Dexamethasone. Is it really necessary?

Hi,

Way back when I had my brain tumour they gave me dexamethasone to bring down the swelling in my brain. It did that nicely and all the brain tumour symptoms disappeared. I was weaned off the drug just prior to getting the tumour cut out. Not exactly relevant to you, of course, but that's kind of my point - dexamethasone seems to be one of those multi-purpose go-to drugs for all sorts of things. It's off-patent and cheap too. Kind of like aspirin, only completely different. If they already gave you something for the nausea then the dexamethasone would probably have been for something else. Ask your oncologist.

kind regards,
Steve

Thanks Steve,  I think I

need to ask.my Oncologist. 

Its good to get a good range of opinions.

That's odd - what happened to my reply between your 2 posts???

Steve

I didn't have any problems with turning into a whale, but it has helped with nausea than some other anti-nausea drugs.

Hi Harebellle

The same thing happened to me during my first cycle of chemo  and I blew up like a balloon. Like you I Googled the steroid.  Having found out that in my case it was  given for well-being reasons e.g to maintain appetite, reduce nausea etc, and not for directly treating the SCLC.  Now I am not stupid and over the years have learned not to take on battles i cannot win. With this in mind, I accepted the injections of both the steroids and anti-sickness drugs on day 1 of my 3 day chemo cycles, (this being the  battle that i knew I didn't have a cat in hells chance of winning!).  I also accepted the same drugs in tablet form to be taken at home on days 4 & 5; the difference being that I didn't take them.   I was fortunate that I didn't experience severe nausea; had I done so I would have taken the tablets.  For mild nausea, I took the milder anti-sickness tablets they also gave me to take on an 'as required' basis.

Now I want to make it very clear that this was my choice and I am in no way advising  anyone else to do the same..

Hope this helps.

Kegsy x

Hi Kegsy,

They already have me on a permanent dose of prednisolone, so to be having the other steroid every 3 weeks seems a bit, I don't know, overkill? And For nausea?  

Seems like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I would welcome a bit of nausea as the prednisolone has given me a raging appetite!

Before I started my treatment I imagined things I might say or do; e,g "I need to be sick" "No I don't feel like eating" etc. The one thing I didn't imagine saying on coming out from a chemo session was "Get me to a chippie NOW!"

And that happened on just the 1st day chemo cycle steroid injection. Goodness knows what would have happened if I had taken the tablets as well.

Kegsy x