My husband has oespgegous cancer with liver mets. His liver is enlarged and he is experiencing terrible stomach pains after meals, stomach very bloated all the time. So although he can swallow food okay he seems to be having difficulty digesting it. Any advice on what foods he should avoid? He's learned hard way not to eat fish suppers or pizza!
Stomach pains: My husband has... - OPA Palliative Ca...
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Stomach pains
Written by
katymaggie
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Did your husband have any surgery after the cancer diagnosis?
I think it may be helpful to run a food diary to see whether some food gives more trouble than others. Also to try cutting out certain food for a period. I think I would think about fats / dairy products as one possible way to start.
Is he constipated?
Do his stools look light brown, oily and floating? That might indicate trouble with digesting fat.
There is likely to be some trial and error in all this, but you might try gripe water if he has colic / trapped wind.
This might be some side effects of medication, so it would be worth checking with the specialist nurses. It might also be worth trying on OPA Charlie's Circle.
• in reply to
I have just asked for advice. The response is that it is difficult to judge without a doctor assessing the patient, but IF your husband has had an oesophagectomy the nerves get affected and there is a delay in the stomach emptying. A patient feels like they are swallowing food fine, but it can just sit in the stomach, and it gets worse as the day goes on with reflux and regurgitation. Sometimes a short course of metaclopramide/domperidone might help, and it might be worth an endoscopy and pyloric dilatation might be better.
Recommended to have a discussion with a dietitian/surgeon/oncologist.
katymaggie• in reply to
Thank you so much for coming back to me, much appreciated.
No surgery, he was being given a course of chemo before surgery but unfortunately he developed livers mets before surgery so they wouldn't go ahead. He has had Cisplatin & 5FU, Docetaxel and FOLFIRINOX. He is now starting an 8 week trial at the Beatson in Glasgow.
He regularly takes metoclopramide 10mg 3 x day, Lansoprazole 30mg twice a day, Mebeverine135mg 3 x day. Dexamethasone 6mg once a day. And when needed Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. He does have Oramorph but is reluctant to take it regularly - he has had to take it for these severe stomach pains recently.
Yes his stools are light brown and oily.
I think that the stools might indicate steattorhea - a problem with the system digesting fats. This might be a logical result of the liver not working well, as one of the functions of the liver is releasing bile to help with the digestion of fats. The medication that is sometimes given for this is creon, but I think this would have to be prescribed by somebody who could take into account the effect with all the other medication. And it would also link with reducing fat in the diet perhaps?
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