New to the group

Hi  and welcome to the board. I see you’ve posted on the radiotherapy thread about your sisters nausea? Hopefully you’ll find some handy hints on the link below.

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/impacts-of-cancer/eating-problems/tips-for-managing-eating-problems

If you’re worried that your sister is losing weight then you could ask her doctor to prescribe ‘build me up’ drinks like Fortisip which are little bottles of drinks but contain about 250 calories. Hopefully the side effects will start to subside over the next couple of weeks - if your sister just feels like grazing on things then sometimes you have to forget about the healthy aspect until she’s feeling a bit better

Karen

Thanks Karen, this is all really useful. She's really struggling to eat anything at all as it seems everything makes her feel or be sick. I know she's been prescribed some Complan type things but the drinks sound a better bet. As she's now finished the radiotherapy I'm hoping things will improve gradually, she's feeling very down about it all at the moment. Kind regards, Liz  

You also might like to phone our helpline 0808 808 0000 if you need more info .

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/f/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/221768/chemo-care-top-tips--
You might also pick up some tips on this thread . 

My mum lost three stones during six months of chemo . She could tolerate the Chicken Soup complan but none of the others however it contains a lot of nutrients and if she had that each day plus an M and S calorific dessert we classed that as a win . We also used milk shakes to ramp up the calories as long as she had the nutrients from the build up drinks . Some milk shakes are full of calories !! She also could gently sip it rather than take it in one sitting but it was still going in .

Whilst on treatment she really struggled and it was a departure from the good diet she normally had but sometimes in oncology it’s more of case of keeping a baseline weight . Once she was off treatment we changed all that back to a healthy diet . 

Around a month off treatment I noticed a big change in terms of my mum’s appetite. It is actually one of the more challenging things to manage .

One lesson we learnt was to communicate this back to her team if she should ever need more chemotherapy . A small adjustment in the dose actually made the whole thing more tolerable and a better balance was achieved the next time my mum needed it . She was probably a different stage to your sister .

All the very best and I hope she picks up soon .

Court 

That's really helpful, thank you. I'll take a look at the info and I'll give the helpline a ring. Like everyone has said I think it's just a case of her eating something/anything at this stage just to keep her weight up and at least give her some nutrients. Liz 

I often wonder if any of the slimming shakes are better, as they generally have lots vitamins etc, but maybe not the calories 

Bowelbabe memtioned some protein drinks once too !

Your sister can also ask for a dietitian to become involved and assist her .

Take care ,

Court 

Yeah, I think I'm going to suggest she asks to speak to a dietitian, thanks.