Cold Packs During Chemo

[NDJIM]

After a bit over 5 years on Abirateron and then Xtandi, my Oncologist feels that it’s time to start me on Docetaxyl. Does anyone have experience with cold head wraps, mitts and socks to prevent hair loss and neuropathy? I have to keep working in the public during treatment, so minimizing would be very helpful. On cosmetic terms, I could give a rats as- as long as it helps put the beast back in its cage. Good health all.

[FCoffey]

I recently completed 8 rounds of Docetexel, and I used cold mitts, booties, and hats. Like you, I was less concerned about appearances, but I was quite concerned about neuropathy, which can be life-changing.

I bought 1 of these kits from Amazon:

amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZ4...

plus I bought 2 of the ice pack only refills:

amazon.com/dp/B0BV17DGG8

The hats in that kit didn't work very well, and the refill kits doesn't contain packs for the hats. I found the hats needed refreshing more often than the gloves and booties, so I also bought 2 set of hats:

amazon.com/gp/product/B08D9...

Most important question: did it work? There is strong research suggesting that it does, most of it for women who do have concerns about their hair. Of course I have the n=1 problem so I can't prove anything.

I can say that I have a full beard and was unable to find a way to effectively chill that. My beard went from quite full to very thin and wispy. If it hadn't recovered I would have shaved it off, it was that bad.

My hair, hands, and feet did just fine, so I think it worked.

You want to keep the packs really, really cold. I have a deep freeze with a setting that basically runs it continually. I would switch that on 24 hours before the docetaxel infusion. The temperature would get down to between -15 and -20 F.

The day before each infusion I would get an IV of selenium in Ringer's Lactate, prescribed by one of my doctors to limit toxicity.

On the way home I would pick up a slab of dry ice at the local grocery store, and put it in the cooler.

amazon.com/gp/product/B00BY...

That cooler turned out to be just the right size, and the handle and wheels made it convenient to get it into and out of the clinic.

The day of the infusion I would pack the well-frozen cold packs in the cooler with the dry ice in the bottom. At the clinic my fiancee would put the hat, gloves, and booties on me 30 minutes before the infusion started. (The infusion always started 10-20 minutes later than promised.) We bought an IR thermometer she used to monitor the temperatures, plus my own feelings. I kept these on throughout the 1-hour infusion and for 30 minutes afterwards, so over 2 hours total.

The studies on how long that I reviewed checked keeping the cold packs on 90 minutes and 45 minutes after infusion but not 30 minutes. They found that 45 was just as effective as 90 minutes.

You really need someone to help you; once the gloves are on you are pretty helpless. Normally I would read but that was out of the question, so I brought a tablet and watched movies, using earbuds.

Wear light socks and light gloves to protect your hands and feet from frostbite!

amazon.com/gp/product/B087Z...

I always wore socks but the first 2 infusions I did not wear gloves. The second infusion I got a nasty bit of frostbite on the last joint of my middle finger. The nerves in that finger were damaged long ago and I didn't feel the pain. I saw the well-frozen finger when we took the gloves off at the end. It was bad, I was afraid I might lose the fingertip, but it healed in 3 weeks.

So have your helper check your hands, feet, and head every 35-40 minutes.

Another tip from the doctor who prescribed the selenium infusions: If you start to feel any tingling or pinprick pains in your legs, arms, hands, feet, etc. massage the area with hemp seed oil.

amazon.com/gp/product/B09N6...

I only got prickly sensations a few times, always the night after the infusion or the next night. I would apply the oil and the pain would be gone in 10-20 minutes. The doctor claimed that treating it promptly prevented nerve damage that would make the pain recur.

I also did the fast mimicking diet as researched by Dr. Longo. My 100% conventional oncologist had recommended this book and was encouraging and supportive during my fasts.

amazon.com/gp/product/05255...

There is a fair bit of research published that provides good evidence that this helps reduce toxicities while possibly increasing the effect of the chemo. I would start fasting 3 days before the infusion, get the infusion while fasting on day 4, fast one more day after that. Docetaxel is mostly gone after 24 hours.

You can buy kits from a company set up by Dr. Longo. They are expensive but very convenient and make it easy to stick to the fast.

amazon.com/gp/product/B0BR8...

They worked for me, but I have a mild allergy to almonds, and on the Prolon diet the nut bars are mostly almonds. I found that having almonds make up 25% of my calories disagreed with me, so eventually I started making my own nut bars and buying powdered and canned vegetable-type soups. It's more work but with some effort you can duplicate the Prolon diet pretty closely.

I had zero nausea. After the 2nd infusion we stopped all the prednisone, both tablets and IV, as it causes a huge spike in glucose, defeating the purpose of the fast.

