Lung cancer patient on Tarceva

[Charliek1]

Hi all I’m new to this got told I had lung cancer at the end of January started on Tarceva in February and delighted with the treatment and feeling very lucky.i got the rash on face and upper body after 3 weeks taking tablets but it’s cleared up on 100mg twice a day of minocin I am losing my hair the last few weeks I was wondering if anyone can tell me if I will lose it all thanks collette

[dflem94268]

Hello, when I was on Tarceva my hair started thinning between months 5 and 8. After that it grew very slow and got wiry feeling like an SOS pad. I went through purchasing wigs but I still had hair so they didn't fit properly. I then ended up just doing the wash and wear as it appeared to be curly. No one knew how coarse it was and I got use to it. My hair was the longest and thickest it's ever been then in my life then I got the diagnose. I also take Biotin 5000 to help with nails, hair and skin. On Inspire.com a group of Tarceva survivors put together Tarceva busters here is the link. You will need to join the site, it helped me A LOT before going on Tarceva so I had the products ready when needed.

I also use Clindamycin lotion for the rash that eventually will come and go. It's prescription because it's a topical antibiotic. Mine was mostly on the face, my Onc didn't want me to have to take another pill that comes with it's own side effects so gave me that. A little dab morning and night will do you as it can be drying if used too much. In a few days the rash is gone it was my wonder lotion when I was on Tarceva.

inspire.com/groups/american...

All the best to you!!!

[Charliek1 in reply to dflem94268]

Thanks so much for your reply xx

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

The amount of hair loss varies from person to person. Even people taking the same drugs for the same cancer will have a different amount of hair loss. How much hair you lose depends on the drug and the dose. Please see the following link to Macmillan which gives quite a lot of information regarding hair loss.

macmillan.org.uk/cancer-inf... Hope this is informative.

Kind regards,

All the team at the Roy Castle Helpline

[Charliek1 in reply to RoyCastleHelpline]

Thanks so much xx