I’m looking for a few tips if anyone can help following chemo last week I felt a little nauseous but had the prescribed anti sickness tablets so ok but Ive now lost my appetite completely (careless I know)
My husband is worried because I’m not eating and he says I must keep my strength up and he keeps trying to entice me with some of my favourite things but to no avail. I feel like I need to kick start my appetite (I am usually a real foody) but don’t know how?
Any tips would be appreciated I might ask to see the dietician at my local cancer hospital but that could take a while.
Hi Scotty22, poor you. It's pants isn't it. I tend to find for the week after chemo my appetite completely goes and then it starts coming back again. Things taste strange and bland. This is all courtesy of the chemo. My CNS advised picking little bits of any food I fancied. I find pineapple cubes are good but my favourite has to be Bombay mix! In a small bowl, nice and spicey! Hope this helps.
I struggled with appetite too after day 3 when the steroids finished. To be honest if you don’t have a big weight loss I don’t think they worry, I think we do because we expect to be eating. The trouble is this is a new normal so your body is drawing on resources that it has already stored
Once I stopped stressing about food and just went with the flow I found my want and need to eat returned, just in a different way
I only ate rich tea and ginger biscuits for the first week and back on some cereal and picking at whatever my husband had but more of a kids size share after that. By week three I was still not on a full size portion but it did look like real food lol
Wish I didn’t have much appetite now. Upped the steroids and my clothes are feeling tight. Four weeks ago it was a worry Id lost 10kg in a few weeks. Now Ive put it back on and more with the meds!!!! Happy to swap lol
I am on chemo too. I make a breakfast smoothie with overnight soaked oats, half a frozen banana, some fresh or frozen blueberries, a spoonful of Pulsin pea protein powder whizzed up in a nutribullet with some nut milk and top it with raspberries and sunflower seeds. All very nutritious and I find easy to get down. Hope your appetite improves soon. Sophia xx
The Chemo and the cancer wreck havoc with our tastebuds and we all react differently. Here is my experience:
Everything tasted horrible to me, even water.
For a while I could drink Pear or peach nectar from Sainsbury's or Waitrose.
Then I could only eat rice crispies and then cheerios.
Then white toast, but began to hate all butters, margarine and oils. Found I could eat boiled eggs!
My daughter suggested cream cheese and that worked as a topping for toast.
For a while I could eat only very creamy mashed potatoes. Then I could eat only oven fries from Sainsbury's.
Then for some reason, I began to eat only cheese and tomato sandwiches with mayo. I began to like whole wheat toast with the crusts cut off!
My family brought them to me in the hospital because I couldn't eat anything else.
My family went crazy trying different foods for mr and we wasted a lot of money., because I stopped liking each food quite suddenly.
One item I always ate was Nairn's Gluten free Biscuit Breaks, the oat and Chocolate chip , but they make a great ginger biscuit, too.
So keep trying bites of different things. My favourite nausea medication is Cyclazine, because you can take as much as you need with no side effects.
And finally, the Ascites and Pleural effusion were the worst culprits for appetite as they pressed against my stomach and there was no room to eat or drink. Once they were gone, in the second round of Chemo, thankfully, I could eat more, but everything still tasted horrible.
And drinking. You must drink lots of fluids!
Lastly, if you get too undernourished and dehydrated, talk to your Chemo nurse. When I was too sick to eat or drink, they offered me a hospital stay, and fed me intravenously for 7 days, loading me up with Vitamins and minerals, until I was stable enough to take another Chemo infusion, which destroyed enough cancer to rid me of the ascites and pleural effusion and I was on my way to recovery.
Be patient. Keep trying new things. And talk to your CNS, if you are in a bad way.
Hi Scotty and Happy Easter! I am 2 years post chemo and I think the one thing I didn't expect and surprised me the most- considering my love of cooking and food of all kinds - was the loss of appetite for 2 out of 3 weeks between treatments. . Nothing tasted good. I lost 65 lbs in the 6 months if treatment. About all I could stomach was cottage cheese and water with lemon.
Eventually even I knew something had to change. I experimented with protein drinks and found Ensure Plus was actually good. And the 1 week I did feel a bit more Like eating, I made pastas with mild sauces. No tomato.
although I still was losing a bit of weight, my doctor was a lot happier and so was I. I felt better and my last 2 IP chemos affected me a lot less.
I say definitely try to eat it drink anything you can. Do not worry at this point about diet choices. A lot of ladies recommended pineapple.
You'll get a lot of suggestions here. Good luck and if you have access to a dietitian, definitely seek guidance. It's important to stay as healthy as you can thru this.
When I felt nauseous I ate a little meal-piece of toast or other and I felt much better! Don't fight it, as long as you are not throwing up eat little meals throughout the day.
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