Good luck. The docetaxel didn't do much for me but it did make me eligible for Lu-177. That's the next phase of my journey.

[NDJIM in reply to FCoffey]

Thank you for the wonderful reply. It was most helpful. My Best, Jim.

[Mgtd in reply to FCoffey]

Saving this. Great write up. Complete and very through. Really appreciate your effort.

[spencoid2]

I also bought that Suzie crap. The other poster must have had small feet and hands. I am not an especially large person and none of the crap worked. Amazon gave me a full refund and let me keep the stuff. I made my own booties and mitts and i largely avoided peripheral neuropathy. I did not care about haie loss and shaved my head so as to avoid seeing it all fall out which it did. Came back paper white and curley. Now I dye it purple.

If i do chemo again I am going to get a totally different solution. It is more expensive but looks a while lot better than the Suzie crap. Their systems are customizable. They will make whatever you want but there would be a lead time on custom orders.

polarproducts.com/polarshop...

there is a head cooler option too

polarproducts.com/polarshop...

And another rip off. There is a company Penguin something or other that rents a similar kit for an absolutely insane price and has managed to get brochures into the cancer centers.

[FCoffey in reply to spencoid2]

I'm 6'4", I wear XL gloves and size borderline embarrassing shoes. I didn't have any problems with fit. The mitts in particular seems quite large.

[spencoid2 in reply to FCoffey]

maybe they increased the size after people like me complained.

[FCoffey in reply to spencoid2]

They offer S/M and L sizes. I bought the L size.

[spencoid2 in reply to FCoffey]

i bought the large too and they were marked large but they were not large. i made my own mitts and booties out of wet suit material and velcro. much easier to get on and off but as i said if i do chemo again i will get the $750 recirc thing The company seems flexible and i could probably get just the mitts and booties. i have tons of coolers to use and all sorts of 12 volt pumps and PID temp controllers. i love building stuff like this but if i only save a few hundred dollars will buy the complete system.

[HikerWife]

I would add - keep ice chips in your mouth every few minutes. Our infusion center had an ice chip machine & cups handy, and I tipped some into my husband's mouth every few minutes (we also used the mitts and booties - did not bother with head as we had read that it's very hard to get good coverage. Hair grows back, usually abundantly!) . Keeping his mouth and tongue cold (which constricts blood vessels, lessening amount of toxicity getting in), prevented the mouth and tongue sores that some chemo patients develop. My husband had no neuropathy and no mouth/tongue sores. Well worth the work and expense (we bought the same cooler too!😊)

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to HikerWife]

There is some evidence that ice chips in the mouth can cause micro cracks in the enamel which later leads to more caries 😃

[HikerWife in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

My understanding is that can happen when you chew ice.

[JJFR60]

I had Docetaxel back in 2015. My hospital provided the cold cap ( do use some pain killers like Tylenol because the headache the first 15 minutes is killing..) and mitts. I had almost no hair loss and definitely no neuropathy or nail damage. I would certainly recommend using the cap and the mitts.

Right now on cabazitaxel, with this chemo , the cap etc. are not necessary. Had 8 sessions and absolutely no hair loss.

Good luck with your chemo’s !

[carguy]

I completed 10 rounds of Docetaxel and iced my hands and feet during each infusion. I bought 2 sets each of hand mitts and booties on Amazon. I started icing a half hour before the infusion started and stopped a half hour after it ended. I switched out the mitts and booties half way through. I also sucked on ice cubes throughout. I think the ice helped immensely, I just have minor neuropathy in my left foot. I didn’t care about hair loss, so didn’t ice my head; the hair grew back nice and thick.

[Brysonal]

I had my Docetaxel in Finland and was iced as a matter of course. I won’t lie the hands and feet were painful ( I have Raynaud’s disease so never great with the cold) . The head wasn’t too bad for me. It took a lot of will power and the clock moved very slowly especially when the nurse changed the ice.

No regrets and I’d do it again as no neuropathy plus I kept my hair and for me the positive of that was having no clear signs of my cancer or treatment meant I could go about business as usual.

[j-o-h-n]

Important note:

Save the ice for your celebratory drinks...........

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[JohnInTheMiddle]

1. If you're going to fight neuropathy using ice, it's worth looking into fasting the day before in the day of etc. 2. I had the anti infection injection related to each infusion. I thought it was standard practice. Apparently it's not. Seems like a good idea.

3. I see you're very mature in your therapy journey. My understanding of Docetaxel was that it only works I'm fast dividing cells - thus hair falls out. But your cells have already been put to sleep or something by long-term therapy? I'd like to know more about why chemo is still viable in such a situation.

A big success for you!

[NDJIM]

My Oncoligist says that sometimes chemotherapy still works for guys like me. It’s also required before I can move on to Plivitico Lu177