After 6 Docetaxel sessions when can I expect to feel more normal?

Hi Engineerken

Firstly congratulations on making it to number 6!  I got to no 6 at the end of May this year.

Remember that the cycle is three weekly, with the third week supposedly with you feeling better to go into the next round. So if your sixth dose was only four weeks ago then you are just about in the starting to feel a bit better phase I would guess.

I found that there was a cumulative effect from the doses, with the recovery period being shorter each time as the bad effect period seemed to get longer... However I kept up my exercise regime of physical activity of weights, resistance bands and static bike and began to feel better after a few weeks, that is until the steroid withdrawal kicked in.  I was given a programme of around six weeks to taper down the steroids until having one dose a week.  I found this really difficult to deal with and the fatigue was extreme - but I pushed through it.

My hair and beard started to come back after about three months, and I lost that podgy steroid face around the same time.  However as I am still on HT I then started to lose body hair around the same time....

I got fit enough to ride in the static bike challenge in Sir Chris Hoy's Tour de 4 three weeks ago and smashed my target of 12km - achieving 15km - in a thirty minute slot.

Just think in months rather than weeks (from my own experience).

Good luck with the recovery - and don't forget to click on our names of roundels to get to our personal stories. 

Edited by member 26 Sep 2026 at 14:49  | Reason: additional text

Hi JasperM

That is an interesting thought about feeling the cold more…

I developed peripheral neuropathy so reduced dosage to 80% from no4 onwards.  I now find that my hands get really cold really quickly and my feet are the same ( funnily enough I was just looking at an email I had from Heat Holders!!)

Stay warm

Hi Ken

Just start to do a little each day, then a little more - it will get back to you! But with the HT it is a constant - you need to keep up the activity to overcome the fatigue.  Set a goal or two, don't aim too high, make it realistic.  The event I did in Glasgow meant that I didn't have specific targets, the event I went in for on the static bike was actually a timed event, thirty minutes against the peloton (which was a virtual one from around the world) at whatever pace you could manage.  I set myself a 12km goal as that represented 12,000metres - one for every man who dies from PC in the UK each year. As it was I smashed that and rode for 15.2 km in thirty minutes - although I did have an Olympic Gold medallist riding next to me for some encouragement!

My current goal is recovery from an inguinal hernia repair a week ago - it was an open wound of around 12cm (five inches) and two hours in theatre so is taking a bit of time (on top of feeling the usual rubbish from two loads of HT).   My goal is to get fit again so that I can have radiotherapy in mid-November.

Take your time - it will get better!!!