Hi, so I am caring for my sister at the moment. She got diagnosed with breast cancer just before lockdown. The NHS have been amazing, she had a mastectomy and is now on her 3rd round of Chemo.
I'm her main carer and we have been shielding since March, lately I have noticed she is getting more and more tired and struggling to eat.
Is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat, she says everything tastes vile.
Hi
Sorry to see you joining us here and reading about your sister :-/
Just got the 'tag' from LoobyLou49 and wanted to pass on a little more info.
There are many reasons people lose their appetite during chemotherapy - Taste and texture changes, mouth ulcers, oral thrush, constipation/diarrhoea, and it could be a combination of these that is putting her off food.
If it is mostly things tasting metallic or just yukky she could try eating a ginger nut biscuit or piece of pineapple prior to eating to help kick-start her taste buds (skip the pineapple if she has mouth ulcers though) sounds really random but works for most ?
Most having chemo change their diet slightly and go either of two ways - Beige and bland like rice, pasta, porridge, soups, bread or rolls either as sandwiches or toast. The other way is to use lots of herbs and/or spices to boost the taste like mild chilli, curry, italian tomato and oregano sauces. If she still wants very little try bulking up what she eats with higher protein additives like butter, cream, hard cheese etc
Try to serve smaller portions that look more appealing on the plate, nothing more offputting than an overloaded plate when your appetite has gone awol. You could join the Main Breast Group / Chemo Thread and ask about this there, it is a very common problem :-/
The tiredness could be that her red cell count is low because the chemo will wipe out some healthy white and red blood cells. Fatigue is normal but if this gets worse or is coupled with breathlessness contact her breast nurse or the oncology unit as it could be a symptom of anaemia or a blood clot. (Has she a PICC line for chemo fitted ?)
Macmillan produce a booklet about cancer and diet - I'll place the link below - To download it just click / tap the cover.
Hope this is of some help for now, G n' J
