Please need advice..

Jnet

Hello to you all,
I am back with chemo for 3 weeks now and treatment everyweek with 5FU, leucovorin, and avastin. My problem is that I felt so sick and the nausea is so bad, the meds is not helping, I can't sleep, I vomit all the time. I often thinks of Quitting the chemo. I don't know what to do, I don't wanna give up on this but just the thought of feeling that my body says enough of all this drugs makes me want to quit and do something else. Please I need all your advice. My history, dx in Jan 2006 had a colon resection same month. went on 28 days radiation because the tumor was low and 5 weeks of chemo every week. Now, it metastesise to the liver and bone. so stage IV now. Please give some advice. I am not a quitter but this time I felt I have enough, and I pray everyday that god give me strenght to finish the treatment but I just can't help it in my mind and body that says enough, too much drugs. even tylenol I don't even wanna take it anymore. Thank you all.
God Bless.

Jeannette

oneagleswings

Oh Jeanette:
My heart goes out to you..my husband has been on chemo almost non stop for close to 3 years...
He finds Zofran works well for the nausea?..what has your oncologist suggested...I have also heard accupuncture works as well...perhaps scouty will give you some advice about alternatives??
But most importantly...Don't Give Up
Bev

NWmom

What kind of meds are you on for the nausea? My husband, who is also stage IV found that the zofran, dexamethasone and lorazepam were not enough for him. They ended up giving him Emend as well which really helped! He has a very sensitive stomach and all of these in combination are the only things that work for him. I hope you find something that works for you soon!
Peace,
Heather

Jnet

NWmom said:

What kind of meds are you on for the nausea? My husband, who is also stage IV found that the zofran, dexamethasone and lorazepam were not enough for him. They ended up giving him Emend as well which really helped! He has a very sensitive stomach and all of these in combination are the only things that work for him. I hope you find something that works for you soon!
Peace,
Heather

They gave me lorazepam first and now emend. both doesn't help. I think it is in my mind too. just thinking of going to have the treatment that day I will start to vomit. Thanks to both of you for you response.

Jeannette

2bhealed

Hi Jnet,

i am so sorry you are experiencing this. Listen to your body. It knows and is communicating to you. If you need permission to stop chemo here it is: You May Stop Chemo if you so choose. IT IS YOUR CHOICE! Your doctor is not going through this. Your family is not going through this. Your friends are not going through this. YOU ARE so YOU get to CHOOSE! Isn't that empowering?

And you are NOT a quitter. Just try something else. Are you aware of scouty's story? Read her webpage if you're not. Personally I never did the chemo for my Stage III colon cancer so I cannot know what you are feeling, but I have watched the wretchedness of what chemo can do with others.

there are many other treatment protocols you can try that do not include chemo--many many alternatives that may make you feel better and build up your immune system.

Have you read Anne Frahm's book--A Cancer Battle Plan. It's quite inspirational. Dr. Andrew Weil's book--Spontaneous Healing is also a very good resource.

Hope this helps. :-)

peace, emily

Jnet

2bhealed said:

Hi Jnet,

i am so sorry you are experiencing this. Listen to your body. It knows and is communicating to you. If you need permission to stop chemo here it is: You May Stop Chemo if you so choose. IT IS YOUR CHOICE! Your doctor is not going through this. Your family is not going through this. Your friends are not going through this. YOU ARE so YOU get to CHOOSE! Isn't that empowering?

And you are NOT a quitter. Just try something else. Are you aware of scouty's story? Read her webpage if you're not. Personally I never did the chemo for my Stage III colon cancer so I cannot know what you are feeling, but I have watched the wretchedness of what chemo can do with others.

there are many other treatment protocols you can try that do not include chemo--many many alternatives that may make you feel better and build up your immune system.

Have you read Anne Frahm's book--A Cancer Battle Plan. It's quite inspirational. Dr. Andrew Weil's book--Spontaneous Healing is also a very good resource.

