Most of us are familiar with chemotherapy medications having a ton of side effects. Like, an obnoxious amount.

If Adriamycin/Cytoxan or Taxol are in your chemo regimen, be sure to check out these two articles about common side effects! These are the side effects that can affect your health, so your medical team will likely warn you about them ahead of time.

This article, however, is on the other side effects. Your nurses might tell you about them… But likely you’ll hear it from a pink sister or friend of a friend. Or you’ll get through chemo and then find out others went through the exact same thing before you realize it was a result of chemo!

Caveat: I am by no means a doctor or medical professional! Side effects listed here are ones I experienced first-hand with dose-dense IV Adriamycin/Cytoxan and Taxol. And since everyone handles chemo differently, you may end up with all or none of these side effects. Chemo is a bundle of surprises like that.

Being Cold with Hot Flashes

IV Chemo can wreak havoc on your blood vessels. (That’s why doctors often recommend getting a port-a-cath – your veins may be harder to find the further you get into chemo.) As such, blood circulation can be an issue, which also screws with your thermoregulation. Not to mention you’ve lost all the hair on your body, so you’ve lost that insulating layer.

On the other hand, you’re in a drug-induced menopause, which means hot flashes! (Never thought at 33 years old I’d be bonding with my mom over hot flashes…)

Be prepared to dress in layers, like a tank top with a zip hoodie, a hat you can easily pull off, etc. I went through chemo in the middle of winter, so I was often bundled up in the house. But every hour or so in the evening I’d be stripping off my hoodie, hat, socks, and rolling my sweatpants up… Only to redress 15 minutes later.

Tasting Saline

Some people, myself included, can taste the saline when their port is flushed. I can’t adequately describe the taste. But it’s a weird flavor in the back of your throat that makes you want to drink something to wash it out.

You can prevent this unsavory flavor by sucking on some candy as the saline is pushed. A friend had gifted me Life Savers in a chemo care package, which I had thought was odd…. Until I experienced a port flush. I found that the mint ones did a better job at masking the flavor than the fruity ones.

Making Associations

This one can be a real buzz kill, and I wasn’t at all prepared for it! I especially had this problem during Adriamycin, though others could experience it during Taxol. Your mind is going to be really good at making associations with any sights, smells, and tastes when you feel like crap on chemo.

For example, Adriamycin is red-colored, and now I feel queasy when I look at any red liquid. My beloved friend who sent me Life Savers also sent me peppermint lip balm and a metal water bottle. I saved them as a pick-me-up during treatment. But I started associating the taste of the water and the scent of the lip balm with feeling ill. I had to set them aside till I was done with treatment or I wouldn’t be able to use them.

Additionally, the smell of rubbing alcohol now bothers me after having my port flushed, which was on my chest and right under my nose. (This is highly unfortunate since I’m a scientist and we use a lot of ethanol to clean gear.) I also have to change the channel during Neulasta commercials, because I remember how cruddy I felt on my “Neulasta day.”

Be careful of the foods and scents you regularly expose yourself to during chemo so you don’t ruin yourself on your favorite things. That said, I recommend not going out to eat at your favorite restaurant after your first treatment. Make sure you’ll be feeling well enough to enjoy it!! I’ve heard too many horror stories of people eating from their favorite restaurant as a pick-me-up after treatment, only to lose it a few hours later…

A syringe full of red Adriamycin…Gag…

Toxic Pee

Your nurses should warn you of this one, regardless which chemo you’re on, seeing as it affects anyone in your household.

Chemo, of course, is not something you want to be exposed to if you don’t have to. Hence why your nurses will gown up with gloves and a face shield while you’re getting that joyful syringe pumped directly into your bloodstream.

But as your body processes the chemo, some of those toxins will come out in your urine for a couple days after each treatment. For those two days, be sure to lower the toilet lid before you flush to avoid spraying those toxins into the room or onto surfaces. You may also want to consider having your own designated bathroom for those couple days, then clean it well before the other family members resume using it.

Red Pee

And while we’re on the topic of body processes, let’s touch on this fun little feature! Remember how I said the toxins will be in your urine? Well if you’re on Adriamycin, which is red, for a couple days while those toxins are released you’ll also have reddish urine. Fun, right?!

(I know, chemo is weird. Even after my fourth Adria treatment it still startled me seeing red in the toilet when I got home from the infusion center.)

