Help! First chemo nausea took Zolfran, Colace, Senocot

jnprsn

Help! First chemo nausea took Zolfran, Colace, Senocot

jnprsn

Last night was very bad. I was told to take a Senokot and Colace every single night since I'm usually constipated even without chemo.
I took a Zolfran with it because I felt nausea coming on. That's when things got horrible. Waves of nausea sent me to bathroom only to poop several times. I never actually threw up.

I called doctor and she said to take the Compazine (also prescribed) then an anti-anxiety (I had Klonopin). I also took a ginger capsule. I finally got some sleep.

This morning I feel like someone punched me in the stomach and feel queezy.

Is this normal?

Anyone else have it like this?

Any tips? Advice? Help?
Thanks!

luckypenny

Gosh, I am so sorry to hear of your nausea.  When I had Chemo, with AC, I struggled very very badly too with nausea. I even had anticipatory nausea , where if I thought about the chemo room, I would get waves of nausea.      Zofran did nothing for me at all!    Here is what helped me -

I had to take my medicine before I got nausea.  If I waited until I got nausea, my relief wasn't so great no matter what I did.   So I would take medicine ever 4-6 hours regardless of whether I felt sick.  I had chemo on wednesdays and Saturday, Sunday and Mondays were the worst.   So I prepared to battle those days   I also learned that half of my issue were related to acid reflux so once I began taking that acid reducer like clockwork, my stomach would settle down some.   But Zofran ?   For me , didn't work - headache from hell

Meds that I used :

Phenergan Suppositories - yuck I know- but it was my rescue med if needed

Phenergan pill form -

Extra nausea meds in my chemo bag at infusion-  I had several kinds of nausea drugs ( emend and kytril) 

And also one time got a nausea patch that last 7 days - scolopmine (sp?)  

Also when it got really bad, I went to my onc's office and got an extra bag of fluid, and anti nausea.  That helped.  

Ativan - really just knocked me out to give me relief from nausea

My onc always would suggest taking the steriod for longer - ie, when I was supposed to take it until friday, he said for me to take it til Monday to ward off the nausea.  I tried and it didn't work that great and the side effects from the steroids for me weren't great either.

Food-  mashed potatoes ,  - and nothing with acid( no tomato soup, no vinegary or spicy things etc ) and saltines.

Good Luck - hang in there-  It will get better, I promise!

.

Moderators

Hi Jnprsn,

We, too, are so sorry to hear you're experiencing this awful side effect! In addtion to the helpful advice luckypenny shared, you may be interested in checking out the main Breastcancer.org site's page on Nausea for tips to help manage this side effect.

There's also some good tips on the Eating When You Have Nausea and Vomiting page.

We hope this helps you feel better!

--The Mods

SpecialK

My instructions were to start with anti-nausea meds (Zofran did not work for me and gave me a brutal headache, had to go to Compazine - I was given 3 at home drugs to use) on the evening of chemo at 9:00 p.m. and to continue with these meds at regular intervals for 72 hours whether I had nausea or not.  It is much easier to prevent it that to treat it once you have it.  You should alert your MO about the nausea because there are stronger drugs they can give you, Emend or a Sancuso patch, if the ones you have are not working.  I never had constipation with chemo -  I had the opposite, but the ladies who did seem to start treating it the night before chemo and continued for about a week after with laxatives and/or stool softeners.  My BIL is a gastroenterologist and he recommends Miralax but I know for some it is not strong enough.

SheilaB330

Hi,



I got very nauseous on meds for helping with constipation. So I am using unflavored Miralax which you just stir into water or juice. It is slower to take effect but doesn't make me sick to my stomach which even lowest doses of other meds to produce a poop. Drink LOTS of water. 64 oz easy. I bought a nice water carafe that holds back ice and lime slices when I pour. (Menu Water Jug 27 oz personal size). Be sure to take probiotics to replace gut flora that gets destroyed during chemo. After 2nd day of Miralax, I have pooed - less than normal but huge relief. Eat lots of roughage and walk -- you will find relief. Good luck.

jnprsn

Thank you for all the tips. The Compazine seems to be working every 8 hours until it wears off. I will try the miralax instead. Too afraid to take the senokot and colace.

christina0001

I'll tell you what. I bought into the hype here about taking stool softeners during chemo and had painful diarrhea the first two rounds... then I thought, duh, stop taking the stool softener! So I did and I did not have diarrhea again. Lesson learned - have what you might need on hand, but don't assume that you will have a side effect until you actually do! Glad that you are getting relief from the compazine. I used compazine and zofran and both were very effective for me.

jnprsn

Despite drinking at least 72 ounces of water daily, I still ended up on fluids today (day 5) for 2 hours. They are going to repeat fluids weekly after neulasta shot.