Thisvehicle, first, if you haven't already looked at the Macmillan website, please do so. Here's a LINK to their information leaflet on Docetaxel.
My personal experience has been:
Hair loss started becoming apparent on day 14 or 15 of cycle 1. The greatest loss was over the next week or so. Then it settled until day 14 or 15 of this cycle. It picked up again then but I'm not sure I'll lose it all. I didn't last time when I was on FEC. NB It's not just head hair that you lose. Most body hair can go. This includes nasal hair and eyelashes. No nasal hair = drippy nose. No eyelashes = dry gritty eyes.
Sickness is actually fairly rare with Tax. When it does occur it's usually very mild. I've not had any.
Ususally on day 4 or 5 of a cycle I start having very nasty flu-like aches that last for 2 - 3 days. I take ibuprofen or paracetamol during the day and a couple of co-codamol before bed.
Some people get a nasty taste in their mouth. Others just find that food doesn't taste right. I fall into the latter group. One tip I was given by a friend was to take ice water to sip on during the infusion. I've been doing that and at the very least it's very refreshing.
I'm afraid the fatigue just gets worse. Tax is hitting me much harder that FEC did. I really do need to nap at least once a day and often twice. I've become the doddery old lady slowly pushing her trolley around the supermarket. This does concern me as I'm only 1/3rd of the way through my treatment.
There's more but I going to plead Chemo Brain to stop here.
Oh, yes, Chemo Brain. It's real and it's not fun. You lose the ability to concentrate. You forget what you're trying to say half way through a sentence. You struggle to find a familiar word. I hate it.
xxx