Dry Skin & Eyes

Remember how I said hydration is an issue on chemo? This is related. Everything will feel dry since your body is using so much water and trying to flush your system. It can be difficult to drink enough fluids, but it seemed no matter how much I drank, my skin and eyes were still dry.

Be prepared before treatment with some moisturizing eye drops and a good, hydrating lotion. I often needed those eye drops as soon as I was getting out of bed in the morning, so keep them handy. I also recommend a lotion with a very light scent so you don’t associate it with feeling sick and not be able to use your favorite lotion for years.

Eyelids Sticking

Speaking of eyes, who knew your eyelashes helped keep your eyelids from sticking to one another?! It’s annoying enough to lose your eyelashes and brows, but then to have them stick together randomly just added insult to injury. One pair of eyelids would stick while the other wouldn’t, so they’d open at different times and I looked like a freaking gecko…

It became a joke between Mom and me as we’d have conversations and my eyelids did their own thing. It also became a measure of healing as my eyelashes grew back and I could finally open my eyelids in unison!

Effect on Nails

Like your hair, your nails will likely be affected by chemo. Some people have minimal change, others have nails that are affected for years. It could be that your nails separate from the nailbed, that the nails are brittle, have horizontal ridges, or a number of other lovely characters.

Largely these side effects are just annoying, especially as they can last years out from chemo as a reminder of what you endured. However, if you’re at risk of lymphedema, use caution if you use nail polish to cover up or strengthen your nails. Nail polish that gets under the nailbed has the potential to cause an infection, which is not what you need with possible lymphedema. If you’d like to use nail polish, consider using a non-toxic brand. They can be pricier (about $20 a bottle), but are less likely to lead to other complications.

Runny Nose

Here’s another fun one! Your nose hairs help prevent dirt and debris from entering your body. They also help humidify the air we breathe so we don’t dry out our system. In their absence, your body secretes more mucus (aka snot), to act as a protective layer for your nostrils, catching any dirt and bacteria and preventing it from entering your body. Isn’t that charming?

However, when people talk about hair loss on chemo, they mean ALLLLL the hairs! Yeah, no one warns you about that lovely little detail.

As such, I had a constant snot drip throughout chemo. In fact, even though my nose hairs are back, I’m still snottier than I was pre-chemo. (My family would probably agree about my snottiness for different reasons…)

You may want to stock up on a few boxes of tissues before you start chemo so you’re prepared. You can also use Ayr nasal spray to help moisturize your nasal passages, which helps humidify the air you breathe. I bought a bottle of Nasya oil from Banyan Botanical, which helps lubricate the nasal passages, as well as some other Ayurvedic benefits. Though my nose still produced more snot than usual, I definitely noticed it produced less snot on the days I used Nasya oil.

A bottle of the Nasya Oil from Banyan Botanicals. You drip back a couple/few drops into each nostril and rub it around to coat your nasal passages.

Chemo Brain

Ahhh yes, the famous chemo brain. This one hits everyone differently, so it’s one to be on the lookout for but can be hard to prepare. Some women regularly misplace items like putting their car keys in the fridge. Others may have to carry a notepad because they can’t retain information for the life of them. It can feel like a brain fog and inability to focus on a task no matter how much sleep or caffeine you’ve had.

For me, I feel I’ve lost my ability to plan. For example, packing a rain jacket for snacks for an outing. Little things, but still things I would have given consideration to previously that now don’t even cross my mind. My short-term memory has also taken a hit. Before, I’d often forget why I walked to a certain room, but now it occurs much more frequently.

However it presents, chemo brain is a very real thing that can be very annoying… And it has the potential to last several years after treatment. Cognitive tasks during chemo can help keep chemo brain away, like reading or Sudoku puzzles.

Several friends and I have talked about how it wasn’t bad during treatment, but it’s developed more over time. This could possibly be a combination of the chemo and the anesthesia from the various surgeries that go with breast cancer.

However it presents, be patient with yourself. You can of course talk to your oncologist about possible ways to mitigate the side effect. But above all, giving yourself some grace and hopefully being able to laugh it off are the best advice I can give you. That, and perhaps if you can’t find something, check the fridge.

Been there done that?

Have you been through chemo and had any other random side effects I haven’t mentioned? Feel free to leave a comment about it!

Pin me!