Hope this helps. :-)

peace, emily

Hi Emily,
Can you please etll me what you really did. I knew you said about juicing, but can you please tell me the specific of what to do. If you can please e mail me the tings you really did. Thank you so much. I hope I will hear from scouty of what she did too, specific ones. It is hard to relly do something else without the knowledge more. thanks

Jeannette

Jnet

Jnet said:

Hi Emily,
Can you please etll me what you really did. I knew you said about juicing, but can you please tell me the specific of what to do. If you can please e mail me the tings you really did. Thank you so much. I hope I will hear from scouty of what she did too, specific ones. It is hard to relly do something else without the knowledge more. thanks

Jeannette

sorry, for the typo's. I really appreciates you all.

alta29

Jnet said:

Hi Emily,
Can you please etll me what you really did. I knew you said about juicing, but can you please tell me the specific of what to do. If you can please e mail me the tings you really did. Thank you so much. I hope I will hear from scouty of what she did too, specific ones. It is hard to relly do something else without the knowledge more. thanks

Jeannette

Have you tried steroids ? Its the only thing that works for me...
God bless you...

changing

Did emend..first pilll a few hrs before tx and Zofran EVERY 8 hrs for a few days....I felt the worst on the 3rd day to the 4th ...I'm praying for you!

KathiM

Nothing worked drug wise for me, either. I changed my eating habits...BRAT diet till my tummy settled, lots of ginger....ginger ale, crystalized ginger...licorice (nuts, can't spell).
Small, frequent feedings (whew! sound like an animal in the zoo....) worked for me. I still eat this way...after my rectal cancer chemo, I ended up with breast cancer chemo....I send my best hugs to you...

Hugs, Kathi

hopefulone

Hi Jeanette. I'm sorry your treatments aren't going better for you. My husband is on Xelox rather than the 5FU with avastin and oxal. He has the steriods before he has treatment. He also has liver mets. I have read that nausea symptoms are much less with xelox protocol and this appears to be the case with him so far. Perhaps you can talk to your oncologist about oral 5FU (xelox) instead of infusion for the 5FU. Also , I agree with Emily it is YOUR choice regarding further chemo treatments, however as you said, you feel sick also thinking about the treatment before it happens. If you BELIEVE that the treatment WILL make you sick, then it most definately will. God Bless .

hopefulone

hopefulone said:

Hi Jeanette. I'm sorry your treatments aren't going better for you. My husband is on Xelox rather than the 5FU with avastin and oxal. He has the steriods before he has treatment. He also has liver mets. I have read that nausea symptoms are much less with xelox protocol and this appears to be the case with him so far. Perhaps you can talk to your oncologist about oral 5FU (xelox) instead of infusion for the 5FU. Also , I agree with Emily it is YOUR choice regarding further chemo treatments, however as you said, you feel sick also thinking about the treatment before it happens. If you BELIEVE that the treatment WILL make you sick, then it most definately will. God Bless .

p.s. also, my husband goes every 3 weeks for the iv's, takes the pill for 14 days. Then no med for 7 days. Maybe the frequency of your chemo iv's is a big factor .Have you spoke to oncologist about the frequency of your treatments? Maybe waiting a week between treatments would be a possibility?

moniquebar

Hello Jeannette,

I am so sorry to hear that you have been feeling so ill. One thing that the chemo nurses told me was to try and treat the nausea before it happened. That is, I was to medicate heavily prior to my treatments. Another thing, although I was on steroids and Zofran to help curb the nausea, I also found that a simple Gravol or two would sometimes do the trick. Of course, what really helped was when the doctors cut my chemo dose, first by 20% and then a month later they cut it an additional 10%. After that I experienced very little nausea at all. Maybe your doctors could reduce your chemo dose?

You mention that some of your illness is in your mind. What you are experiencing is a reaction called anticipatory nausea. This is very common among cancer patients. Nothing to worry about, but I know from personal experience that it isn’t very nice. Again, I am sorry to read about your troubles. Please talk to your doctors as soon as possible and see what they can do to help.

