Nausea

Hi Sunshine12 and a warm welcome to this corner of the Community

I am Mike and I help out around our various Lymphoma groups. …. I have been on my journey with 2 types of rare T-Cell NHL for coming up to 25 years so I know the journey well.

I never found anything other than the various anti-sickness meds helped me.

I will say that my meds were changed a good number of times over my years of treatment as it does take some time so find the best one for each individual……. so don’t suffer in silence. Call your CNS and see what they can do for you.

Hi Sunshine, I'm Charles just waiting for my final PET Scan. I was on Spinal and IV chemo on separate 21 day cycles shifted 5 days apart.  I had profound nausea for at least 14 of the 21 day cycles.  My oncologist and pharmacy team were really good.  At the peak I was on 5 nausea meds each cycle but even some of them became problematic because they led to hallucinogenic moments and awful dreams.  I jut out anything (food, drinks, even objects) that gave rise to my nausea. I even threw away some brand new water bottles that I'd bought to make sure I drank at least 3 litres of water a day - just the site of them on the draining board gave me nausea in the end.  Meds, water, a handy sick pot and short walks in the fresh air helped. They were very short walks to start with.  By cycle 3 the anti nausea med combination was perfect and I was able to manage my nausea but it didn't go.  I lost 16kgs - my wife felt I had room to lose another 16kgs if I'd tried.

The anti-emetic drug Zofran (Ondansetron) is often prescribed by oncologists. I carried it with me and the moment the slightest hint of nausea appeared, I popped a tablet under my tongue and allowed it to dissolve. In doing so, the feeling of nausea would dissipate within a few minutes. Often, as nausea develops, gas bubbles form in the stomach. To counter this, I would thump on my sternum with my fist as this occurred. Doing so seemed to break up the bubbles and stave of the worst of it until the Zofran took hold.

One oncology nurse thought I was having an anxiety attack as I did this, but I countered with the fact that I did not fancy the thought of throwing up! In almost 17 years of cancer treatment, I have thrown up only four times. And this is having received 21 anti-cancer drugs at maximum doses.

"If" anxiety may prove to be a part of the nausea, anti-anxiety medications such as Ativan may also be be prescribed. Large quantities of water are needed, as constipation is the usual side effect.