The chemo side effect no-one tells you about

Hello everyone,

I spoke with my nurse oncologist specialist when it got to a point that when I wiped myself after peeing I felt I was taking the skin off my private parts!

she suggested I used moist toilet wipes which I told her I already was ( followed by medicated powder as I was so worried about getting an infection down there) At which point she prescribed me Instillagel which is a local anaesthetic & disinfectant/lubrication gel.

i don’t know why this isn’t listed as a side effect as surely it must happen to many of us and go on to cause more problems if not treated properly.

I hope this helps anyone just starting their journey 

Thank you for the heads up on that ! Surely this should  be standard prescription to patients going through  chemo??

Unfortunately I found there are a lot of things that even when you tell your team you are suffering they may not prescribe straight away. Lansoprazole was another one that I didn’t get straight away.This is for the acid indigestion that you may get. Your whole GI tract is under attack from chemo.for me it was so bad I could hardly swallow water. It was on round 3 I finally got given it and I only need to take one and it means I can eat & drink almost normally. 
definitely advocate for yourself if you have any symptoms. I wish you all the very best Newbiggirl

Thanks for this!!  I had to do a special search to realise this was A Thing, but it's been a wretched business for the last couple of weeks.  Like sitting on razor blades.  I nearly cancelled a scan appointment because of the difficulty to coping with the pain & lying still.

I suppose Macmillan thought that it wasn't worth mentioning in their literature because it's such an indelicate subject and it only applied to women anyway, so why bother?

Deeply unimpressed,

Cecren

I searched the Internet & tried many products. Yes VM was the only gel that worked for me. All those symptoms had passed a few years ago, but, unfortunately chemotherapy put me straight back into the menopause. Yes VM is hormone free, I went to order on the Internet & found out it is now available on a NHS prescription, we are also exempt from prescription charges (cancer diagnosis) maybe ask your doctor for a prescription to see if it works for you.