Weekly Paclitaxel (Taxol) and Cold Cap

  • 3 replies
  • 85 subscribers
  • 127 views

Hello, 

I have been advised to restart chemotherapy as the immunotherapy hasn’t worked.  As the treatment is weekly by infusion for an hour I was going to try the cold cap as I absolutely hated losing my hair during last years treatment which was every three weeks and lasted nearly six hours so I didn’t try it.

Has anybody used the cold cap with Paclitaxol?  How did you get on?  

Thank you Mary

  • Hi Mary

    Am sorry to hear that the immunotherapy hasn't worked as hoped.

    I used the cold cap during my paclitaxel/carboplatin.

    I will pop a link - it worked for me. Paclitaxel is the one that tends to result in total hair loss. Carboplatin is more thinning. I can understand that it was really upsetting to lose your hair. For me the cooling cap gave a sense of control back and helped me disguise what I was dealing with. 

    My feeling was to give it a try and see how I got on. You can always stop at any point and they can turn the machine off straight away. But if you do plan to do it, then do it from the first session. 

    The Changing Faces of Cancer- Scalp cooling, Hair loss and Regrowth. - Macmillan Online Community

    This link is for Paxman.

    Home - Paxman

    Jane

           

    Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

  • Thank you for your kind words Jane, it is very useful to know it worked for you.  I’m still feeling so low that the immunotherapy hasn’t worked because I felt so ill on it too, that the thought of losing my hair again just feels the final straw.

  • I understand. Scalp cooling is definitely worth trying in my opinion. Also one other thing is that I would imagine the dose of paclitaxel each week would be less than the amount they give you on a 3 week cycle- so it may well be that will have a bearing on the success of the cold cap. 

           

    Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm