Do you have "chemo days" when you're not having chemo

[Jan214]

I have managed over the last few years to get a couple of months between chemos,  No remission, I was just waiting for that 3rd rise before I start again so I have had some time to get some of this stuff out of my system.  I will be doing just fine and than BAM!!!!, I wake up one day and my urine is back to smelling like a chemical plant and that lasts about two days and than I get really tired for a couple of days and than I throw up for a couple of days.  Has anybody else had this?  My onc says the chemo is stored in the fatty tissue and as it breaks free it enters back into the system creating a "chemo" day.  He says that the effiacy of the chemo drugs is short lived, but they can atill make you sick.  Well, that in itself just bites a big one.  How are we supposed to ever get well if this garbage keeps piling up and getting stored instead of getting out of our system.  I was wondering if, how to put this delicately um, my BMI is 17.5.  Yes, I know that is on the unhealthy side, but I have been that way my whole life.  I guess what I am wondering is, if this happens to someone my size with very little body fat, does it affect any of you worse who have a little more meat on your bones than I do.  Okay, everyone is bigger than me even my children, but I would really like to know if any of you have had this and maybe just not thought about it.  I would be very interested in your responses..
Thank you all,
Jan

[msjazz]

I had 10 months without chemo and was never back up to par. I went back to our office, but I didn't push myself. I went in at noon or whenever i felt up to it. I tired easily in my flower beds last summer too. Must be why Dr. Goodman always speaks about talking to doctors about the toxicity of our chemo  combinations. I notice she mentions that a lot. She told me personally I needed to discuss my last combo toxicity with my doc. Of course my doctor said it was no worse than the others.

[marie3B]

Add me to the list of having chemo days even though the chemo is 6 month behind me.  Sometimes I get a wave of fatigue so strong I can't even open my own car door.  I don't have the urine symptom anymore, but I do notice the chemo poison smell on my skin even right after a shower.  Not every day, but it still is there sometimes.  Neuropathy is worse now than during and just after chemo. But, like Jan said, we do muddle through.  Marie

[Jan214]

I know I have asked a couple of questions today that have some people going, "Huh ?", but we don't really talk about all the nuances of having cancer.  We all sit back and have these little things going on but we don't talk about them.  I just have noticed that a few things have been cropping up that the Drs either don't know about or don't talk about.  I hear an occasional reference to some weird side effect, but than we are told that so many of the things we attribute to chemo/cancer "couldn't possibly" be because of the cancer.  Well, if a lot of women are having the same side effects, telling us that it isn't a side effect isn't going to make it go away or make us bellieve that it isn't because of the cancer.  We should do a HealthPage and list all the chemo drugs and each person could say what ALL they have been on and what effects they had.  I have found out on several occasions on here and at the oncs office that more people than just me are having some weird side effects.  Many if the manufacturers knew they could do something to alter it.  

Chris: you might have a point about metabolism, although mine has always run on the high side and maybe it would help to roll around on one of those balls or use a rolling pin to break up fat cells so you can get rid of them faster.  Who knows?

Lori, please don't worry about it.  It isn't anything exactly new.  We all deal with this stuff every day and that is just part of life with cancer.  We muddle through.

[Teresa222]

It must be in the water here in Nashville! LOL  I've been off chemo over two months and I STILL have bad days.  I would guess that 25% of my days are "chemo days."  On those days my neuropathy is worse, my bones and muscles ache and I am VERY tired.  I still require about 10 hours sleep each night, every night. Oh, and the same on the urine as you.

I have given in and am taking neurotin for the neuropathy.  And the docs say we aren't disabled.  That's just wrong.
Teresa

[crecco]

Jan, it is kind of hard for me to answer that as I have never been off of chemo, but I do understand you in a way. Some chemos affect me different from one treatment to the next. And just when I think that my body is adjusting to one then I too get the BAM and all of a sudden it will knock me on my butt again. I guess that since the chemo affects good cells too, that is why it can stay in your system for so long, you have all of these cells floating around inside you that are full of poison. I can only guess but maybe your metabolism has something to do with how fast or slow your body can get rid of it.
  I wonder if the Drs even really know.
         Love Chris

[cirella]

Hi Jan, Just want to say that I'm sorry all this happens to you.  

Love,
Your Friend