More About The Cold Caps

The cold caps have been in the news recently. They are finally going to do a clinical trial to see if they work. There are a lot of people who have used the cold caps with complete success, and I am one of those people.

Are they hard to use? Well, I wouldn't say hard, but it requires commitment. It is some work to get the ice and drag the cooler around. There are chemo centers putting freezers in and I believe using the cold caps would be much easier if you didn't have to get dry ice and drag a cooler along.

Is it painful? The first one for each session is really cold. It is a bit harsh but your head gets numb pretty quickly and it really doesn't hurt when its numb. They also gave me ativan (like valium) when I did my chemo so I didn't feel too much.

There are a lot of places you can learn more about the caps. I got a lot of great information from breast cancer . org. Here is the area where they talk about the cold caps:
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/6/topic/735873?page=302#post_3637075

Here is the Punguin Cold Cap website:
http://penguincoldcaps.com/

They have information from a lot of studies on their site. These caps have been used in Europe for many years and have been studied extensively there. The scalp cooling therapy to save hair is considered a normal part of treatment in many countries.

Here is a link to an ABC news story where they are talking about doing a clinical trial with the caps. This is a different brand than I used. I used the brand Penguin Cold Caps.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/health&id=9182016


I really hope the use of these caps becomes more widespread. I used them in 2009 and I was told I was the first woman in the NY metropolitan area to use them. It was so helpful to me. I was able to go about my normal life and not look like a cancer patient. I certainly felt like one at times, but I did not LOOK like one.

It really helped me to have control over something during that time. Chemotherapy is hard. Having everything feel like it is spiraling out of control is hard. If you can maintain control over something I think it really helps.

I have pictures of the Penguin Cold Cap use on this blog. They start with the chemotherapy on 12/7/2009.

If you are reading this because you were recently told you need chemotherapy, I wish you strength in your fight. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

                       This is a picture of me wearing a Penguin Cold Cap during my chemotherapy.