Active chemo every 6 weeks. Do I have to worry about sun during treatment?

Justfoundout

Active chemo every 6 weeks. Do I have to worry about sun during treatment?

GregP_WN

Most of the time the doctors will ask you to avoid the sun as much as possible. Wear a hat, long sleeves, etc. But we all have to be in the sun for some amount of time every day. I think the common sense idea is to just be careful and don't be out there laying in the sun trying to get a tan. Which drugs are you getting for your chemo?

Bengal

Chemo lowers all your bodies defences. I would avoid direct sunlight. If you get sunburned your body cannot heal itself. Plus some of the medications make you more susceptible to burning. I also found chemo messed up my eyes and I could not tolerate bright light, both sunlight and artificial, especially fluorescent lighting.

Justfoundout

Thank you for responding. Greg I am getting Alitma and Keytruda. Bengal, I too have trouble with my eyes. Blurry after chemo for about a week and sunlight sensitivity.

Bengal

I finally went to ophthalmologist because my eyes hurt so bad. I had an inflammation of one of the membranes in the eye, probably a side effect of chemo, and he prescribed drops that were able to get it cleared up.

LiveWithCancer

I was never warned about staying out of sunlight when I was being treated for my lung cancer. I was on carboplatin, Alimta, and Avastin as first-line treatment and then on Opdivo for many years. I was actually out in the sun quite a bit (but generally in the evenings) because I ran agility with my dogs and we practiced a lot.

Jayne

I don't recall being told to avoid the sun either, but it does make sense to be careful.

Justfoundout

Thank you all for the information regarding sun vs chemo. Bengal I almost called ophthalmologist yesterday due to blurry eyes. Today cleared up. Crazy what chemo side effects do.