About a month after I started a course of oral chemotherapy, I developed symptoms that were similar to hay fever: head full of mucus, runny nose, runny and sore eyes, increased deafness. However it was November and I've never had real hay fever in my life before. The symptoms continued throughout my treatment and beyond: I finished my chemotherapy in April 2025 and still have the problems today (August 2026).
My oncologist tells me that these are not known side effects of the chemotherapy drug, and no hay fever treatments - either commercial ones from the chemist or those prescribed by my GP - help in the slightest. I have had allergy tests which have all been negative.
Has any else suffered these mysterious symptoms? If so, did they eventually stop or did you find some cure for the condition?
Hi Morphey and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community and, although I've had chemotherapy, I didn't suffer from hay fever type symptoms. I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet so responding to you will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussion list again.
If you don't get any replies here, it might be an idea to also post in the bile duct cancer group, which I can see you've joined, to see if anybody else with the same type of cancer as you has had these side effects when taking capecitabine.
While you're waiting for replies, it would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
