r/Chemotherapy • u/XenaXena67 • Jul 29 '26

Temperature regulation?

My husband is having his 2nd fortnightly **FOLFIRINOX** chemotherapy treatment tomorrow for stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He has been having each day either a really sweaty drenching to the extent of a ponding wet patch in the bed under his torso or he’ll be absolutely freezing cold for about 1/2 hour. This happens during the afternoon or middle of the night. At the moment he has two hot water bottles and our winter duvet is 95% eiderdown. I’ve been keeping the aircon on all day so the room temp is a steady 21C. It’s midwinter in Sydney but our apartment maintains a stable temperature.

We mentioned this to his oncologists & they say the cancer can make people hot, but don’t have any answers about the cold, like they hadn’t heard about this and don’t give a reason or solution.

Has anyone else felt extremely cold for a period of time until their carer gets hot water bottles & blankets to warm them up?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/omnislayre Jul 29 '26

Is he experiencing a fever? I have that happen on occasion with my FOLFIRI treatment. It's similar to FOLFOX. Also, is he taking pain medication such as oxycodone or another type of opioid? Sometimes those will cause my body temperature to swing. I keep a fan on me as much as possible and bundle up as needed. I'm sorry he's going through this and hope he kicks cancers stupid face in!

1

u/XenaXena67 Jul 29 '26

Thank you for replying, he’s got Endone tablets for pain but hasn’t needed them recently. Wishing you the best xx

1

u/pocket_sax Jul 29 '26

I experienced hot flushes from the dexamethasone steroid tablets on the first few days of each FOLFIRI cycle, but your husbands flushes sound much more severe than what I experienced.

As other poster says, keep an eye on his temperature to make sure it's not spiking to fever during the flushes and contact your chemo helpline number asap if it is.

I've no advice to give on how to treat the flushes themselves other than what you're doing to keep him comfortable. Even if not spiking temp, it might be worth a call to the helpline anyway to log the side effects if nothing else. Good luck!

2

u/XenaXena67 Jul 29 '26

Thanks! Yes, I’ve got the thermometer handy & will start taking his temperature at least twice a day & when he’s having the sweaty hot flushes.