Tips for getting through chemotherapy

bump

bump

Use a lint roller over your head to remove the little stubbles that remain and will poke you when you try to lie down.  Works like a charm.

hey, Steph.  Make sure you are given the drug EMEND for the nausea.  A friend of mine with breast cancer told me to ask for it...the onc was going to give me something else but was happy to give me the EMEND instead.  I never had one minute of nausea throughout all my chemo...quite the opposite.  I couldn't stop eating.

With EMEND, you are given 3 pills.  You take one I think an hour before chemo and then one pill a day for the next two days.  It's awesome stuff. 

Good luck to you! 

things going bump in the night...

bumping for newbies....

bump, very helpful

I don't know if it was mentioned elsewhere, but both my oncologist and a friend who was both a survivor and oncology nurse recommended eating a popsicle, or something else very cold, while being given adriamycin. Apparently there has been some inconclusive research indicating it prevents mouth sores. I never did get a single mouth sore so maybe it is effective.

Thanks, everybody, for keeping this thread active.  Now all I need to do is take the time to read through it!

otter 

What is the best way to control the constipation, for my next treatment, I had a very hard time with it for my first .  I need advice, how to preplan my next treatment without constipation.

thanks 

Hi Angie,

 I take one square of chocolate ExLax the night of chemo, and another one the following evening. Then I drink gallons of water and tea. I also eat Activia yogurt every single day. So far, so good. I think the secret is taking something at the same time as the chemo before things can get really bottled up, so to speak.

Hope this helps everything come out all right. In the end.

Love,

Annie

I am desperate right now its being 3 days , I have done everything possible to go and no relief, I just heat up some prune juice, and drank it, I am so irritable, I am so mad, I am so cranky, I just have to go.

Bumping up for May gals.

Angie, if you see this, this is kind of a repeat of wht I said on another thread. Start a laxitive a day or two before your next treatment, and continue taking it through at least day 4 after your treatment. Avoid binding foods, but at some point, I think peristalsis just stops. That's why things aren't moving.

If your onc gave you Emend, try the next chemo without it. That works on the center of your brain that controls the nauseous feeling and probably has something to do with the lack of peristalsis. I just had Aloxi with tx#2 and took Compozine afterwards, and that was enough to keep the nausea at bay...and I didn't have the constipation I had with tx #1. 

They are so concerned with keeping the nausea away, I feel they overmedicate with those meds which can all make you constipated. So, while I can see why they want to start you out with the full spectrum, I would try cutting one out the next tx and see how it goes.

Jdg,

Hi, its funny, you said that, because when I was trying to get my taste buds back, that is exactly what I did, I remember that Big Macs always gave me the runs, so I said, I am constipated, and I have no taste, so let me grab a big mac, guess what?, it did not work for me this time on the constipation, but it worked on the taste, that just goes to show you that this anti-nausea meds, are a real whammy.....

P.s. Notice, they dont make big macs, like they use to anymore, I guess inflation (lol)

Take care