Chemo and vaccines Post Reply

[jg75]

Hi, I'd appreciate some advice. A close family member (doesn't live with us but lives very close by) is about to go through chemo. I know it affects your immune system and wondered whether there are any steps I can take to reduce the risk of infection. One thing I considered was whether there are any vaccines that I ought to be giving my kids. I can think of the chickenpox vaccine, are there any others? To be clear, my kids are up to date with their NHS vaccines.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[claphamama]

Hi,
First of all I am sorry your family member is going through this. We had a similar experience recently and this is what I learnt but please always get advice from a doctor. Unfortunately there is not much you can do in terms of protecting him/her from illnesses, aside for complete isolation. Even a cold could be extremely debilitating for somebody going through chemo treatment. Kids are particulary prone at picking and spreading all sorts. What we did was staying away as much as possible, avoided any physical contact (hugs or kisses) especially during the days in which immunity was down (if I remember well between day 7 and 10 after the treatment but that might vary based on the treatment your family member is getting) and tried and met outdoor as much as possible.
It was stressful (everytime I hear somebody sneezing I still get tense as I worried so much) and also very hard to spend lots of time apart especially during such a challenging time but the end goal was way too important.

[supergirl]

You are right to be worried and that is very thoughful of you to wonder what you could do.
Not much sadly but your GP may help or your family member - you should adk her/him.

When i went through chemo i was given 2 injections to do to boost my white cell count (immune system). I was told that if i had even a little fever they wanted to know as i would have to be on antibio. The boost had to come pretty much straight away after the chemo: on the day after and then 2 days later.

I wouldnt worry about things like chicken poc especially if he/she had it. During the course of chemo, i had 3 chest infections and that was me catching the infection not my children giving it to me.
Avoid visiting if you know your child is poorly, wash hands, etc just simple hygiene because not much else to do. Chemo is a poison that is injected in the body to destroy everything.

Chemo is poison and it destroy everything inside

[jg75]

Thanks so much. The lack of contact/hugs is going to be hard for all concerned but it's a good idea - and luckily summer is coming so outdoor meet ups will be more possible. I will try and get some medical advice (next available GP appt is far away...) but it's really helpful to hear from others with a similar experience. Thank you so much. I also wasn't aware about there being particular days when immunity is down so will ask about that.

[TJ74]

When my father in law was having chemo, we stayed away if we or the children were at all unwell. As regards vaccines, it is worth be aware that some vaccines (and I think that the chicken pox vaccine is one of them) are 'live' vaccines and so carry a risk of infection for people with compromised immune systems for a period of time after they have been given.

[alexgear]

I'm really sorry to hear you are having to go through this. This is a good friend of mine who is a cancer survivor and a Nutritional Therapist..She might be able to help you in your recovery.
http://www.healthierbynature.co.uk

[juliantenniscoach]

When I had cancer for the 2nd time I was far better prepared than the first. I took a whole raft of vitamins and supplements. Some my Doctor was happy with, some I didn't tell him about!

There are lots of studies to show that Vitamin C in doses significantly above the RDA can help those during chemotherapy. Personally it worked for me, I took 3 x RDA as your body passes any Vit C it doesn't use.

Other than that it does depend on how your friend will react to the chemotherapy. No two people are alike. Best wishes to you.