nausea and vomiting with breast cancer radiation

dborovicka

Does radiation treatments for breast cancer cause nausea and vomiting?

Kicks

I had no problems with nausea at all with rads.  I had no nausea issues at all with my neoadjuvamt and adjuvant chemo either.

Moderators

Hello dborovicka, and welcome to Breastcancer.org.

In the Nausea section of the main Breastcancer.org site, radiation therapy is listed among the treatments that can cause it. The section also lists good solutions for managing nausea that could give you some ways to cope.

To connect with others who are at the same stage of treatment you are, there are very active threads for Spring 2014 Rads, and Winter 2013-2014 Rads that you might want to join.

• The Mods

Annette47

From what I understand, it would be incredibly unusual to have nausea and/or vomiting from breast radiation, although I suppose anything is possible.   I certainly didn't, although I did have a little heartburn, which I suspect was more from the positioning on the table (I did my rads in the prone position) than from the actual radiation.

Anonymous

I had no problems due to radiation, other than some minor skin "burns" toward the end of treatment. These (two places) were over bone (collarbone & one rib), which I think made that more likely to occur. The RO put on a special dressing I could even shower with that helped with clothes rubbing against the collarbone one (rib one didn't need any treatment).

I had no nausea or vomiting, no fatigue either. Probably the worst part of my radiation treatment was driving to the treatment center in traffic every day! Six weeks after completing rads, I did a hiking tour of Tuscany - that had been my goal during treatment.

yogaforbreastcancer

Hi

You can try a local bikram yoga school in your area

i founded yogaforbreastcancer.com in 2004

and www.yogaforcancerfoundation.com in 2010, www.yogaforbreastcancer.com in 2004

the class will fill a void for you and suspend you against gravity in the posture

building bone muscle and holding your body together during protocol

regarding nausea, you might still have it after a class, but it will be much less

in addition, toxic elimination will be obvious with the ammount of freshly oxiginated blood from the class

you'll feel better, in addition, the benefits from the class are astounding; it's not fun to be in there; but you'll have some mental rest

physcally, you can't compete with the workout; mind body and breath control

drew

support@yogaforbreastcancer.com

Leah_S

I had nausea but no vomiting during rads. The stomach and esophagus are near the field being radiated so there is a possibility of scatter.

Leah

Sylvia1000

I just finished radtreatment number 14 and I feel pretty naiseous. I didn't feel nauseous very much with chemo, so this took me by surprise. Hoping it's a fluke and that it's temporary.

Tresjoli2

I was VERY nauseous during rads. It was awful!!! Went away when I was done. HUGS!

Cowboy-Up

I'm going through rads right now and I too am noticing some slight nausea. No vomiting. My fatigue deals kind of like a hangover.

JoJo-Marie

I had severe vomiting and nausea during chemotherapy but was told I would not experience with radiation.  I had several trips to the hospital to stop vomiting and was hospitalized once for the side-effects of chemo.  After my 7th radiation treatment I started with nausea, at first contributing it to something I ate.  Since it continued I mentioned to my radiologist about the nausea and he said it was not due to radiation.  This week it has become more intense and I mentioned it again on my weekly visit.  He contributed it to nervousness.  I jokingly said it was doctor induced since I have treatment everyday.  It is comforting to know that others have experienced nausea and not something I am "making up".  I am down 15 treatments and have 18 more to go.  I take Zofran which helps with the nausea but sometimes resting is the best medicine.  I hope for everyone to have a complete recovery from this terrible disease.

Moderators

Dear JoJo-Marie, Welcome to the community. We are glad that you reached out here and shared your situation. We hope that you will continue to stay connected and receive the support and information you need as your treatment continues. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you to navigate around here. The Mods

Fotheringay

I had nausea kick in on day two of radiation, although I was told that radiation is not associated with nausea. I wasn't at all nervous about radiation, so I do not think it was anxiety.

I wasn't imagining it. It would kick in about 45 minutes to a hour after my morning treatment.

I discovered that ginger ale is extremely palatable when you feel queasy.

My appetite got knocked back severely as well. I never threw up, though.

The nausea went away after I finished radiation.

JoJo-Marie

Fotheringay:  Thanks for the feed back.  I am not nervous at all about radiation treatment either.  Chemo was so terrible this is a breeze in comparison.  It definitely affects my appetite too.  I hope it goes away quickly after I finish radiation treatment.  Have a great afternoon and evening.

Fotheringay

Hi JoJo-

I looked at the nausea and lack of appetite as an opportunity to drop a few pounds!

Just be sure to hydrate the dickens out of yourself. I bought ginger ale and grape juice to supplement water; I found OJ to be too acidic. Ginger ale really does help with nausea. Eat the best foods when you can! I'm sure this is not news to you, though, having been through chemo, bless you!

If he tells you that you can't have nausea with BC rads.. how would HE know? You're not imagining it. It's real, but it should pass!

