As a lifelong food-loving yo-yo dieter, I have been making some notes on my weight fluctuations after 6 chemos, and am interested in your thoughts. Please note this is based entirely on my personal experience:
My first chemo (FEC, only 2 sessions) had no discernible effect on the tumour but plenty of side-effects including a weight gain of around 2 stones (12 kilos) in as many months. I attributed this to hunger brought on by the steroids but in retrospect I concluded that the cause was more likely to be self-indulgence brought on by general misery including a deliberate blow out over the Festive Season. Telltale signs included reaching for the cheese, chocolate and alcohol; classic comfort material.
I was then switched to Docetaxel (Taxotere) with Herceptin and the results could not have been more different: instant (overnight!) effect on the tumour site. But after 3 sessions, I began to suffer appetite loss and taste bud diminution, and have lost around 1 and a half stones (8 kilos) over the last month.
So am concluding, if you see my brain-addled logic, that weight gain and loss are perhaps side effects of the side effects as it were. Am wondering how important it is. The docs obviously prefer to see a gain, and I am conscious that my loss has been too fast to be sustainable or probably healthy, but it's actually making me feel better in the interim and encouraging me to do some light exercise too. But as a tight size 14 I have hardly joined the ranks of the skinnies, so does there come a point when it is of concern?
I've read comments on here (all from women) about having come through chemo with an extra couple of stones; most have remarked that it is a small price to pay for a successful treatment. As I said, I'd be interested in your comments/experience.
Catriona
FormerMember
I've put on two stones almost but mine started to creep up more when I started Tamoxifen. Two stones seems to be about the norm. I also thought I'd lose on chemo - something else not fair! It is annoying isn't it . I have a wardrobe of clothes that used to fit me just great. One of these days ........................
Have had two lots of chem & am now on Herceptin. Gained weight with steroids both times, then lost it due to no appetite when on chemo. Agree about chocolate, alcohol etc. It was comforting to indulge myself.
My last chemo was Taxotere, and I could cheerfully have gone on hunger strike.I felt squeamish & lost my sense of taste so couldn' be bothered chewing anything. Nobody ever told me that I was too thin, but I got to a stage where I knew that I had to eat something.
There were some people who were having chemo at the same time as myself who did get too thin due to appetite loss & were advised to eat anything they could manage.
I forced myself to eat sloppy things like porrige, soups, Ambrosia rice, soft tinned fruit, & mashed potatoes, anything that I could swallow with little or no effort.
Don't sweat it. Try to eat what you can to keep your strength up. Your appetite will come back slowly.
Like you, I liked being thinner, but lo & behold, I'm back on the steroids & all the weight is back.
I, too long to get back into my "skinny" wardrobe.
Main thing is your treatment is working! Forget the rest for the now.
Like the others I have put on, galling when before diagnosis I had lost a stone and a half of the excess I needed to lose, my fitness has decreased as well, despite my attempts to maintain it and walk - I just don't have the energy to walk the dog 4 miles - I think she's quite pleased... we manage a mile if I plod. I do walk into town, used to take 10 mins - now takes 20 and I worry I won't be able to get back cos my enegery drops like a stone - good excuse for a coffee and a cookie though.
I was hungry with the Epi, and put on about 1/2 stone, between cycle 1 & 2 - did have cravings for unhealthy stuff, sausages, pork pies, cheese and was hungry.. after 4 cycles have put on a stone!!! Now I'm on CMF I have lost a few pounds and because my taste buds are affected I probably eat lots some days and soup/drinks on others. But I have found that a high fibre diet is not condusive to my digestive system.
I suspect its a bit of everything the chemo, the steroids, that fact that your taste buds change and your normally diet goes out of the window, the view hey I'm gonna be ill and I can eat what I like, plus the fact that you are tired and so less active.
I'm trying to keep my weight as it is for the rest of the chemo and my walking - but the excercise can be tought when your tired. Am trying some yoga moves to stretch - I'm useless but think I've got the breathing right so, now I only collapse in a heap because I don't have the muscle strength and not cos I'm not breathing right. I used to be able to do these moves when I was younger - well in my 20/30 - what happened to my body when I wasn't looking. Ready and breath in and raise your arms, breath out as you bend forward and repeat. Oh bugger that, I'd rather get me boots on and walk the dog in the sunshine.
I wish I was a tight size 14, so I think eat what you enjoy to make this journey as pleasant as possible, anything in moderation - well nothing illegal - and try to keep active. Weight watchers can wait.
I, too, have put on a lot of weight since starting FEC last August. I had six cycles altogether and I was weighed before the last one and had to have to dose adjusted (just rounded up I was told!) as dose goes hand in hand with weight. I am an avid WeightWatcher having lost 3 stone and kept it off since 2005 so completely gutted to have put back a stone and a half. I am now just finishing 20 sessions of radiotherapy and then my treatment is finished. My tumour was HR & ER negative so wont be getting Herceptin or Tamoxifen which I believe may have made the weight gain worse. It's been months of "hospitals are us" and it will be strange to not be going back for a while - brilliant of course. I must get back to normality and shift the weight again. None of my summer clothes will fit me. Already up a size. Friends always say "that's the least of your worries" but I don't want diabetes or anything as well!! Oh well, back to the grindstone. The FEC was fantastic, by the way, so it was worth everything that came along with it.
