Influenza (Flu) after Oxalyplatin

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lakeswim
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:37 am

Influenza (Flu) after Oxalyplatin

Postby lakeswim » Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:27 am

(Note that I titled this "influenza" because when I went to search on FLU, it said that these 3 letters are too common to search.)

I have the flu. My first fever/illness since chemo last summer.

Yesterday was a little jarring. As soon as the fever came on, my feet/ankles and hands/lower arms became extremely tingly and numb. My hands were just shy of clawing. I was concerned enough (after a few hours of this with no improvement) to call my doctor's office after hours. The on-call PCP told me that because the flu is an inflammatory process, it kicks off inflammation in my nerves, which triggered the neuropathy. The numbness and tingling came on fast and came on strong. I wouldn't say it was stronger than chemo - just very different and wider-spread. It was concerning because it lasted so long and it felt like my hands might lose all blood supply (doc said it's nerves - not blood - so I didn't need to worry).

I experimented with cold packs on my hands and it didn't seem to help, so I then took a hot bath for a good hour. The heat seemed to help more, which is odd because heat usually bothers my toes/feet more than cold. Anyway, could be a coincidence but the tingling started going away SLOWLY shortly thereafter and I woke up today with my normal mild neuropathy (no fever so far today - so we will see).

Note that I did need to stop Oxalyplatin shy of 8 rounds due to hand clawing and leg muscle cramps. But I have been lucky enough that, so far, I only live with mild numbness in my feet and toes. I hope it remains that way.

I'm sure this post won't apply to many people but I wanted to share.
Female - RC dgns @ 49 y
Adenocarcinoma
10-11 cm from anal verge ("large")
Stage 3a - T4N0M0
FOLFOX May -Sept 18
Capecetabine + Radiation - 28 sessions - Oct - Nov 18
Jan 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone, Chest/ab CT no change
Feb 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone
W&W (must travel)
.....W&W surveillance 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023....
Jan 24 - approaching 5 years this Spring with W&W surveillance to end.
*grateful*

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O Stoma Mia
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Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:29 am
Location: On vacation. Off-line for now.

Re: Influenza (Flu) after Oxalyplatin

Postby O Stoma Mia » Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:05 pm

lakeswim wrote:(Note that I titled this "influenza" because when I went to search on FLU, it said that these 3 letters are too common to search.)...

There are, in fact, some threads here on 'flu', for example:

Flu shots?
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43717&p=311807#p311807

You might want to read this thread because it has some interesting observations on immunizations and chemo.

And there are some other FLU threads here as well:

Some flu threads


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