Increased Heat Sensitivity - 1245101

follansbee
Posts:44

This isn't a major concern, just something we're curious about. My husband is much more sensitive to the heat since he started chemo. Have others had the same thing happen?

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Dr West
Posts: 4735

I'll be interested to hear if others report the same thing. It's not something I specifically hear mentioned regularly by my patients, but quite a few of my patients reported various and sundry problems with temperature regulation, so I'd definitely call it plausible.

-Dr. West

catdander
Posts:

Hi Follansbee,
I'm sorry there is more to deal with. I'm not sure but if this what you're talking about but I wonder if this plays a part.

This is pg. 2 of Dr. Lacouture's transcript. So, why is the skin so important? This slide illustrates the major roles of the skin. It is the largest organ in our bodies, which acts like a barrier that protects us from noxious environmental
bacteria, viruses and fungi. It also regulates our temperature in our bodies and enables us to
receive sensory impulses: the way we perceive things in the environment; heat or cold,
and when
we touch things. And then the skin is very important because it also is in charge of forming a type
of vitamin called Vitamin D, which is very important for our overall health.
The skin is composed of three major layers that are illustrated in this slide. The outer-most
layer is called the epidermis. This is a very thin layer that undergoes constant renewal and is
changed every 28 days. In other words, every month you will have a completely new layer of
skin. The importance of this is that during chemotherapy treatment, most drugs block the activity
or the ability of cells in our bodies to divide or grow, and therefore most chemotherapy will not be
able to discriminate or differentiate between a cancer cell that they are destroying or a normal cell
such as skin cells that are growing, thereby leading to the dermatologic side effects that we will
see in the rest of the presentation.

http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatments/2011/09/08/dr-mario-lacouture-…

follansbee
Posts: 44

Hi, catdander. Thanks for your reference, but I really don't think that his heat sensitivity is cause by changes to his skin cells as he has had no dermatalogical changes with chemo. I do wonder, though, if others have experienced this change in heat tolerance. It isn't a major problem, we just know to be careful, but before chemo he loved hot weather, over 90 degrees F, was not a problem. Now anything over 80 degrees is uncomfortable.

catdander
Posts:

I see. I don't think D ever experienced anything like that with chemo but just the opposite with tarceva.
Lets see what others have to say.