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What's your chemo regime? How have your side effect been?
Mine is every three weeks for six cycles; I've had two so far. The first was awful but I admit I was warned. I read posts on this thread about Emend, which my doctor prescribed, but my insurance wouldn't cover it. I was instead given another anti-nausea med, which caused horrific constipation so he took me off that for the second cycle, thankfully, and am using Prednisone to combat nausea. It's not quite as effective but does help.
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My tip: Don't eat things during infusion or on your bad days that you ever want to be able to eat again.
Good point. Food hasn't tasted too great since I began the chemo. My appetite is slowly beginning to come back. I've had to supplement with Ensure, which tastes remarkably good, given that so much else doesn't. Food that I used to love turns my stomach now, including any kind of bread. Hopefully this will change sometime soon!
CA4now - For me even after 2 treatments, 6 still seemed insurmountable. Somehow I got through it, and you will too. That's BS with your insurance. Can't appeal it or anything? I still have my anti-nausea meds. I don't know why. I'm just afraid to throw it away for some reason. I would give it to you though.
The food thing is classical conditioning (think Pavlov's dogs). Anything you ate around the time of nausea or smelled can become the trigger. That's why we recommend folks stay away from their comfort or favorite foods.
Sometimes the chemo can change the tastebuds or damage the hormones in the gut that influence the tastebuds.
That's wonderful to hear that you're doing so well!
Though it might be hard to believe at this moment in time, I believe you'll be doing well after treatment too.
I saw the post about the nausea. I had very good luck with ginger. I had ginger tea, fresh ginger grated over carrots, etc. Anywhere we could sprinkle ginger was helpful. Even good old ginger ale can help. My wife made sure I had a little extra ginger the night before chemo. I also took Colace, a stioll softener, the night before chemo as well, to assist with that constipation issue the next day.
With the exception of Gatorade, I'm once again able to eat all the foods I ate before and during treatments. And I agree with Christina about the insurance company. Ask your doctor to call and "appeal" their decision.
I saw the post about the nausea. I had very good luck with ginger. I had ginger tea, fresh ginger grated over carrots, etc. Anywhere we could sprinkle ginger was helpful. Even good old ginger ale can help. My wife made sure I had a little extra ginger the night before chemo. I also took Colace.
Thanks for your suggestions. I'd forgotten about ginger and need to pick some up. (And I am now never out of the Colace!)
The food thing is classical conditioning (think Pavlov's dogs). Anything you ate around the time of nausea or smelled can become the trigger.
You are so right! I also had oral thrush from a med that the doctor discontinued once he looked inside my mouth. It made everything taste AWFUL. Luckily, that side effect stopped the day after the med was discontinued.
CA4now - That's BS with your insurance. Can't appeal it or anything? I still have my anti-nausea meds. I don't know why. I'm just afraid to throw it away for some reason. I would give it to you though.
I think that now I know better! At the time it was just after my first chemo cycle and a few days before Christmas. I recall the pharmacist arguing with a health insurance rep on the phone while I was waiting for the rest of the meds. Earlier in the day, both my daughter and son had been back and forth to the pharmacy to pick up the other meds, listen to the consults, etc. When the pharmacist finally got the Emend covered--but stated that it would cost over $200--was when my doctor did the substitution. Later I found out from the nurse that often health insurance companies will see what they patient can tolerate at the lower cost drug. Amazing. (In retrospect, I think I'd pay the $ to avoid enduring days of that horrific constipation, though!)
I used zofran and compazine for anti-emetics, in addition to something in my drip during treatment and ativan before treatment to stop anticipatory nausea. I never really even broke into my compazine because zofran took care of everything. Some people certainly do need emend, but it should be a last resort if no other nausea meds work, not a first. Do you remember the name of the other drug?
Everything stopped me up during chemo. Look in the tea aisle of your grocery store (might have to go to a Whole Foods or health store) for Smooth Moves tea (by the Yogi brand I believe). I took it religiously on day 2 - 4 out of chemo, your constipation days may vary. It's a tea made of herbal laxatives, which both my oncologist and I preferred because it was more gentle and natural when I was downing all kinds of pills. From the moment I gave in and started using it, I had absolutely no problems with constipation, nor cramps associated with a laxative.
Be careful with the prednisone - it caused me to gain 60 pounds during my 6 months of chemo (infusions every other week) and I'm a year and a half out and can't drop the weight because chemo changed my metabolism. Seems to be a common story with lymphoma patients. :\
I'm sorry to hear about your insurance being frustrating. A cancer diagnosis shows how broken our healthcare system is. My insurance denied the chemo protocol that is now accepted for advanced cases of Hodgkin's lymphoma, so I had to take the old standard which is less effective in maintaining long-term remission. No amount of my doctors at two hospitals did any good. My insurance was also the only insurance company in my state to not cover fertility saving treatments for single female oncology patients - if I had been married, I could have banked embryos but they would not allow me to bank eggs. Again - no amount of appealing from several doctors, social workers, and nonprofits did anything.
Funny story (wasn't funny at the time)...I was warned about constipation with chemo, so I took stool softeners the day after each chemo treatment. It took about 3 rounds before I realized that A. I was getting diarrhea after each chemo, and B. it was because I was taking the stool softeners.
I found if I eat Cheerios for breakfast and take my shot glass full of pills twice a day with prune juice the constipation went away.
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