Getting ready for chemo

mcsessions
mcsessions Member Posts: 48
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
What do you usually do the day you receive your chemo treatment?
My Mom is getting her second dose today and she is EXTREMELY wind up, how can I help her calm down?
She says it's not because she is getting chemo she just "didn't sleep last night"...

Comments

  • tgf
    tgf Member Posts: 950 Member
    #2
    suggestion
    Has your mother explained how stressed she gets? It sounds like she might need a prescription for something to take before her chemo treatments. My oncologist gave me a prescription for xanax ... and I took that an hour before every appointment.

    As far as sleeping is concerned ... I finished chemo the last of May and I still take a xanax and a benadryl every night before I go to bed ... so I can get a good nights sleep.

    Anxiety is very normal when going through treatment ... so I'm sure her doctor will have something he can give her to help her "un-wind" ... and to sleep at night.

    Good luck.

    hugs.
    teena
  • Kat11
    Kat11 Member Posts: 1,931 Member
    #3
    tgf said:

    suggestion
    Has your mother explained how stressed she gets? It sounds like she might need a prescription for something to take before her chemo treatments. My oncologist gave me a prescription for xanax ... and I took that an hour before every appointment.

    As far as sleeping is concerned ... I finished chemo the last of May and I still take a xanax and a benadryl every night before I go to bed ... so I can get a good nights sleep.

    Anxiety is very normal when going through treatment ... so I'm sure her doctor will have something he can give her to help her "un-wind" ... and to sleep at night.

    Good luck.

    hugs.
    teena

    I don't sleep well after
    I don't sleep well after treatment. I also have drugs to help with sleep. She could also ask for some Xanax to take before treatment to take the edge off. This works really well. good luck
  • mcsessions
    mcsessions Member Posts: 48
    #4
    Kat11 said:

    I don't sleep well after
    I don't sleep well after treatment. I also have drugs to help with sleep. She could also ask for some Xanax to take before treatment to take the edge off. This works really well. good luck

    Thank you
    I will ask her to talk to the Dr. about this. The only problem with my Mom is that she is anti-drugs, isn't it ironic? So you can just imagine how difficult it is to make her take even a sleeping pill.
  • tgf
    tgf Member Posts: 950 Member
    #5
    mcsessions said:

    Thank you
    I will ask her to talk to the Dr. about this. The only problem with my Mom is that she is anti-drugs, isn't it ironic? So you can just imagine how difficult it is to make her take even a sleeping pill.

    It is "normal"
    Maybe if your mother knows that what she is goingn through is perfectly normal for anyone in her shoes ... then she won't feel so anti-drugs. The drugs she might need for anxiety and sleep are the drugs she needs so that her body can do what is necessary to help with the chemo she is getting. It is just "part" of the treatment plan ... which will allow her to feel less anxious ... and to get a good nights sleep.

    If your mother is up tight and stressed ... and in need of sleep ... her chemo treatments will be more difficult and she will have more side effects to deal with.

    hugs.
    teena
  • Marlene_K
    Marlene_K Member Posts: 508
    #6
    tgf said:

    It is "normal"
    Maybe if your mother knows that what she is goingn through is perfectly normal for anyone in her shoes ... then she won't feel so anti-drugs. The drugs she might need for anxiety and sleep are the drugs she needs so that her body can do what is necessary to help with the chemo she is getting. It is just "part" of the treatment plan ... which will allow her to feel less anxious ... and to get a good nights sleep.

    If your mother is up tight and stressed ... and in need of sleep ... her chemo treatments will be more difficult and she will have more side effects to deal with.

    hugs.
    teena

    Xanex
    I just went for my first treatment and my doc prescribed xanex intravenously before the anti-nausea and treatment. It worked beautiful! I was very nervous before and I sat there like I had been doing it for years! Talk to her doc about this... maybe she wouldn't even have to know ;)
  • tommaseena
    tommaseena Member Posts: 1,769
    #7
    Marlene_K said:

    Xanex
    I just went for my first treatment and my doc prescribed xanex intravenously before the anti-nausea and treatment. It worked beautiful! I was very nervous before and I sat there like I had been doing it for years! Talk to her doc about this... maybe she wouldn't even have to know ;)

    Steroids
    If she is taking steroids this may be the cause.
    I know it was the cause for me.

    Margo

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