One week after chemo

Hi 

Nearly a week on, you should be just on the cusp of feeling a little more like your old self. Most find this happens practically overnight around day 8 -- Hope this is how it pans out for you as well.

There are better anti-nausea (antiemetic) meds. If you are still suffering in a day or so see if you can get something like Emend. They tend to not hand these out as standard as they are more expensive. Meanwhile have you tried the old Ginger Nut biscuit trick ? for some weird reason a couple of ginger nuts or arrowroot biscuits can ease a queasy tum.

Don't forget if you would like to chat with others going through chemo the breast groups June Chemo Club is up and running 

Stay Safe and Take Care, G n' J

Thank you for reply .

 Am going to contact unit today as can't cope with feeling like this . Xxxx

I felt just like you, metocloprimide didn't work for me either. Now I take Lansoprazole and I have been on these for around 12 months. I found that if I eat just very small meals, like a single chicken fillet, or even cheese on toast, I can get on well with that, and I try to eat food I loved as a child. 

I used to struggle to get up too, so I didn't get dressed, I lay on the sofa watching endless box sets until after around a week I felt a bit better.

remember to be really kind to yourself and your body will let you know what it is capable of doing. Take baby steps, xxx

I was given

Emend, large dose before chemo then 80mg on days 2 and 3, they cost about £40 for the capsules) these were great. 

Domperidon, 3x daily for 5 days (I realised after the second cycle this made me feel sick!)

Ondansetron, 2 tablets twice daily to day 4

Colicalceferol 5x20000 units for first 3 days of cycle,  then 1000 units daily for life.

Dexamethasone 2 tablets 2x daily for 5 days, not later than mid- afternoon. 

I had palpitations after every cycle of EC,  but worse after my second cycle and the hospital pharmacist suggested a lower dose of the steroid. I felt so ill on cycle 3 I willed myself to sleep for days and ate wholemeal pesto pasta by the bucketful! When I saw the oncologist she said I should have taken the whole dose as once you miss some it's hard to stop the nausea even if you restart it that cycle. I took them and felt less sick cycle 4. The oncologist I initially saw who prescribed the regime is very experienced, specialising in breast cancer but treating other cancers too and said she'd give me the  best drugs available. 

Good luck getting the  good ones. It's silly that some women aren't given Emend due to the  cost when each cycle of chemo is over £500!

Hi I'm sorry to hear you are feeling really sick on the EC. To be honest you sound the same as I was. I had 3 x three weekly cycles and by the last one I was very glad to change to the Docetaxel. I was physically sick on Day 1 then had bad nausea after that. The nausea seemed to get worse with each cycle, but as has been suggested already, there are lots of anti sickness options and your unit should try various ones to see which ones work for you. I was also given Emend for cycles 2 and 3. I would say that did help a bit. Like you, the metacloprimide didn't really do anything for me. I tried Cyclizine but it made me so woozy and tired, this seemed to make the nausea worse. In the end I was given a few more days of Ondansetron. Normally they give about 4 days, but they gave me a couple of extra days which helped. I don't think they like to give too long a course of Ondansetron due to it often causing constipation. I did find that by about day 9 or 10 I started feeling a lot better. I hope this is the case for you too. 

Meanwhile, things that I found helpful were lying down (I watched a LOT of boxsets - got through the whole of Poldark and Peaky Blinders!), snacks such as ice pops like Calypo or just home made ones, sipping cold drinks, lemon yoghurt - I found a great organic one by Yeo Valley, frozen grapes, crackers with marmite and weetabix. Bit of an odd mix but it got me through the difficult days until I could revert to a more sensible diet!

Good luck and try not to worry too much because it does get better. Rest as much as you can and be kind to yourself xx 

I'd been prescribed Cyclizine in my first AC cycle but didn't like the drowsy feeling. I'm about to do my third cycle and think this time I might just go with it and get into some box sets. I almost felt better on days 2 - 5 when I had all the drugs, then I had fairly constant nausea after that. I didn't start feeling better until the 11th day of my second cycle, so maybe I should have tried Cyclizine again.

Ondansetron really helped me, as did ginger nuts, drinking water and eating small snacks often, even if I didn't really feel like them. I didn't know I could take Ondansetron a bit longer, I'm seeing my oncologist tomorrow so will ask about that.

Domperidon before meals helped but timing all the different drugs makes life a bit more complicated than I'm used to.

Hi @janiceathome 

I had my first EC nearly 2 weeks ago, I took the anti sickness meds 3 times a day regardless of whether I was feeling sick for the first 4 days as my nurse said it was better to prevent nausea than treat it once you feel it.. try and drink as much water as you can I'm doing at least 2 litres and I'm doing ok. The craving of carbs is just easing off all I wanted to eat was white bread sandwiches ALL day I haven't eaten white bread fir about 20 years!!!! 

Hope you feel better soon

Audrey xx

I only just seen this, I'm sorry you are still feeling bad, for the first couple of days I suffered from the nausea, I found the metoclopramide no good either, after ringing the chemo nurses they gave me ondansetron 8mg I found that fab nausea stopped.

Hi all

It appears we all have different prescribed meds following our chemo sessions. I had ondansetron for 4 days then given     Metoclopramide  to use as and when and I havent taken any antisickness tablets since day 4 now on day 7. Perhaps I'm not normal lol Hubby always saying so. Should I be taking them? Will ask oncologist next week. I know I have been extremely lucky this first session but am under no allusions that this is going to last and sickness/nausea may hit me with a vengeance.  Prescribed benzydamine mouthwash which I used from day 1 three  times a day and havent had a sore or ulcered mouth.

Watch for my future posts I'll probably have every side effect going. 

Linda x

Hi, hope you’re feeling better, I didn’t find metoclop, or cyclizine any good either, I told the chemo nurse and was given a tablet to take before hand but I can’t for the life of me remember it’s name! Its not routinely given but it did the trick for me, but I did take cyclizine once home, well that and copious amounts of white carbs! 

For whats it’s worth I didn’t get much nausea on the docetaxel if you’d going to go on to that.

Remembered - it’s akynzeo, I would take it home after having my bloods done the day before, might be worth asking