Cold Cap?

[Pieceofpurplesky]

Just that really. I start chemo on Wednesday for Low Grade Serous Carcinoma (which is pretty chemo resistant). Does anyone have advice about a cold cap? I've read horror stories and not many about success.
Thanks in advance

Bump

allthebreast_ on insta talks about cold capping. She goes into detail about her experience too.
Good luck x

Thanks

I was a chemotherapy nurse in a past life so my experiences relate to the cold caps of about 20 years ago and they may have changed in that time.

In my experience, maybe a third of women could tolerate them cold enough to work. Some started off on them but gave up owing to the discomfort. Those who persevered/were able to tolerate them had varying success in terms of keeping their hair. I found that some women, once they had time to “get used”’to their diagnosis/having cancer/needing chemotherapy, they just decided to shave their hair off and use scarves, wigs etc.

I remember as well some early research raising concerns that skull metastases could increase because the chemo was not circulating in that area (owing to the cold cap preventing the blood flow) but i don’t know if that was ever shown to be the case.

Good luck with it @Pieceofpurpleskywhichever way you go 💐

Firstly, sorry you’re going through this, it’s a tough time.

I used the cold cap whilst having chemo for breast cancer. I found it ok overall. I had two different types of chemo, the first every three weeks and the second every week. I didn’t like the cold cap at first, and would dread the next session but felt fine after each session. It was weird. At the point I started weekly chemo, I thought I’d just see how it went and it was absolutely fine then. So overall, I didn’t find it particularly unpleasant or painful (though it can be taking paracetamol beforehand).

Hair-wise, I did lose quite a lot of hair by the end of the first type of chemo but not until session 4. Whereas, my friend lost her all her hair after the first session. My hair started growing back during the second type of chemo. It’s difficult to style as the lengths are all different so I had it cut quite short afterwards.

Anything else? It does extend the chemo session as it takes time to set up and has to cool your head prior to starting the chemo. Also, I did add cold gloves and slippers when I was at risk on neuropathy in my hands and feet.

I would advise you to try it, the first 15mins are the hardest but I got used to those too.

Best of luck x

Thanks

Hi I cold capped recently and it was fine. The first 10 minutes or so are the worst but once through that it’s ok. I have lost quite a lot of hair now but that was after my second course of chemo after my surgery. Good luck with your treatment 💐

My advice is don't feel you have to try it if you don't want to.
I really didn't want to do anything to prolong chemo or make it any harder than it already is. There's a sense you're not "doing cancer right" if you don't even try it. Maybe I focused too much on that but I got quite distressed about it. When I told DH and my DC how I felt they were very supportive and I never even tried it.

Sorry that you’re facing this

I did a version of ChiffChaff what did. I just didn’t fancy cold capping, was resistant to the idea of chemotherapy, didn’t want to
be there a moment longer than I had to be

Lost all my hair v rapidly which I found challenging

And now I’m fortunate to be past it with no evidence of disease and really quite nice hair

Bon voyage

Hi, I cold capped for 5ish months, worked wonders, retained all my hair, it was really long and thick and past my bum.

They changed my treatment at 5m ish in and the drugs really messed with me, my body, my hair, everything, was really difficult. I continued cold capping and my hair was still fine but I found it more traumatic for clumps to fall out. Visually I looked fine, just slightly thinner. So then I cut and cut and then couldn’t cope with the shedding so shaved it all off and wear a scarf.

finished my lest chemo last week and within the last 3 weeks my body has had enough and started sprouting hair everywhere, all my brows have grown back, head hair coming in strong.

id say if you want to start cold capping then give it a go; worked amazing for me. Also heard it helps hair grow back quicker.

TIP: I brought a hot water bottle and my own big blanket to keep me warm, worst part is first 10 mins then you get used to it.