Chemotherapy for my Mom at Stage II-B, how to ease the pain?

Anonymous

Chemotherapy for my Mom at Stage II-B, how to ease the pain?

Yuno

Hello everyone,

My mother, 54, got diagnosed earlier this year. She had a mastectomy with her left breast removed and reconstructed. She's HER2 negative.

She'll be having round 4 of her Chemotherapy next week, with 8 cycles in total. I heard from her that the doctors said the 5th until the last Chemo session will be extremely painful and almost unbearable, the medicine will be a lot stronger than the first four. Sounds so unnerving and scary. My mom felt nauseous and vomited a lot for about 3 days after her 2nd and 3rd Chemo, I'd imagine it'll be the same for her 4th one next week.

Any tips or experiences anybody can share?? I've distracted myself an awful lot from this nightmare and I'd always want to reassure myself that everything's going to be alright.

Thanks a bunch! ❤

moth

Can you find out specifically what chemotherapy drugs will she be receiving?

The nausea and vomiting should be better controlled. I can send you a link to the protocols used at my facility. It's an incremental protocol which adds new medicines if vomiting and nausea are not controlled.

None of my chemotherapy has been painful though taxol can cause pain & joint aches.

Let us know what drugs she's receiving and we can offer more info.

Meg101

Hi Yuno. I agree with Moth about needing more information as to what chemo drugs they are giving your mom.

Many of us were prescribed great anti nausea drugs that really worked well. These drugs include steriods and Emend, Zofran, and Compazine. She should take these meds BEFORE she feels nauseous. If she waits until she feels nauseous it's too late.

It's wonderful that you are advocating for your mom.

Meg

NotVeryBrave

There is really little excuse for anyone to suffer terribly through chemo. I have no idea why her providers would paint such a bleak picture! They should be actively working to alleviate her nausea and pain.

I took steroids on schedule - day before, day of, and day after chemo. I took Compazine starting the day after the steroids ended and continuing for four days. I took Tylenol for pain but also learned about taking Claritin with the Neulasta or Neupogen injections to help with bone pain. I ended up just taking that daily for a while since it didn't seem to cause any problems.

My chemo regimen is below. I never vomited. Food tasted terrible and I often had little appetite but not really nausea since I was taking medicine - in case. I did feel really achy at times but not horrible pain.

Please encourage your mother to contact her MO about how badly she feels. I hope this helps.

Meow13

Me too. Agree with other ladies. She should not be suffering they should be prescribing meds to help with side effects.

Yuno

Thanks so much for the responses!

I'm currently at work so I'll just post real quick, her medicines are epirubicin and cyclophosphamide. She's never taken any pain killers or anything and I think the doctors didn't recommend some before and just told her to be healthy and eat and blabla...

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star2017

that is very unfair of her doctors. I don’t have experience with those meds, but my MO was very proactive with prescribing meds to help alleviate discomfort.

When I had aches/pain I was taking Tylenol or Aleve or Advil at regularly scheduled intervals. I did not wait for it to get bad

moth

Is she getting fluorouracil along with that? That would be the CEF protocol then. I don't think I've heard of just the CE alone but oncologists do vary their protocols...

However, that is a high nausea protocol and requires anti emetics. In British Columbia, the goal is explicitly states as "NO nausea or vomiting" during chemo. They adjust medications until the goal is achieved. I will post you the pdf of the protocol. I don't know where you are but try to see your mom's oncologist before the next treatment, show them the printout and ask for those medications.

She would need the medications on page 2 under Emotegenicity: HIGH (the first box). There are meds you take on the day of the chemo, and then for 3 days after. I was on that protocol. You can also add over the counter gravol (dimenhydrinate) to the medications. It tends to make people sleepy. I used it for the first 24h after my AC treatments so I could sleep through the worst part of it.

If these medications are not enough, then there is a flow chart on page 5 which physicians are supposed to use to gain control of the nausea & vomiting.

http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/chemotherapy-protocols-s...

For pain relief, I was allowed to take acetaminophen or ibuprofen so long as I first take our temperature & it's normal (to make sure I don't have a fever which will be masked by the medication). If these over the counter medications are insufficient for pain control, the doctors will prescribe Tylenol 3 (with codeine) or other medications to manage pain.

I hope you can advocate for your mom. Chemo is hard but the side effects are largely treatable and manageable with proper pharmacological interventions. I hope she can get this under control.

Make sure she drinks a lot. If her taste is affected and nothing tastes good, try new different things. Sodas, fizzy water, juices, etc.

Warm baths with epsom salts can help body aches and pains.

Massage can also ease tension and muscle pains.

best wishes,