What to expect from Chemo

  Wingsuit dodgy 1970s vampire movie ! I came across this term the other day and tentatively looked it up! 

You’re the only other person I’ve come across who had first bite! Nobody warned me about this and when I told the oncologist I thought she was making up the name!

It’s horrible isn’t it!   
It’s now 6 months since my chemo ended and sometimes I find myself about to take a bite and expect a shock.  Obviously nothing happens but there are times when I half expect it!

How long did it take?

It’s funny, I never got used to it. It would take me by surprise every time! The funny thing is that I was sitting in my conservatory after the chemo and I put a ginger sweet in my mouth. When the pain came, I immediately spat the sweet out, thinking it had caused the pain. You know what? I NEVER found the sweet I spat out. It was 4 months ago and it’s never turned up!

For the “first bite” to go completely?  Two weeks after my last infusion.  It was the Oxaliplatin infusion that brought it on and it lasted two weeks each time. Maybe a day or so longer with the last infusion as it builds up in your system 

First bite was one of the reasons that we started the chemo top tips link! A forum member posted that they’d had a first bite shock and was really worried until she remembered she’d seen it in the top tips link so realised it was a normal side effect after all. 
I remember eating a sandwich while listening to a colleague telling a tale and she looked quite worried at the expression on my face as the first bite hit! Only found I got it for the first couple of days after the infusion though? 
Have you checked the bottom of your sock for the sticky sweet?  x

Hi Wingsuit, I actually meant the entire treatnent. I'm so  "looking forward" to start mine and have my own first bites and cold hands. My appointment is on the 24th.
I thank you and everyone else for your responses, not only for the insights but it is also great to know that there are other (great) people out there in a similar situation.

During my first infusion it was lunch time and they brought soup and sandwiches round.one bite of the sandwich and wow first bite syndrome.I stuck to the soup on subsequent visits.

Kath

Hi Rich,

sorry for the late reply. 
I had my operation on March the 6th last year and finished my 4 rounds of chemo (3 week cycles)  by mid July.  By the 30th of Aug I was postcreteing in a 8ft 4*4 fence post to start my fence project!  To be fair, I could only manage a post a weekend, it knackered me. 

There is life after this!  Yes, my energy levels still drop rapidly in the evening but even that’s getting better. 

Best of luck, Paul