Hello totsweet74

Thank you for posting in our Ask the Nurses topic area. The nurse team are now out of the office for the festive period.

The office reopens on Wednesday 28^th to 30th Dec 9 am to 5 pm. Then closed 5 pm 30th Dec, back on 3rd Jan 2023 to 6th Jan, as normal 9 am to 5 pm.

They will reply as soon as they can but you’re also welcome to contact them on 0808 800 4040 during opening hours.

Best wishes,
Jenn
Cancer Chat moderator

Hello there and thanks for posting

I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis earlier in the year and can appreciate you wanting to do all you can to look after yourself moving forward.

It can be overwhelming searching on line for information and as you say there is alot of opinions and theories about fad diets and food groups and cancer and it can be difficult to know what to believe or to do for the best.

We have information about the Budwig diet involving flax seed here but as you can read for yourself there doesn't seem to be the evidence to suggest this diet can improve outcomes for patients, however there is no reason why linseed can't be eaten as part of a balanced diet.

Our advice generally to people is to eat as balanced and healthy diet as possible as mentioned here as well as maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol, not smoking and taking regular exercise. 

Breast cancer now here also has some useful information about breast cancer, diet, lifestyle and preventing cancer recurrence.

I hope this is helpful but do get back if you have more questions or feel free to call the nurses on 0808 800 4040, we're here week days 9-5 ( excluding bank holidays).

All the best

Naomi

Hi Tootsweet

So glad you got through your treatment.  I am recently diagnosed with TNBC and started chemo last week. 

Do you mind asking how you coped with the chemo? How many sessions did you have?   I am also terrified of a recurrence and am anxious about my second chemo session which is this Friday. 

Sueby x

Hi Sueby

I'm so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I was diagnosed is May and had 16 sessions of chemo. 12 sessions of Paclitaxel (weekly) and then 4 sessions of EC (2 weekly). The Paclitaxel or Taxol as it is sometimes called was absolutely fine. I didn't really have any side effects from that other than tiredness the afternoon following the treatment but the next day I was back to feeling like myself and was able to carry on doing my normal everyday activities. I felt great right through having that treatment. The EC on the other hand is a bit different. I had it every 2 weeks. It did make me feel really tired but then I couldn't sleep and also gave me hot flushes which were quite frequent. But it's there to do a job and it is very doable so just take it as it comes. What treatments are you having?

I also used the scalp cooling cap during my treatments. I kept my hair all through the Taxol treatment. It did start to thin when I started the EC. My hair was quite short anyway, I had a bob hairstyle. After treatment finished I continued to lose it so I had it cut into a pixie cut. Even though it is shorter than I would like, I still have a full head of hair, so the cap worked well. Are you using the cooling cap?

I had a lumpectomy and full axilla node clearance in November, there was no sign of the cancer even before surgery. I start Radiotherapy in Jan and then I have 18 weeks of oral chemo. Which does help to prevent a recurrence. So I still have a little way to go but it's worth it and I'll take everthing they give me! 

Just take it one day at a time. Take everything they throw at you.  It is daunting and you will feel anxious, it's only natural, but you will get through this. Stay positive. 
 

Hope that helps but if you need to chat I'm here anytime.

Take care x

Hey Sueby, I've just come across this. I finished all my treatment in October. I had weekly paclitaxal and Carboplatin for 12 weeks and then moved onto Ec. 
my advice is take your domperion anti sickness when needed but just remember that they will start making you abit constipated after a while. Get some pistachios for this as it helped me massively. Keep an eye on ur temperature and any questions do not be afraid to ask your Chemo team. They are amazing and there's nothing that they don't know or can't find out. Chat to the other people in there too, I had amazing advice from people that were afew weeks ahead of me etc and I felt at ease talking to them. I also joined a TN cancer group on Facebook. It's were I vented my frustrations out and also received fantastic advice.

good luck with your treatment. I'm not going to say it's going to be easy but I tried to find a positive out of any negative 

huggles