Dietary plan during treatment

Hey Mix 

I would see how you feel day by day - honestly at times I lived off toast and jelly babies - as well as a few bananas.  My diet went something on the lines of:

Week one - impacted by nausea from IV chemo (take anti-sickness) mainly ate soup with extra chicken, toast and Jaffa cakes 

Week two to three - normal-ish diet but smaller meals... 

Weeks three to end of treatment - jelly babies, toast, bananas.  Also took stool softener as I was taking morphine.

I'm now post treatment and I'm following a low fodmap diet, focussing on nourishment as I lost 7 kilos during treatment.  I'm avoiding gluten, highly processed food, dairy and sugar...  I'm making sure I get some fibre in (kiwi fruit after dinner seems to help me) and I'm feeling really good. 

Honestly - I don't think I'll ever eat another jaffer cake or jelly baby again - but at the time that's what I craved.  Before treatment I couldn't tell you when I last ate jelly babies or jaffer cakes either lol.  

Everyone is different... I'm sure others will share their experience and advice - but my immediate thoughts is that what your friend is suggesting would be too much fiber and could irritate you digestion - especially if that's a change to your normal diet.  

Good luck and we're all here for you

Ali 

Hi Mix,

First of all, try not to stress the treatment; the staff who will help you are really knowledgeable and will be with you all the way. If you feel any effects, mention them immediately and don't be 'brave'. Take all the help you can get if you need it with soreness, itching, irritation etc

My main advice would be to stay on this forum, there is excellent practical support and help right here as you will see when you read through. 

As far as food goes, stick with a normal healthy diet and have what you fancy. No need to liquidise stuff unless that's what you like, but you might find too many veg actually upset your stomach, and bland carby things are more soothing to eat. But see how you feel and go with that.

All the best

Hi Mix ,

Welcome to our little corner of the MacMillan Online Community although I’m really sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. 

As has already been advised I’d just take it a day at a time. Don’t change anything immediately just eat the things you usually do & see how it goes. Some like me have a few issues with constipation, I continued eating the same but took a stool softener each morning which on the most part kept things moving. Others do suffer from loose, frequent stools in which case you want to go for a more bland, white diet, this is what my radiotherapy team recommended at the beginning of my treatment. 

Tell your radiotherapy team or consultant of any side effects that you experience & they’ll have a whole load of lotions & potions they can offer you. 

Wishing you the best with the start of your treatment & remember we’re here to support you however we can. 

Nicola 

Hello Mix

It is important to bear in mind is that the side effects are very gradual, they don't all come at once, and probably not until the third week.  Personally I ate whatever I could to keep up my calorie intake, especially the last week or so and for a couple of weeks after.  By that time my appetite had really been affected and my husband made me cheese and toast with mustard and onion, it was the only thing that I fancied.  Like MrsBadass with her food during treatment I have never eaten it since!  He also bought me EnsurePlus, a very high calorie food supplement that is commonly used for the very elderly when they can't eat.  It has all the RDA of vitamins and minerals in one small bottle.  I am sure Spain will have it, or if not, the equivalent.

The other item I couldn't have done without is a Sitzbath, available on Amazon.  It is a plastic bidet that sits on the loo, filled with lukewarm water it is wonderfully soothing when your bottom is really tender.  And it can be used for bowel movements too, for some reason going under water was less painful and the bath is easily emptied and disinfected.

We will all be thinking of you, get a calendar and mark off the days!

Irene xx

Hi Mix

I would stick to a normal healthy diet and adjust as you go if needed. For me personally I had to cut veg as I got bad wind pain. The chemo also affected my taste buds so some foods tasted different, I lived on cheese and marmite on toast for a lot of the time. Now nearly 3 months post and I eat whatever I want. Xx