and bled for 10 minutes or so. And I only did it because I was feeling like a grizzly bear and hoped that shaving would make me feel better about having some semblance of normalcy. Nope, nicking myself and waiting forever for the bleeding to stop didn't make me feel normal.

[Momto5boyz]

why ISN'T leg hair affected? No fair. P

This is exactly how I feel... Why should we still have to shave legs & underarms '.. It's so unfair!!

[Rob in PA]

"Crap sack"?? Lol

Ilove it!!never heard it called that before. Yes, my hair thinned, but it came back.

Best, Rob

[Annemiek]

After 6 rounds of folfox I no longer referred to the stuff on my head as hair, but as 'feathers'. A year later it has returned to normal.
However, i also lost all my hair under my armpits, and IT'S STILL GONE!
Didn't happen to the legs, had an involuntary landingstrip at some point, but somehow that did grow back a little bit. Still very thin bushes not that I mind.

I used some stuff from the salon called olaplex. It worked really well! Do it after yiu finished though, it's a waste otherwise.

Good Luck!

Annemiek

We call mine Ipoop

[JDMNYC]

Okay, I know I shouldn't fuss. A lot of folks have it worse than I do.

I think you're entitled to fuss. If we had to go by the "somebody worse off" standard, there'd only be that one guy who is able to complain

[juliej]

I also had VERY long hair (almost to my bum) that I cut to shoulder length after finishing chemoradiation, mostly because I wanted a change. I intend to grow it long again, at least mid-back length, once this mess is over.

Two more treatments - then my body can get some rest and begin repairing itself! And yeah, why ISN'T leg hair affected? No fair.

After you're done with treatment, you can take Biotin to speed up hair regrowth. Mine thinned a lot on chemo but it started coming back just a few weeks after I finished. I couldn't tell at first, but my hair stylist saw rows and rows of new hair on my scalp. It made my head kind of lumpy for a few weeks until the new hairs laid down, but now it's just as thick as it was before.

Oh, and I had hair loss everywhere - underarms and legs! Eyebrows were thin but hung in there.