As a breast cancer patient, you go through a ton of side effects from treatment.

I always felt as though the treatment for cancer is more or less ‘fighting fire with fire’ in a sense that you’re basically using poison to fight off something else deadly.

Now that’s not the most positive way to look at it, I know. But isn’t that the truth?

At the same time, I’m grateful for the medicine available to us and am hopeful that research will continue to lead to better treatment options for patients in future.

Even though I experienced some ups and downs, set backs, and strange side effects, I know I am fortunate to have gotten through my treatment on a good timeline.

Bear in mind these are just the top 10 side effects I experienced but plenty of other people experience different side effects (or unfortunately, more).

I’d love for the community to share what they experienced by leaving a comment down below. Let’s start a conversation so we can bring awareness to those newly diagnosed or currently going through treatment and hopefully we can support one another and provide a little relief where possible!

Number 1) The way your hair falls out on your head is shocking, to say the least. It only takes 1-2 treatments before hair comes out quite rapidly. At first you notice quite a bit in your brush, then you start waking up to little clumps on your pillow, and eventually throughout the day, it’s everywhere— on the toilet seat when you sit down, on the collar of your shirt, all inside the toque you might have on… I know I chose to shave my head quite early on because it was less depressing and upsetting than seeing clumps of hair come out. The day I chose to shave my head I could literally run my hands through my hair and take out chunks. Hair loss has got to be one of the most upsetting side effects of cancer treatment out there. But do know there are methods to preserve a lot of your hair i.e.: cold capping— if you used this method and were successful— drop a comment down below and help a fellow thriver out! I chose not to bother with anything… I looked at the shaving of my head as a sort of rebirth… cocoon to butterfly sort of thing. But I know some women find comfort in their hair and so I’d give this cold-capping some quick research and a shot if it’s extremely important to you!

Number 2) Alright, prep yourself for TMI… but I have to say one of the worst side effects for me was good ol’ constipation. Holy shit— no pun intended… 10/10 terrible. The anti-nausea drugs they give you often cause constipation and since I already lean that way naturally, I really struggled with this for weeks, if not months. I had to take a ton of Senokot daily, get in my exercise and drink plenty of water (though I already did!) My number one tip for this is, if you’re backed up, don’t hold back on the Senokot… get ahead of this or else you’ll be very uncomfortable for days, weeks, if not, months on end!

Number 3) Annnnnd to build upon my last point: extreme constipation can cause haemorrhoids and, wow, all I can say is: ouch. Obviously. For me it got so bad, I would cry every time I did have to use the washroom. I would call the nurses hotline in the middle of the night and ask for advice— painkillers, creams, wipes, you name it, I tried it during this time. I eventually visited the hospital between rounds of chemo and was given a special cleansing bottle (ones women are often given post-birth if they had a tear) so that I could be extra delicate with myself down there… it took weeks to heal up but I eventually weened off of the anti-nausea drugs and got ahead of things with Senokot and survived.

Number 4) Nausea. For me, I was so over the constipation and haemorrhoids situation that I opted not to take many anti-nausea pills. I would rather get sick then feel that pain. I was lucky enough not to feel too terrible from the drugs so that trade-off worked in my favour… there was only once or twice where I spent the night curled up on the bathroom floor getting sick…

Wig, false lashes, and a whole lot of acne.

Number 5) Acne. With my first cocktail of chemotherapy drugs, my skin had become the clearest it had ever been in my life. And when I put on my false lashes, wig and cute outfit, I actually felt so confident! But alas, it didn’t last… my second cocktail of chemo which included Taxol gave me a subtle allergic reaction and it happened to be a face rash in the form of little acne spots. I felt so ugly— bald, bad skin, dark circles under my eyes, dry patches… it was not cute, but we move on and dig deep— our souls are what show true beauty, not our physical features. “This too shall pass”. Now that I’m on hormone-related drugs though, my skin still isn’t great. It never has been, never will be. Both for genetic and cancer-related reasons…

Number 6) Complete hairlessness. I didn’t hate this side effect, to be honest. I didn’t grow armpit hair, I didn’t have to shave down there— it was great! Other than having to fill in my eyebrows, glue on false lashes, and plop on a wig, it was nice not worrying so much about body hair. I will say though, once your hair does start growing back, it starts in all the ‘worst places’ fastest… pubic hair, armpit hair, you name it. I felt like I couldn’t catch much of a break in the beauty department haha! But again, this isn’t the end of the world and we get by…

Number 7) Port blockages. When you have a portacath in your chest like I did, often times the nurses struggle to access it correctly due to little clots or blockages. Which is a bit unsettling. I was overall pretty lucky with this but there were a few times in which I’d have to raise my arms, swing them in circles, and get up and move my body a bit before they could properly draw blood from it (an indicator that the chemotherapy would be received properly). I know for some women they get complete blockages and issues with their port which can prevent treatment from happening that day… or forcing them to use their hand or what have you. Did this happen to you? If so, comment down below and let us know what the workaround was for you! I know drinking water and getting in movement can really help prevent this so I highly recommend light exercise and a good routine way of eating/drinking.

Number 8) Fear of Infection. Cancer patients are recommended to avoid razors, cuticle cutters, regular floss, etc. to avoid any kind of infection. Because chemotherapy lowers our white blood cell count so drastically we are super susceptible to infection. Any little cut can cause a major infection so I had to be careful in how I groomed myself. I ended up switching to a water flosser temporarily, used a soft bristle toothbrush, didn’t bother to shave, and was extra careful when cutting my nails, for instance. What other things were you recommended to avoid or be careful with?! Drop a comment below!

Number 9) Fear of airborne infection. I went through my treatment around the time of covid. Even before the pandemic hit I was recommended to wear a mask when in crowded spaces. I was already wearing a medical mask at the gym the winter before. So now that the pandemic is over… if you see someone wearing a mask it’s likely because they have health issues and aren’t afraid of Covid per se… but rather everything, sadly. We’re allowed to protect ourselves so hold back your judgement! Malls, theatres, gyms… wear a mask if you can and stay safe during chemo!

Number 10) Lastly, I’d like to point out that because I am triple positive (this includes HER2+) I needed to go on months of Herceptin treatment on top of chemotherapy. One nasty side effect of this is damage to your heart. Now, I don’t know the technical parts of the heart, the numbers they track and monitor and all that. But I do recall there is a certain marker in which if it dips below 50 you cannot receive Herceptin treatment… when I took my first heart scan I was at a “very high, healthy number”. To put it in perspective, at my lowest my function was at 51. I barely scraped by being able to continue treatment and on time… I remember being so stressed I’d have to postpone treatment for weeks if not months had my body (heart) not been able to keep up! I am not sure if my active lifestyle had any positive impact in this regard but I imagine it must have because genetically, heart problems run in my family so I was convinced I’d be set back here… Did you struggle with this? Let me know in the comments— big hugs to you!

So that’s it. Those were some of my most ‘strange’/crummy side effects to cancer treatment. If you’re NOT a cancer patient— did they surprise you? Why or why not?! And if you were/are, did you experience the same things? If so, tell me about it! Drop a comment below or shoot me an email/Instagram DM and let’s chat!

Again, I’d love to hear about your experiences so we can spread awareness and help one another out!

Thanks for reading!

XO Steph

#shestaysstrong

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