For those of you who had radiation, how did you manage nausea if you had it?

[Radtech40]

My brother is in his 4th week of radiation and since day 2 has been extremely nauseous all of the time, he had the beads implanted in his prostate and is doing IMRT for 9 weeks, he is on promethazine but it doesnt really seem to be working well. He didn't qualify for prostatectomy because it had spread beyond the capsule and into the nerve bundles and a few other areas nearby. He is a gleason 10, newly diagnosed. He keeps saying he wants to just quit going and I tell him absolutely not, he needs to just ask for more meds maybe zofran on top of the current one? Our father is stage 4 and I tell my brother, this is the beginning for you to hit it hard right now and you get this chance once.

[Tall_Allen]

Never heard of nausea from prostate radiation before. Maybe it's from anxiety?

[Radtech40 in reply to Tall_Allen]

They told him nausea was a common complaint and side effect with high doses daily. They are hitting the prostate and lymph nodes around the area. They did give him the anti nausea pill after the first week he couldn't eat he was so sick. I guess everyone is different.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Radtech40]

Makes sense for bowel radiation.

[Desanthony in reply to Radtech40]

Just keep telling the radiologist about this so that they can find a medication to hopefully stop this.

[AlanMeyer]

I had HDR brachytherapy (temporary implantation of radioactive seeds in the prostate and in a extension of one of the tumors outside the prostate) plus external beam radiation to the area one centimeter around the prostate. I didn't experience any nausea at all.

There are a number of drugs for nausea. I used ondansetron (brand name Zofran) once when I was nauseous and vomiting after eating something in a foreign country. It stopped my nausea and vomiting almost immediately and I was able to go back to sleep. I've also used the over the counter drugs dramamine and meclizine for motion sickness with some success. However, your brother should check with the doctors before taking them to be sure that the drugs and dosages are okay in his situation. He'll need a prescription for ondansetron. He should also check the info on the Internet in drug labels e.g. on the FDA websites.

I noticed that the drug info for ondansetron ( accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatf... ) has no mention of radiation. Here's a web page about nausea drugs that includes one (granisetron) that actually mentions radiation - goodrx.com/nausea/drugs

Best of luck to him.Alan

[Radtech40 in reply to AlanMeyer]

Thank you so much for this information! I screenshot it to give to him, he meets with his rad onc every tues so he can discuss these with him. He will try anything at this point. Thank you

[AlanMeyer in reply to AlanMeyer]

I mentioned a website on nausea and vomiting drugs that included ganisetron, a drug used in radiation caused nausea, in the above posting. However I forgot to give the URL. I edited the posting and it's in there now.

[NickJoy]

My husband had nausea and what he described as just a horrible feeling inside. He is through it now. Hopefully your brother will be able to get through it. I agree with you that it is well worth it.

[treedown]

I was given ondansetron (ZOFRAN-ODT) as a prophylactic to avoid nausea which I never got so stopped taking it about treatment 24 ish.

[dadzone43]

In addition to the medications listed above, consider candied ginger, easy to make or available in most groceries.

[subliminaldood]

I have found cannabis oil to be invaluable. Both for pain and nausea.

[PhilipSZacarias]

Hello Radtech40, I suffered from nausea during chemotherapy. I found that inhaling THC from weed (can also be an oil) with a vaporizer was very effective in reducing nausea during meal times. Cheers, Phil

[bubbles48]

I had the same problem. Started Zofran and no more nausea.

[Fairway]

No experience with this, Rad. Just wishing you a quick and complete recovery. Fairway

[Radtech40]

Thank you everyone for all of the kind advice! Today after his treatment he asked the radiation oncologist if they could add Zofran, he will get it filled tonight, fingers crossed. Also I told him to try the CBD oil and candied ginger. Thanks!!