Round 2

Monday 11 November

Day One

Hair moulting and skin sloughing continues. That said, everything else is gone. I feel that this will be a repeat of the prior round. With a week of no side effects followed by two weeks of random days feeling crappy.

Mild wind has returned but I hope this doesn’t result in a repeat of the constipation/diarrhoea duo.

Day Four

Ears. I had a little of this last time round, but didn’t think much of it so didn’t record this as a side effect. Apparently some form of tinnitus is common. This feels like I have been swimming and have water stuck in one ear canal, just one mind. There is a weird one-sided echo that comes amd goes.

Constipation has returned, so am taking Senekot. If this doesn’t clear it, I will be asking the doctor to prescribe something instead.

Hands and feet are a little tingly and the skin is sloughing steadily from my hands which have reddened palms. It is hard to tell about the rest as I tend to reddening of the skin anyway.

Hair is barely there – full shave this weekend.

Day Five

Dysgeusia, or the change in the sense of taste, has definitely hit. Whilst some things have tasted odd, I haven’t really had the metallic taste or much of an issue with the general taste of meals. Water has always tasted off to me so I have been experimenting with juices instead.

Today, a meal I usually enjoy was tasteless. The poppadums were lovely and crunchy but the rice and beef curry was just a mush with a bit of spice.

Some of this will be due to my ongoing issues with food – I don’t like food being mixed up too much in certain combinations anyway.

Fizzy fingers, skin sloughing and hair fall continues.

Fatigue also remains – as does mild insomnia.

Day Six through Fifteen

The above side effects continued, particularly the issue with taste. Slowly, most food became tasteless with only strong flavours working such as lemon, spicy, salty or very sweet. I couldn’t taste anything down the middle of my tongue until a few days prior to round three.

Day Sixteen onwards

Fatigue continues as does the insomnia. I am tired because I am not sleeping a full eight hours a night. Sleeping tablets on my wish list.

With regards to drinking, I have discovered that coffee with cream tastes okay in the morning to satisfy my caffeine routine.  Coffee outside the house has now become hot chocolate or even a milkshake.  I can drink both of those with little difficulty, perhaps because I didn’t drink them often previously.  Water tastes odd, but I must keep hydrated so have tried a load of different juices.  Apple juice is consistently drinkable. Others change from day to day.