These folks have a great system for icing down while doing chemo. They have two circuits for your hands and two for your feet. Way better than using ice or similar.
For extra they can add an additional circuit for your scalp if you give them enough time to do a special configuration.
"This would enable you to do all four limbs. Please notice on this link that this system is made-to-order and may not ship for 3-5 business days after the order is placed. Please contact us with additional questions."
looks reasonable. the cancer center i go to has a brochure for a company that "rents" cold caps for about the same cost per month that this costs to buy. it would be interesting to know how much they charge for the cold cap option. Penguin something is the rip off rental. If I do chemo again i will consider this system.
I was setting this up prior to my chemo regimen, unfortunately the cap wasn't done in time, so didn't do it for my 1st session. Lol, that was enough, hair fell out anyways, and I got neuropathy in my finger tips & feet. But 2nd - 6th I used ice bags on my feet and hands as well as eating ice chips during infusion! I will attest that my personal experience is that the ice definitely helped. Using the ice I didn't feel the effects as much, they were still there, but less. No metal taste in the mouth, hands seemed better. But post infusions and still today, the neuropathy is there. Like I have calluses on my finger tips, numbness from balls of feet to toes. Funny thing is I believe the chemo (Docetaxel) also affected my skin and metabolism, big time. As the nurse mentioned to me, the toxicity of the chemo is no joke, it attacks a lot of cellular structure. Everyone is different though. The metabolism issue impacted me as I was using Orgovyx at the time and experienced an absorption issue and switched to injections (Degarelix) which resolved that.
Anyways... Ice, or cooling systems are the way to go! If you're getting chemo, if I ever have a 2nd go at it, will definitely be setting it up well before hand and getting this type system in place!
I wish I had known about icing before I went through docetaxel 6 years ago, but it all came up so suddenly that I barely had time to think at the time. I had been 'coasting' along on just Lupron for several years, then my PSA started up like a rocket and next thing I knew I was in chemo. The oncologist said I'd lose my hair but it would come back, so I didn't stress too much. Turns out that wasn't exactly correct. A fair portion of the hair on my head did return, but definitely not all of it, and I lost all but a few hairs of my moustache permanently. That last part really bothers me, I've had at least a moustache, and usually a goatee or full beard, since I was an adult. I don't care for my appearance with a bare face, so now I have a scraggly beard with no moustache, and much thinner hair up top. Of course, icing wouldn't have helped my moustache unless I buried my face in it. I'm just irritated the oncologist didn't tell me that it was know docetaxel was known to cause permanent hair loss in a number of patients.
If anyone has a link showing icing helps ward off peripheral neuropathy during docetaxel, I’d appreciate it. I’ve looked but what I found was iffy. I’m going for round 7 on July 7 and it’s starting to be an issue.
4 of 6 studies showed benefit of peripheral cooling in reducing Chemo Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN). Studies included Taxane based and platinum-based drugs. The 6 studies reviewed used different protocols including temperatures, length of cooling, design controls, follow-ups and analysis. Some of the studies were quite small. Total cooling times ranged from 1.5 to 4.0 hours. 2 studies used frozen socks/gloves at -25C -30C. 1 study used only compression to mildly drop fingertip temperature. All of these variations created difficulties for comparisons. 3 of 4 studies using a “greater degree of cooling” had significant benefits reducing severity of peripheral neuropathy, although carried a small but serious risk of frostbite. The authors state “At this time, there is insufficient evidence for or against the use of peripheral cooling to prevent” CIPN. Yet conclude that a greater amount of cooling, compared to lesser may provide a benefit.
I found this study easier to read. An advantage of this study is that it focuses only on Taxane based drugs. It draws from 9 studies and stated "Cryotherapy is likely to prevent TIPN in patients receiving taxanes.” TIPN is Taxane Induced Peripheral Neuropathy. This analysis was also hampered by many of the issues in the previous study but did not include platinum based drugs and only looked at physical cooling treatments. The analysis concludes that because of “the low quality and limited number of clinical trials on this topic, the efficiency of cryotherapy in preventing TIPN is still inconclusive.”
My Take-aways:
If I were starting Docetaxel today, I would likely include a physical cooling treatment with a “greater degree of cooling” . The protocol is unresolved so that requires a different approach for a solution than looking at studies.
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