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Avatar universal

Finished tx 7 weeks ago

Hi everyone

Had many side effects but the most crippling was very dry hands and feet. It basically crippled me. It felt like my fingers were going to split open several times during the tx. I noticed around week 8 my fingers felt "weird", around week 13 i realized I had a big problem and saw a Doctor.

Anyway, I just joined the community and wanted to do a test post. This community is great and I've been reading it daily since mid March.

My hands and feet came back to life 1-2 weeks ago. I can now walk around and actually get my hands wet without going crazy. I was putting ointment on my hands and feet (twice a day) and wearing socks and gloves around.  

Take care.
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Avatar universal
I had to google "puma stone"... never heard of it. What ever works I suppose.

Your dry skin problems sound very similar to mine. Yeah... I probably still have some hair falling out. During tx I used to take daily walks and around week 14 I had to discontinue this activity because my feet would hurt after the walks. I had noticed my feet getting dry before week 14 but they would never hurt. Well... I'm taking walks again and I'm doing my full workout every day (with gloves on). It feels so good to have my hands and feet back.

I'm LOL about the hemp oil... I live in MN. I don't think I can get my hands on any of that. I'm using Palmer's Spray Oil on my hair and scalp and what a greasy mess that is. When I leave the house I put a baseball cap on.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
   Well, I know the Riba takes a very long time to leave the system.
The skin on my calves and fore-arms was flaking off a few weeks ago, but has improved. I got brave, and wore my clogs without socks last night, just while I walked the dog around the block, and when I got into bed, both my heels were so dry and hard, so I will need to use a puma stone on them today.
   My hair-lose finally seized, at around 9 weeks post Tx,  and I had the dry scalp also. I did what your Derm Doc recommended, I wash it, and then grease it down with various organic substances: I have tried a product called "waxalene" (a petrolatum substitute) which has soy oil, vitamin e, and bees wax, and that works great, but I have also tried Hemp Oil (yeah, I'm a Californian) and coconut butter. They all worked nicely, but I'm sure I look a bit strange ;)
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Avatar universal
Even though I did a "test" post I had a feeling the dry hands and feet problem might interest a few people. I didn't mention this but my scalp dried up and was bleeding, my forearms and lower legs were like dry snake skin and towards the end of tx my butt was drying up (unreal).

ldy... I went to a Derm recommended by my hep dr and he was kind of baffled. He figured it was probably because of the riba but we didn't understand why this problem didn't show up 10 years ago when I did my last tx. He told me coat my hands and feet with Aquaphor twice a day and to wear cotton gloves on my hands and socks on my feet (over the Aquaphor). He recommended Cetaphil lotion for my forearms and lower legs and then told me to cut my morning showers to one every 3 days and to use a moisturizing shampoo and an olive oil spray on my scalp/hair.  We never thought of it as a circulation problem... probably because of the skin flaking off my arms, legs and scalp. It was impossible to wear cotton gloves all day so I was also using the lotion on my hands 3-4 times a day as well. I did a lot of experimentation with ointments, lotions and creams and did figure out Gold Bond Ultimate Lotion worked best for me. In fact after 6-7 weeks of coating my hands and feet with Aquaphor I just switched to using Gold Bond (way less messy and it seemed like I improved - but I was ready to switch back to Aquaphor if I had to).  Anyway... I was miserable to say the least.

rx... most of my tx was done during the summer. I finished tx in mid Sept and it took 5 weeks for my hands to become functional but they're still not 100% healed (7 weeks after tx). My feet seemed to get better way faster but since they are wrapped up all nicely in socks and sneakers... I could be wrong about this. My arms, legs and butt also took 5 weeks post tx to get better and they seem to be at 100%. My scalp is getting better but the hair hasn't come back yet. I'm worried about becoming addicted to these lotions and creams so I'm using them sparingly at this point. I'm guessing in another few weeks my hands will be 100%.

boc... I did tx for 24 weeks. I was a previous relapser and went undetected at day 19 (please see my profile). Glad to hear you and the others have healed up nicely.

Sorry about the long post but I've done searches through this forum in the past on these problems and there's not a lot out there. I was so concerned about cutting my hands that I managed not to cut the "palm" side of my hands the entire tx.

Take care.

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Avatar universal
  If I used my hands at all, for washing dishes or gardening, or putting air in my bike tire, my hands would get cut, little splits on the tips, and then take forever to heal.
  Everything heeled up nicely, after my Tx, I'm glad the same thing is happening with you. I am 10 wks post Tx, and I am feeling so great about NOT being on Tx, that I am feeling quite euphoric.
  Welcome to the forum, how many weeks did your Treat for?
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Avatar universal
How long has it been since you finished treatment?

My hands were in bad shape during treatment (but not as bad as yours), especially in the winter when it was so dry. I had little cuts, like paper cuts, all over them. Sometimes I had bandages on all my fingers. They got better in the summer, but now we are heading into winter again and the cuts are starting to appear again.

Glad I'm just off treatment. Hopefully they'll start to heal soon.

rk
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766573 tn?1365166466
Welcome to the Forum :)
It sounds awful about your feet and hands. I am glad you found a solution. Did your doctor start out with a steroid cream? Did you do the saem thing for both your feet and hands>

I use a really foot creme with urea and lactic acid and some other stuff (that is to promote circulation (or attempt to if an over-the-counter topical could do that). I got out of the habit for two weeks and the big toe on both feet has swollen and the nail has split from the skin. There are only a few pairs of shoes I can wear. The creme is not helping with that.

I thought I would try Cobetsol ointment. I had a doctors appointment with a Derm and forgot to bring this up. It is one of those things you live with until you can't. I shouldn't have let it go.

Congrats on SVR and best of luck.
Wishing you speedy healing♫
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179856 tn?1333547362
Glad youre starting to recover...it does take time but you are on the way!  :)
Helpful - 0
3230925 tn?1397615965
Welcome  to the forum,.Good for you on your problem clearing up.Congrats on finishing treatment.

Best wishes for a SVR


Dannyboi7
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