Best wishes,
Monique

MarkWalz

Jeanette,
Do not give up. I just finished another round of chemo and radiation this past Wednesday. It is rough, it is hard. I don't want to eat, go to sleep, ( I feel more sick at night) I can't stand to drink anything the metal taste in my mouth is horrible. But do not give up. God tells us we can do all things through him who gives us strength . I cannot do this on my own, neither can you. Just continue, ask for us and other people who care to help you, along with God. I am also a stage IV, live mets. third time around, 4 surgries, twice with radiation, and twice with chemo. so hang tough. i will be praying for you and will listen anytime. if you want to email me personally that is great too. i continue to be very weak, but i know this will be over soon and my strength will return. thanks for asking for our help. we are all with you.
mark

2bhealed

Jnet said:

sorry, for the typo's. I really appreciates you all.

Hi Jnet,

What you need to do if you want to pursue some alternatives is find a NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR who is well versed in nutrition for cancer.

I consulted with one who tweaked my supplements and diet. But I did all my "Treatments" with a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner.

She provided weekly:

Counseling
massage
acupuncture
herbal remedies
dietary suggestions
support
cancer information

I will try to create a document with more details since you are not the only one who asks and I hesitate to keep repeating myself. As much as I LOVE to share my protocol, it is time consuming to list everything I did. It was a lot. It was work. Daily. My life revovled around my protocol. I did not go off to work at a job. Curing my cancer WAS my job. My family pitched in--especially with the juicing since I was juicing 3 quarts of carrot/veggie juice a day.

I hope this can get you started. Please pick up the books I listed because my protocol was similar to Anne Frahm's and her hubby wrtoe a companion "how to" book called The Cancer Battle Plan Sourcebook.

get started! :-)

peace, emily

mwomack

Don't give up without trying other meds for nausea. My husband found a good combination when he was on the FOLFOX so we thought we had it figured out when he began IFL and changed to FOLFIRI with Avastin. Even though he has been back on chemo since November, he added a new nausea med (marinol) 2 weeks ago. He is now on premeds (Aloxi, dexamethasone(steroids), and Ativan. He has Zofran and Marinol (at bedtime) at home.

There is medicine they can give you before treatments for the anticipatory (sp) nausea. It is more in the anti-anxiety class than actual nausea meds. My husband struggles with the day before chemo too but it is not bad enough for medication.

I really would like to see some studies on whether these meds are as effective the 2nd and 3rd time around of if it is interaction with the chemo drugs themselves. At any rate, the Zofran does not seem to be working like it did with the Folfox and then later with the Xeloda/radiation.

MA

msccolon

mwomack said:

Don't give up without trying other meds for nausea. My husband found a good combination when he was on the FOLFOX so we thought we had it figured out when he began IFL and changed to FOLFIRI with Avastin. Even though he has been back on chemo since November, he added a new nausea med (marinol) 2 weeks ago. He is now on premeds (Aloxi, dexamethasone(steroids), and Ativan. He has Zofran and Marinol (at bedtime) at home.

There is medicine they can give you before treatments for the anticipatory (sp) nausea. It is more in the anti-anxiety class than actual nausea meds. My husband struggles with the day before chemo too but it is not bad enough for medication.

I really would like to see some studies on whether these meds are as effective the 2nd and 3rd time around of if it is interaction with the chemo drugs themselves. At any rate, the Zofran does not seem to be working like it did with the Folfox and then later with the Xeloda/radiation.

MA

I also just completed the FOLFIRI with Avastin, and I wound up having to use the Ativan for anticipatory nausea, I did the Emend with Decadron regimen and they gave me Aloxi IV. Zofran really didn't do a thing for me. Once we added the Emend and Decadron to my regimen, the nausea and vomiting stopped! I was THRILLED! It did weird things to my appetite, i would eat everything in site, but not feel fulfilled. And my insides felt "cold". But, hey, I was no longer vomiting so i was happy!