Treatment for Colorectal Cancer, otherwise known as colon or bowel cancer, often involves Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapies which can be accompanied by a huge number of side effects. Our Colon Cancer Care Packages and product recommendations have been curated specifically to manage the side effects that are commonly experienced during treatment.

Please note, this information provided is general advice and we always recommend speaking to your health professional about your individual situation.

Chemotherapy

For those beginning their chemotherapy journey, we would recommend our   which offers three different levels of gift baskets that cover the most common side effects experienced during treatment. This includes mouth ulcers, dry/sensitive skin, nail weakness, reflux/heartburn and dehydration. All these products can also be purchased individually if you wanted to see how you go or if you’re after something in particular. Check out our Chemotherapy Care Package range below.

The HOPE Essentials Chemo Care Pack 

The HOPE Chemo Care Pack

The HOPE Deluxe Chemo Care Pack

Chemotherapy Side Effects

Some of the main areas our chemotherapy gift packs focus on include:

• Regular Mouth Care – You can use the salt water as a mouth rinse after you eat (so 3-4 times a day), but if you start getting ulcers you may want to step it up to something like the Oral 7® Mouthwash or Denta-Med™. We would also recommend using a soft toothbrush (we have the Curasept Surgical Toothbrush) and a gentle toothpaste like the Oral 7® Moisturising Toothpaste. More information is in our Mouth Care collection.
   
• Skin Care – You should avoid fragranced products with lots of additives. We recommend Daisy Cow Range or Avène Xeracalm A.D Lipid-Replenishing Cleansing Oil and Cream. Also make sure you use a sensitive sunscreen outside as this chemotherapy greatly increases your risk of sunburn. We like the ‘MOTHER SPF’ range. More information is in our Skin Care collection.
  
  
• Hand & Feet Care – The most common chemotherapy agents used in colorectal cancer can cause what is called 'hand foot syndrome'. This is when the skin on our hands and soles of our feet can become very dry, peeling and even raw. It is really important to keep on top of this, not only to maintain quality of life but also to prevent treatment delays while your hands and feet repair. This is obviously worsened at the moment with all the craziness going on in the world and the need to wash or sanitise our hands very often. We like the Avene Cicalfate Hand Cream and Restorate Foot Balm (which is also available in spray if your feet are feeling very tender and you don't want to have to rub in a cream). Products like the StrataCTX^® - Gel 20g can be used as a wound dressing for small cracks or fissures in the fingers or around the nails and is a gel that dries to provide protection and aid healing. It can also be used on skin rashes and extremely dry skin.  More information is available in our Hand & Nail Care collection.
  
  
• Neuropathy - Many anti-cancer therapies can cause peripheral neuropathy, where your toes and feet in particular can become numb with tingling, pins and needles, pain and heaviness. This is quite difficult to treat as it is the nerve endings that are being damaged by the treatment. We offer Zo-Rub HP, which is a topical analgesic cream, indicated for relief of peripheral neuropathy. It contains Capsaicin, a natural product which is believed to reduce Substance P - the chemical that transmit pain signals to the brain. These should not be used on open wound areas or irritated skin.
  
  
• Joint Pain – For osteoarthritis or joint pain relief, we would recommend Zo-Rub OA or if you require something stronger we also have Zo-Rub HP.

Just in case:

• Reflux – This can happen quite often and can interrupt a good night’s sleep by occurring in the middle of the night so it may be handy to have some antacid on hand. In our care packages, we offer Gaviscon® Dual Action Tablets which we find works really effectively.
  
  
• Hydration – Staying hydrated is very important as we can become quite dehydrated if we experience a lot of diarrhoea or vomiting and are also struggling to drink enough fluids throughout the day. If so, it may be worth having some Gastrolyte each day to help maintain good hydration and electrolyte balance.

Targeted Therapy

Many Targeted Therapies can cause very dry, irritated and acne-like rashes all over the body, and painful cracks around the fingertips and nails. It is very important to keep the skin well moisturised, and to definitely not use anything like traditional drying acne treatments.

Our recommendations for managing these side effects are most easily summarised by looking at the products included in our HOPE Targeted Therapy Care Pack which includes nourishing products such as:

• Avène Xeracalm A.D Lipid-Replenishing Cleansing Oil 400mL - Keep this in the shower to use every day. This is specially formulated for very dry, itchy skin.
  
  
• Avène Xeracalm A.D Lipid-Replenishing Cream 400mL - Use this every day after showering. This is specially formulated for very dry, itchy skin but does not leave that really greasy feeling afterwards.
  
  
• Cicalfate Hand Repairing Barrier Cream 100mL - This quickly repairs, soothes and protects very dry and irritated hands. As a barrier cream, it also helps protects hands requiring very regular washing.
  
  
• Coco-Scalp^® 40g - This is specially formulated for the treatment of dry, cracked and scaly skin conditions. Coco-Scalp^® works to soften and help hold moisture in the skin, even after only a few applications. *This product is currently out of stock with the manufacturer. We will send this product once it is back in stock.*
  
  
• Dermeze Treatment Ointment 100g Tube - This is also recommended to help treat very dry skin.
  
  
• Daisy Cow Lips 10g - As the name suggests, this keeps your lips from drying out.
  
  
• StrataCTX^® - Gel 20g - This gel can be used as a wound dressing for small cracks or fissures in the fingers or around the nails. This gel dries to provide protection and aid healing. It can also be used on skin rashes and extremely dry skin.
  
  
• Mother SPF - Always be sun safe with this natural barrier sunscreen, you are at much higher risk of sunburn!

Get in touch

We hope that this has helped you and hasn’t completely overwhelmed you! If you have a chance, take a look around the Hope Cancer Care website and explore our Collections page which is filled with lots of useful information and covers areas such as Digestive Health, Skin Care, Mouth Care and more. Our Collections page also includes our product recommendations and all our products below on that same page to help take the guesswork out of finding the right Colon Cancer Care Package for you or a loved one undergoing treatment.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to email at info@hopecancercare.com.au or call us on 0476 048 190 anytime for more info.

We can usually get all orders out the same day and it is free postage over $100 😊

PLEASE NOTE: FOR ALL PRODUCTS ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR USE. IF SYMPTOMS WORSEN OR CHANGE UNEXPECTEDLY, TALK TO YOUR HEALTH PROFESSIONAL.