Anemia

mg042721, Hi Meg, Congratulations on completing your treatment!! I am sorry to hear you are having issues with shortness of breath and dizziness. I don't remember being short of breath or being  dizzy after treatment, but there may be some who have had this issue. 

If it were me, I would strongly express my concerns with your Oncologist again immediately. I do know my Mom was experiencing shortness of breath and had a very low hemoglobin and was given 2 infusions due to AmpullaryCarcinoma cancer. However she has not had chemo or radiation therapy. 

It is always best to address your symptoms head on and let your Doctors know your concerns even if it takes several calls. 

Hopefully someone will respond with more information soon.

God Bless, Theresa

 Hi Meg, congratulations on finishing your treatment!  Sorry you’re having problems with anaemia, it’s a common problem with chemo but obviously you need to be certain what’s causing it.

I had a transfusion about 10 days into treatment but refused the 2nd one & changed my diet to get more iron instead - they were going against UK guidelines & I’d had time to do some homework!  But I didn’t have the symptoms you’ve got.

Did they give you your haemoglobin levels? & is there any way you could get a second opinion?  x  toni

Toni, 

I believe my red blood cell count was 9 and my white blood cell count was 2. I went to the emergency room 2 days ago because I was worried. They consulted with my oncologist and he said my symptoms were from the chemo treatment. I’m still worried though.

Hi  after treatment I noticed that when I walked upstairs I became breathless and a bit dizzy. My blood tests showed that I was anaemic (as a result of the treatment, I had never previously been anaemic). I bought a liquid iron supplement called Floravital which was yeast and gluten free. You do need to be careful with iron supplements as they can cause constipation although I understand that the liquid varieties are less likely to have this effect. After taking Floravital  for about 2 months my bloods showed I was no longer anaemic. Just run this by your treating team or GP before taking it. My GP advised it was fine for me to take but I don't know what other medication you are on.  Hope this helps. Bev 

Hi I finished treatment end of March. This week now, four of my fingernails broke off, right down to the quick, I looked more closely and there is a faint white band across all my fingernails growing through and it has reached the place where the nail leaves the nailbed and becomes your fingernail, they are all breaking off because it is a weak band.Has anyone else had this ?

I find the hospital doctors hold their hands up and say "nothing to do with me i'm a surgeon", or "I just deal with your actual treatment, it's not my area", and the nurse for the day says, "go to your GP." That gp who misdiagnosed me for three years. Ha ha.

It must be the radio chemo, ?? that phase of debilitation coming out, you know, like hair falling out. 

I spoke to the theatre nurse today ( taking biopsies on my scar tissue under gas, "just in case") and it was the usual, "this is a very strong treatment and you would be dead without it " reply which is pretty standard if you ask about any chronic side effects.

We know and we are grateful but it is tedious as a roll out every time you say, I think im anaemic, or my deep bum muscles have been blasted and I cant put my leg over a style on a walk, can I see a phisio?, or I have had cystitus for 3 months will it ever improve ?, or my vagina seems to have closed !, or I piss like a lawn sprayer. "Well you have had a serious treatment and you can expect side effects" standard reply . . . . . no depth, easy reply that you already know and kind of invalidates our understandable concern for some side effect like Megs anemia.

I'm guessing my fingernails could be related, maybe I will eat a whole load of iron rich stuff, like Guiness ! or Irn Bru, or indeed floradix.

Good luck and stay in the group, it's a great hive mind for us bum belle bees.

Sarah L.

Hi Twigley I agree it is tedious to have the same line trotted out when you report side effects. Much better to have some solutions suggested. Not heard anyone mention the nail issue but just check you’re getting enough calcium in your diet. I tried calcium tablets but had to half the dose as I found they were bloating my stomach and causing wind. One other tip with calcium tablets is not to take the full dose in one go, it is better absorbed if taken in smaller doses. Bev. 

Hi thanks yes, I looked it up on this Macmillan website just now, and theres a paragraph about fingernails and hands, I did have a bit of hand soreness so I guess this is a commonish side effect, breaking nails.  They gave me vit B6 to take every day, the nurse didn't really know why and said I didn't have to take it, I took it, and used washing up gloves as advised.  It would probably have been worse without it ? I did google it and it was the result of a successful trial that had been done in the past.

I will try to call my nurse and address the other problems, it seems that they do the three month check and hope to leave you till the next time, I wish it were so.

I was a bit breathless and dizzy during treatment, I ran for the bus once and really damn near fainted. I'm a whole lot better now though, but not 100% yet, getting there though. Don't worry, keep doing your best and it will improve.

Hi Meg,

yes, I was anaemic before chemo started. Short of breath especially going up stairs and then I started taking iron tablets at the same time as chemo and I ended up reducing down to 2 tablets per day. Just over the counter pills. My stools are black and I’m hoping I can drop down to one pill at some point mainly cause I get constipated.
I’ve also had problems with my nails. A couple of toenails have started to go black. I’ve heard that dark nail polish helps. I’m trying it. 
When I’ve had various problems in the past (thought I had a fistula at one point as gunk was coming out of me from everywhere) when I questioned it I was dismissed with ‘well anything is possible’ really not very helpful. Things are getting more manageable now. Thankfully. 
I hope things improve for you too. 

Twigley  “bum belle bees” - that’d be a great name for this group!  x toni

I donate the Bum Belle Bees to the anal cancer forum.