My hair is getting very thin.

[Tulsa]

Thinning hair started two months after finishing six treatments of Carboplatin. I was also hospitalised for a week, six days after last treatment, with pneumonia. Has anyone experienced this and hopefully does it start to grow back?

[wendydee]

Hi Tulsa

I don't have any diresct experience, as I did not need chemo for my ovarian cancer but one thought that occurs to me is this: Have you tried talking to your nurse specialist? I know quite a few women who have been through chemo and they are all now growing hair back. I'm sure yours will grow back too. There's a great organisation called Look Good, Feel Better. They run sessions for women who have been through chemo and are absolutely wonderful at making you feel more like your old self. Their email is [e-mail]. They have branches all over the UK.

Good Luck, and I hope you'll be feeling stronger with each day now you've finished the chemo and hopefully kicked the pneumonia into touch

Love Wendy xx

[Hidden]

Sorry to read of your problems. I had 6 sessions of carboplatin. I was lucky enough to get through without contracting any infections - I think this was because I take Transfer Factors to support my immune system throughout. However, infections are very common, and the ongoing side effects can last for ages. I suffered very little hair loss ( although, I'm sure yours will grow again), but had horrible tendonitis in any tendon I used for over a year. I just carried on regardless whenever possible. Also, I was anaemic for 18 months (am still slightly), and recovery from chemo is much longer than it seems on the surface.

It is a time to be very careful of your diet and to take supplements and vitamins to help you body to recover - these things are often overlooked or dismissed by the medical world. The poisoning of chemo is a serious assault on your body which needs time, rest and support to recover from.

Look after yourself - just because the treatment has finished, the repercussions for your body have not.

Very best wishes,

Isadora.

[Tulsa]

Thank you Wendy and Isadora for such supportive answers. I must admit I have really been overlooking the longer term effects of the chemo because I felt every lasting symptom was a result of the pneumonia. I am certainly going to take your advice and also learn to accept that it will all take longer to recover from than I expected. I guess I was so relieved to have the surgery (total hysterectomy) and chemo over with that I just thought I would bounce back to normal. You live and learn. Thanks both.