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I was on a totally different regime (ABVD - adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and doxorubicin) .
My meds were very similar. I took adriamycin, vincristine, cytoxin, rutaximab and decadron. The effects of these meds were also very binding. Drinking water was essentially. I also made sure that I ate lots of fruit the day before and also took one Colace (a stool softener) and 30cc of Milk of Magnesia the night of treatment. It did make things easier the next day.
The medication I took for nausea, Kytril, was very effective and I was never nauseas throughout the entire treatment period. What also helped was sprinkling fresh ginger on some foods and drinking ginger tea.
I did see some of the comments about Gatorade. I don't think I can ever drink the stuff again!
Forget your favorite foods at those times when you anticipate being nauseus. It's classical conditioning (remember Pavlov's dogs) and knowing it won't help. Our bodies/brains are just wired that way. We associate whatever wd did before vomiting with the vomiting. So, much as your fav comfort foods sound appealing, don't eat them the night before chemo, the day of, or the day after. Wait until you are no longer nauseated.
My friend with the year long chemo said she was not sick the day of chemo but rather the next 2 days after that. I believe she is coming up on her 2 yr anniversary of finishing chemo and her last tests were clean.
Heh. I tried eating a ton of chocolate during my initial treatment. I'd heard that I would lose my taste for it by associating it with my chemo. Didn't work, dang it! LOL But the smell of my lotion brings back the chemo. Weird. I've been on chemo this second go round for over a year now. It's all just a way of life now.
Heh. I tried eating a ton of chocolate during my initial treatment.
Wow, that's a thought. Chocolate -- and an excuse to eat it. Happy dance.
I'm an artist and I'm very, very emotional (sorry, Charlie). I'm not asking "Why me?" but I do wonder if I didn't somehow do this to myself. Throughout my life I've suffered so much; I've never quite fit in anywhere due to being so tall for a women (6'3"), bookish (not necessarily smart, just a bookworm), and I have a lot of weird opinions. Those opinions are not so weird any more, but they were in the enviorment and age I grew up in. Maybe I was ahead of my time; maybe I'm just an idiot. I don't know any more.
Maybe I wanted to die; maybe this is my way out. I don't know.
Sorry; this is too personal, probably, and not doing anybody any good. Unless, of course, someone else feels this, too.
I started with taxotere and taxol and had allergic reactions. I continued with cytoxon and the older drugs 5FU and methodrexate.
They pumped nausea drugs into me during chemo but I had some meds too. I felt queasy a lot but only got sick 3 times.
My food cravings changed. I like corn dogs but haven't eaten them much in my life but that was the one thing I craved during chemo. That and bacon.
I live in a dry climate so I had to moisturize even more than I did before chemo. When you lose your appetite, remember to have something in your hand and continually drinking water, tea or whatever you want to drink as chemo will dehydrate you. Try to keep your weight close to where it is now.
I joked around and said yay, this is the time for me to lose weight but I've heard about people that lost a lot of weight, going into the hospital and I didn't want to do that. My weight stayed within 8 pounds of my usual weight.
Wow, that's a thought. Chocolate -- and an excuse to eat it. Happy dance.
I'm an artist and I'm very, very emotional (sorry, Charlie). I'm not asking "Why me?" but I do wonder if I didn't somehow do this to myself. Throughout my life I've suffered so much; I've never quite fit in anywhere due to being so tall for a women (6'3"), bookish (not necessarily smart, just a bookworm), and I have a lot of weird opinions. Those opinions are not so weird any more, but they were in the enviorment and age I grew up in. Maybe I was ahead of my time; maybe I'm just an idiot. I don't know any more.
Maybe I wanted to die; maybe this is my way out. I don't know.
Sorry; this is too personal, probably, and not doing anybody any good. Unless, of course, someone else feels this, too.
Whatever you feel is normal right now. I never felt like I "fit in" as a child, young adult, or even now at times. I just think some of us have different interests than most others so it's harder to make true friends.
And forget that nonsense that people somehow bring cancer on themselves by emotions! It's simply not true.
I take Temodar (Temozolomide) to treat my brain tumor. It's oral, 5 nights a week consecutively, than 23 off. I'm actually on it for the second time - the first time was from 02/10 to 12/10, when I completed the goal of 12 cycles. Unfortunately, my tumor has recurred, so I'm on it again.
The side effects I've experienced are nausea, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and constipation. Thankfully, none of these are severe, and the first three or four usually only occur when I actually am taking the chemotherapy.
The intensity of these side effects vary from cycle to cycle. The nausea and fatigue are usually limited to days 3 to 7 of my cycle, and then quickly resolve. Last cycle I was barely nauseated and went on several long walks on the days when the nausea is usually at its worst; but the cycle before that, I was severely nauseated, although I didn't vomit. I take Ondansetron for nausea, which seems to be of limited efficacy.
Brain fog is a side effect I've experienced during at least some cycles.
Insomnia is a problem I've had long before they found out about my brain tumor, but the chemotherapy tends to aggravate it, perhaps because of my increased napping. I also do not like to stay up after taking the Temodar, because the nausea seems to be worst 1 to 3 hours after consuming the drug. I am on Ambien for that reason. The Ambien also, as a side effect, provides temporary (in the hour that passes between I take it and when I actually go to bed) relief from the depression, anxiety, and hopelessness I face as a result of a multitude of problems, such as being broke, jobless, and languid, compounded on top of the tumor. Right now I'm out of the Ambien, but woke up at 11 am and napped from 5 to 6:30, so I'm still up.
The constipation is constant, and almost intractable. I suppose it might be reduced in severity if I ate more fresh fruits and vegetables, but their texture is appalling to me. Bran cereal, when I have it, helps. I am currently prescribed Miralax, but I often still need a stimulant laxative like Dulcolax.
Brain fog/chemo brain is a big thing that doctors are only now starting to take seriously. My advice is to try to do something through chemo that works out your brain. For some people it's soduku, others pick up Rosetta Stone to learn a new language - I tried to pick up computer programming (check out Learn to code | Codecademy - I wish I had known about this during chemo!!). Just do something to work out your brain and fight through the fog.
My concentration and higher reasoning skills aren't back where they once were and I really think that's due in large part because between work (which can sometimes work my brain, but not always or often) and fatigue, I basically did nothing but eat and sleep in my free time. I have more to work back from.
Wow, that's a thought. Chocolate -- and an excuse to eat it. Happy dance.
I'm an artist and I'm very, very emotional (sorry, Charlie). I'm not asking "Why me?" but I do wonder if I didn't somehow do this to myself. Throughout my life I've suffered so much; I've never quite fit in anywhere due to being so tall for a women (6'3"), bookish (not necessarily smart, just a bookworm), and I have a lot of weird opinions. Those opinions are not so weird any more, but they were in the enviorment and age I grew up in. Maybe I was ahead of my time; maybe I'm just an idiot. I don't know any more.
Maybe I wanted to die; maybe this is my way out. I don't know.
Sorry; this is too personal, probably, and not doing anybody any good. Unless, of course, someone else feels this, too.
Don't do this to yourself. Instead, make the most of what you've got.
You are NOT an idiot.
Who says you must comform to society's "standards" anyway? You are what you are. Make the most of your good points, and minimize (or eliminate, if possible) the bad.
Most of all, take care of yourself in every way possible.
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