Seven days since 1st Docetaxel infusion and feeling worse now than the first couple of days after treatment.
Patient
I’m feeling incredibly tired and weak— much more than before the chemo. Muscle aches, bone aches and other pain such as headaches. Also some gastrointestinal issues. For 6 weeks I have been on opioids for extreme pain and a month ago was prescribed Senna, docusate, and MiraLAX (all daily) to help with constipation. It took a couple of days but eventually the laxatives worked.
I stopped taking the laxatives a few days after the chemo treatment because they were working too much: I was getting stomach cramps and having bowel movements much more frequently.
It’s now to the point where I don’t think I’m eating nearly enough to be having this many bowel movements. They are rather large movements but normal in other respects, except I get an extreme urge to go. I’m not exaggerating when I say I strongly believe I am not eating enough food to have this much bowel movement.
I have to force myself to eat and it’s not a lot. I started to think maybe my body is starting to cannibalize itself from the inside. I even entertained the thought that those stupid infomercials that try to sell you something to clean your colon because it’s harboring a 30 pound rock might be true and I’m only getting rid of that rock. (yes I know that’s a crazy thought but welcome to my world)
I was supposed to start Zytiga (at home) two days ago but with this pain and fatigue I’m dealing with I was afraid to start it. And with how my stomach has been feeling I’m not looking forward to taking four large Zytiga tablets on an empty stomach and then dealing with whatever side effects come from that.
With the weekend over going to call my oncologist today. It also feels like I have a sore throat, a little scratchy when I swallow. I thought perhaps I was getting sick but I didn’t have a temperature. No other issues other than the extreme fatigue, bone and body aches, stomach cramps, and a general feeling of malaise.
I had been taking several other cancer drugs and was just starting to feel less pain to the point I was about to taper off the Oxycodone. But now the pain has returned with a vengeance.
Maybe I am naïve but what I originally read led me to believe that the effects of chemo would last maybe 24 to 48 hours and then I would start feeling better. Instead I felt pretty good for 48 hours and then started feeling a lot worse.
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