weight

CVS
CVS Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Am 17 days past end of 34 rad treatments having a problem maintaining weight appitite not good and no taste effects this also any advise I donot have a feeding tube any advice I have lost 50 lbs

Comments

  • Landranger25
    Landranger25 Member Posts: 210 Member
    #2
    Soup!
    Don't know what else to tell you. I had a feeding tube and still lost 35 pounds. About 2 weeks after my last rad I felt I was ready to try some real food. Doc had suggested starting with room temperature cream soup. Popped a can of cream of celery, added a can of milk, microwaved about a minute and a half and went and sat in front of the TV. Was pretty sure I was just going to be throwing it away but even with my tender and sore throat I kept shoveling it in. Finished the whole thing then was sure I would be throwing it up but within a couple of hours felt super good. Just kept trying different kinds and within a week was doing scrambeled eggs and other soft food and it has just been getting better ever since. (ribeye last night now 2 months out) Docs other good advice was if you try something and it doesn't work out, try something else. Don't give up! I gained back 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks of eating real food but have not done near that since. Maybe another 5. I think I need to exercise. Hang in there and keep trying.

    Mike
  • CVS
    CVS Member Posts: 4
    #3
    Landranger25 said:

    Soup!
    Don't know what else to tell you. I had a feeding tube and still lost 35 pounds. About 2 weeks after my last rad I felt I was ready to try some real food. Doc had suggested starting with room temperature cream soup. Popped a can of cream of celery, added a can of milk, microwaved about a minute and a half and went and sat in front of the TV. Was pretty sure I was just going to be throwing it away but even with my tender and sore throat I kept shoveling it in. Finished the whole thing then was sure I would be throwing it up but within a couple of hours felt super good. Just kept trying different kinds and within a week was doing scrambeled eggs and other soft food and it has just been getting better ever since. (ribeye last night now 2 months out) Docs other good advice was if you try something and it doesn't work out, try something else. Don't give up! I gained back 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks of eating real food but have not done near that since. Maybe another 5. I think I need to exercise. Hang in there and keep trying.

    Mike

    Weight
    Thanks for your coments and encourgment well appricated
  • pattyanny
    pattyanny Member Posts: 544
    #4
    Hi CVS, I too refused the
    Hi CVS, I too refused the peg tube and at times found the taste of food quite disgusting.
    Like Landranger, I found soup (vegetable, nothing with meat) was tolerable. Pudding, milk shakes & Ensure became staples. I drove thru any fast food place for a milk shake and kept sipping. Soups took a half hour to eat, but it is a must. You have to try and finish. I am 8 weeks post treatment and have lost more weight. I could be a model, if they were looking for a 50+ Kate Moss! Hee hee! The Oncologist wants to put in the Peg now, but I feel I have come so far, I don't want it. If I do not put on weight in 3 weeks, I will be hospitalized with a feeding tube. I only say this because you can avoid my situation. Yoplait makes frozen fruit you add milk and make a milk shake. You can add Ensure, or another nutritional drink supplement to it. I have Cheerios and banana now in the a.m. - they actually taste good. I am the sole caretaker of my Mom(80) trying to get into a nursing home, and have somewhat ignored my condition. Don't ignore your eating. Now I try to eat constantly, the bad taste has passed for now, and it will pass for you too.
    This is just another step towards recovery. One of my favorite bloggers on this site suggested Eggnog and I bought some today. I plan on holding my nose if I have to to get it down, since I am not sure whatit tastes like. It is in season, so I may have to stock up, but as he said - it is loaded with calories. I hope this helps, and I know you can do better than I - I wish you the very best! Stay connected, and keep trying new foods. God Bless You!
    Patty
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #5
    pattyanny said:

    Hi CVS, I too refused the
    Hi CVS, I too refused the peg tube and at times found the taste of food quite disgusting.
    Like Landranger, I found soup (vegetable, nothing with meat) was tolerable. Pudding, milk shakes & Ensure became staples. I drove thru any fast food place for a milk shake and kept sipping. Soups took a half hour to eat, but it is a must. You have to try and finish. I am 8 weeks post treatment and have lost more weight. I could be a model, if they were looking for a 50+ Kate Moss! Hee hee! The Oncologist wants to put in the Peg now, but I feel I have come so far, I don't want it. If I do not put on weight in 3 weeks, I will be hospitalized with a feeding tube. I only say this because you can avoid my situation. Yoplait makes frozen fruit you add milk and make a milk shake. You can add Ensure, or another nutritional drink supplement to it. I have Cheerios and banana now in the a.m. - they actually taste good. I am the sole caretaker of my Mom(80) trying to get into a nursing home, and have somewhat ignored my condition. Don't ignore your eating. Now I try to eat constantly, the bad taste has passed for now, and it will pass for you too.
    This is just another step towards recovery. One of my favorite bloggers on this site suggested Eggnog and I bought some today. I plan on holding my nose if I have to to get it down, since I am not sure whatit tastes like. It is in season, so I may have to stock up, but as he said - it is loaded with calories. I hope this helps, and I know you can do better than I - I wish you the very best! Stay connected, and keep trying new foods. God Bless You!
    Patty

    Calories
    CVS- Boost or Ensure, which have the high calorie content. Ensure has custom varieties, and Protein might be the one for you.

    A word of caution, CVS- you are still in the battle. Taste is not an element of survival. Gulping down the formentioned drinks with whatever else you find is edible= necessary. I wasn't able to put anything in my mouth, other than water, pills, and medicinal solutions, for two full months during treatment, as I was not given the option of whether or not to get a PEG installed. Experimenting with different foods might be costly, but that is another option to supplement the shakes/drinks. Took me around five months, post-treatment, before good tastes returned. I had lost 18% of my former weight during treatment, with the PEG, but am now back to where I was before the C hit me, and in only 8-months of time, post-treatment. Think "necessity," and you'll be okay.

    Believe.

    kcass
  • Tanager75
    Tanager75 Member Posts: 89 Member
    #6
    Kent Cass said:

    Calories
    CVS- Boost or Ensure, which have the high calorie content. Ensure has custom varieties, and Protein might be the one for you.

    A word of caution, CVS- you are still in the battle. Taste is not an element of survival. Gulping down the formentioned drinks with whatever else you find is edible= necessary. I wasn't able to put anything in my mouth, other than water, pills, and medicinal solutions, for two full months during treatment, as I was not given the option of whether or not to get a PEG installed. Experimenting with different foods might be costly, but that is another option to supplement the shakes/drinks. Took me around five months, post-treatment, before good tastes returned. I had lost 18% of my former weight during treatment, with the PEG, but am now back to where I was before the C hit me, and in only 8-months of time, post-treatment. Think "necessity," and you'll be okay.

    Believe.

    kcass

    Food (Yuk!)
    I found that I could hold my nose and chug ensures. With a feeding tube I lost weight. I still (4 months post radiation and chemo)don't have good taste. On a positive note, though food does not taste like I remember, I have found some food tastes pleasant.

    Day at a time, it does get better

    Mark

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