((Best wishes))

Carrie

JoJo-Marie

Hi Carrie:  I will definitely try Ginger Ale.  I tried drinking it during chemo but chemo affects how everything tastes so it was awful along with everything else.  I have dropped 5 pounds since finishing chemo but need to lose 10 more.  Between the steroids and three times per week fluid infusions, I gained 15 pounds.  I am back to exercising again even though I have to do it at a much lower intensity level.  I work at a field to market farm and have access to fresh vegetables that I eat regularly.  Just looking forward to feeling and looking like myself again.  Thanks for the positive feedback.

Joanna

VLH

I've noticed that many women on this forum mention nausea associated with radiation, but are repeatedly told it doesn't happen. If the radiation oncologists and techs deny any connection, they're clearly not tracking the number of women experiencing the side effect. While acknowledging that nausea send far less common with rewards than chemo, I guess that allows them to continue saying it doesn't happen?

Lyn, Getting Mapped and "Tatted" Later This Week

ruthbru

No nausea or vomiting for me. I did chemo first and was very happy to find my taste buds and appetite both returned to normal during radiation.

Fotheringay

According to The Oncologist, "a journal devoted to medical and practice issues for surgical, radiation, and medical oncologists",

"Our recent studies, with sample sizes of several hundred consecutive patients, have shown that >80% of outpatients receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy reported some degree of CRF as assessed using the Fatigue Symptom Inventory (Fig. 3) ([26] and G.R. Morrow et al., manuscript in preparation). For example, in a subset of patients with breast cancer who were receiving radiotherapy, fatigue was the most commonly experienced side effect, with 84% of patients reporting fatigue, compared with 75% reporting pain and 25% reporting nausea [27]." [emphasis mine]


So SOMEONE has made a link between radiation and nausea!

Carrie

http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/12/suppl_1/4.full

VLH

Interesting, Carrie. That article is a decade old, yet it seems there is still denial among some radiation providers that radiation might cause nausea.

Lyn

JoJo-Marie

Because of my radiologist's dismissive attitude towards my nausea, I have decided not to mention it to him again.  It's not like he can do anything about it anyway.  I just like to make sure my doctors know how I am feeling and any concerns I have.  Other than this episode, I really like my doctor and have been pleased with our interactions prior to this.  Everyone have a great weekend!

CeliaC

Hi, Ladies. Ohio born and raised, but now living about 10 miles south of Cincinnati, in northern KY. Hope I can be considered as an "honorary" Ohio Sister.

Each week, at the RO/Rad Nurse visit during treatment I mentioned fatigue, slight nausea but no vomiting, loss of appetite & zingers as side effects. Both women stated these were normal side effects. They did recommend some form of daily exercise to battle these effects. Was never able to exercise as worked all day, then to treatment and then home for dinner and bed early. Ginger ale is my "go to" for nausea. Regular Coke can also be helpful, if you can tolerate it - Dr used to prescribe Coke Syrup as a childhood remedy, and it always helped with hangover nausea in my (long gone) single, drinking days.

Now at 2 weeks after end of rads - fatigue has been hitting me harder, but they say this should improve. Able to manage with 7 hr work days. Appetite improving some, but has also been an opportunity to eat better and drop a few extra pounds.

CowboyUp - How are things going with your treatments (done yet?) and is your skin doing ok? Horses ok?

Cowboy-Up

CeliaC, doing pretty good. Today was 18/31. Definitely getting pink but no fatigue yet. Not able to ride much with work and radiation but did ride on Saturday which felt great. How are things going for you

gb2115

I had nausea with radiation. RO said impossible and was dismissive. MO listened to me and said sure lots of women complain about it and not sure why RO won't admit it. She offered me meds which I declined (wasn't really that severe). Sure enough went away after radiation finished. :-)

Interestingly, the nausea was most severe during the boost treatments. I also had a mild sore/scratchy throat for weeks which was also "impossible." I was told I must be "coming down with the flu." For weeks with no symptom progression--and worse in afternoon after treatment and improving over the weekend? You'd think an RN would understand how a viral illness like influenza works...it's like they took pride in denying everything and went out of their way to be ridiculous.

ARRRGH! Months later it still makes me mad. Sorry everyone, for the vent.

:-)

GreenEyes81

Thank you for sharing all! Found this via Dr. Google. lol I am only on day 2...an hour later I started feeling a bit nasiated. Now, later in the evening its much worse. Any movement makes it worse. Was thinking it was something I ate....but its not getting "worse" at this point so maybe rads?

Going to "test" it out tomorrow. It seems from what I am reading it gets better than starts over after a rads treatment?

Lula73

8mg of zofran every 8 hrs may help with the nausea. The other thing I found out the hard way was not to have anything acidic before the day’s rad treatment. Afterward was fine but definitely not before. So no OJ, lemonade, grapefruit juice, tomato sauce, etc. Hope this helps!