Hi everyone, I wanted to share something that’s been on my mind as I’m about to start my last cycle of ABVD.
I’ve been reading a lot online about diet, especially things like “carbs feeding cancer” and fasting, and it honestly made me really anxious. During treatment, especially with the steroids, I’ve been eating more than usual. It’s also been one of the few things helping me cope emotionally through all of this.
Now I’m worrying if that could have affected my treatment in any way, which is really upsetting.
I just wanted to ask if anyone else has gone through something similar. Did diet play a role in your treatment or recovery? Or did you just focus on getting through chemo and eating what you could?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences or any reassurance. Thank you so much
Don’t stress this out……. you have enough to deal with.
I actually lost 27kgs (just over 4 stone) during my main 2 years treatments and this was with me having a barrow full of steroids……. our bodies can react differently……. so my dietitian told me to basically eat a good, healthy, balanced diet…… but being careful to cut out the main foods I could not eat…… like a pregnancy diet……. but to raise my calorie intake so upped the protein……. and I had no problems… you can read so much on-line and some of it can take you down rabbit holes……. you have to watch what you look at.
This link Top tips for healthy eating is taken from the Lymphoma Action website.
Lymphoma Action is the UKs main Lymphoma Charity and all their information is checked by the UKs top Lymphoma Specialists.
Hi Aalina, the steroids are quite intense on ABVD and escBEACOPDac and so the expectation from my oncology team was basically, you WILL put on weight during the treatment. And I did…
I put on 10kg during the six months of treatment but was able to lose it again after going into remission.
I was also a bit worried that I was messing with the treatment but my consultant was very dismissive of these concerns…which I found comforting. Also, BRAVO on getting to the final round!! 
