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I have been having nail bed pain in my fingers and toes for the past few weeks. I just completed cycle four of A/C. I'm scheduled to start Taxol on 1/4/13. I haven't read anything about nail bed pain being associated with A/C. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has experienced this and, if so, if you know of any remedy. I have already trimmed all my nails so as to avoid accidentally bumping them. But my toes nails are now starting to hurt just when I walk, even if I don't bump them.
Seems like several of the worst nails were hanging on by the teensiest little piece of skin toward the tip of the nail. As soon as that let loose, I took my good, sharp nippers and clipped the nails down as close to where they were still attached as possible. Then I carefully smoothed the edges so they wouldn't catch on things. It left ugly naked nail beds but I was rally kinda worried about the loose nails catching and ripping. Clipping them down alleviated the problem. Plus, like @A MyBCTeam Member mentioned, the color of those loose nails was just nasty. We're talking green. :-P But clipping them got rid of the color. And I just can't help but think that green wasn't all that good for my nail beds, whatever was happening to make that color can't be a good thing. :-)
LOL! (Not laughing AT you...just laughing WITH YOU!) I guess this is another thing we having in common. My nails hurt like heck after the first couple of A/C treatments. But everyone said, "A/C doesn't usually cause that. Taxol does." Well....My nailbeds started turning colors and hurting and it was long before I started the Taxol. At this point, I've lost most of my index finger nail and thumbnail on my right hand and the index finger nail on my left. The others are somewhat discolored, but not badly and I think they'll be okay. Apparently they're supposed to be okay once you're finished with the chemo. But they sure do look nasty. My big toe nails are probably coming off as well. Ah well...could be worse. At least my FINGERS haven't fallen off. THAT would be a problem... :-)
Thanks, @A MyBCTeam Member.
Sounds like the beginnings of peripheral neuropathy. Made all my fingers sore and my nails loosened from the bed and would get wet underneath. Took months for them to heal. Watch your toes, too and tell your doc.
http://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/side-effects/...
Keeping nails trimmed and clean and dry helps. Some say to paint them clear to keep them strong and/or use oil for nail strength. There might be some creams that help the fingers and at worst, they can prescribe meds if it gets real bad.
Sorry about that, but good luck to you! Mine did go away after I finished chemo though.
Oh @A MyBCTeam Member! You crack me up. Yes, my nail issues are almost identical to yours. And people told me the same thing. (A/C doesn't do that, Taxol does... Whatever!) I now keep my fingernails very short, in order to avoid them catching on anything and being pulled off. And I keep them painted (which I never used to do), so no one can see the ugly discoloration. Basically, my fingernails are still attached by a thread; just the very bottom 1/4 of my nail beds are still hanging on to my nails. Same with my big toe nails. But at least the pain has gone away. And, like you said, at least I haven't lost my fingers! :) This too shall pass. (I should have put something about my nails in my poem, but it was too difficult to explain, let alone rhyme!) On a serious note, many people on chemo come down with nueropathy. I am just so blessed and relieved that this isn't what I had.
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