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LC patients feeling a little chilly?


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First off...thank you everyone! I rely on this site in so many ways!!

And now my question...

For all the caregivers out there, has anyone heard about a patient feeling cold from the inside? To give an analogy, my mom says it feels like she's drinking ice water and feeling that chill from deep inside her chest. This symptom normally happens in the evening. Her doctor doesn't have any explanation. She has been taking blood boosters (neupogen for WBC and ?? something for the RBC). Those counts are being kept in check, but I wonder the cold feeling has something to do with sometimes lower red blood cell counts?

To give a brief history, she has extensive SCLC with mets to brain. Neurosurgery and gammaknife have been successful on the brain mets. She's finishing round 6 of cisplatin/etoposide, interspersed with blood boosters. The combination of treatments seem to be working well. Whole brain radiation MIGHT be one the schedule next, but that's a big decision and she/we haven't yet decided whether that's what's wanted.

~ Christine

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Hi Christine, I cannot address the issue of feeling deep cold in the chest, but my hubby is cold all the time and we live in Florida. I've seen many comments on lc patients feeling cold but not to the degree you're describing. Hopefully someone else will respond and give you more information

wendyr

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Christine-

I am not a caregiver, rather a lung cancer survivor but I will tell you that I am cold in my hands and feet all the time. Supposedly, this is from the beta-blockers that I am on for my high BP. Have never felt it in my chest, tho. Would recommend that you go over to onctalk.com and ask Dr. West - maybe he has some answers.

Hoping for the best for your mom.

Patti B.

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My mom passed away from SCLC about one year ago. After my mom finished the whole brain radiation, she was very cold. We thought that her body was so weak from all of the radiation and the chemo. Then the cancer spread to her spine, so we think that is why she felt so cold. We did not get an clear explanation. I hope everything is okay with your mom.

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Christine,

Yes, my dad had this. He was frozen from the inside out almost all through treatment. Even when it went into warmer weather (today it is 18 below zero here!) he always wore a sweater and we would laugh about his stocking cap in June!

My dad would try to get warm from the inside too. Lots of warm tea, rice bags heated in the microwave and such. We often did this for him before bed, and then would put it between the sheets to make crawling into bed not so uncomfortable.

Good luck!

Jen

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I too am not a caregiver at this time, but I am a Lung Cancer Survivor who had undergone treatments. I too was very cold during my chemo & radiation treatments. But I never had it only in my chest.

I have a dear friend that is a breast cancer survivor who tells of the same thing your mother talks about with being cold in her chest area. I'm guessing it has something to do with treatments or the chemo.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, Christine, that makes me feel a bit better.

Bill has been walking around the house with a faux fleece jacket w/hood, and goes to bed with a wool cap, and a sweater. He is cold even when the heat is up. I am roasting and he looks as though he lives in the Klondike.

I'm glad it's more likely related to the chemo and not something more ominous. The less worry - the better.

His blood counts have been kept to good levels, so I didn't think it was from that.

Thank you for looking this up at Onctalk. It's a relief.

Barbara

"christineb"]thanks everyone! I also shared this side-effect on OncTalk and the general consensus is "no biggie". It definitely seems to be a side effect of chemo in general.

Hope everyone has a great weekend...and thanks for the feedback!!

~ Christine

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