dizziness and falling down

MzStarbucks10
MzStarbucks10 Member Posts: 10
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
HI all,

more questions. My dad went in for his chemo treatment today. He lost another 7 pounds since last week when he was in the hospital for the blood clots. His diaharea is very bad so the doctor had to order an anti-diaharea shot, the medicine came in and he got his first shot today. He has to give himself these shots 3x a day, I wonder how the doctor thinks that he is going to be able to do this, cause my dad has no feeling in his fingers from the chemo. I don't know what the medicine is but if anyone knows what it might be give a shout.

Question

My dad's balance is off normally, but is getting a little worse, but today after my daughter picked him up from chemo, he got out of the car started walking and fell, then he fell in the kitchen when he was bending over. Any suggestions, comments.

What would you do to help with the balance?

Watering eyes, his eyes water so bad

Do you suggest making an appointment with an ENT for the dizziness? In reading some posts and ppl getting their ears flushed.

ONLY 6 more treatments to go

Comments

  • Jaylo969
    Jaylo969 Member Posts: 824 Member
    Your Dad
    Hi,

    If your Dad is on Folfox/oxi then he might have neuropathy in his legs and/or feet. Sounds like he has it in his fingers already? When I was on oxi my neuropathy became so bad that I started using a walker because I couldn't feel the floor under my feet and my gait was off.Make sure his oncologist is made aware of him falling.Very important!I would talk to the oncologist before making ENT appointment.Might not be necessary.Oncologist probably has a solution but if not, s/he will send your Dad to whoever he needs to see.

    My eyes watered and were very blurry when I was on chemo. Onc says it happens to lots of folks. I've been off of chemo since mid May and my eyes are back to normal now.

    It would be good if someone went in to the dr. appointment with your Dad as another pair of eyes and ears. Make a list of all his side effects and report them to the Doctor. Take notes of the discussion between doctor and patient.I know it really helped me for my sister to go & take notes because I couldn't remember a darn thing.

    Good luck to your Dad.

    -Pat
  • jararno
    jararno Member Posts: 186
    Falling Down
    Make sure the Oncologist knows that your Dad is falling down. It is very common to be dizzy or faint due to Chemo and it's side effects. Loss of balance can be due from so many things, but it seems common after the Chemo. Does he also have numbness ( peripheral neuropathy ) in his feet? This can make it very hard to know where your feet are. My Doc dropped my dosages down about 25% to lessen the side effects. A call to the Oncologist would be a good idea to start.

    Hope he is feeling better!

    Take care,

    Barb
  • This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    good advice
    You've gotten some good advice from others already. Mention your father's falling to his onc, he may need a reduction/adjustment of his meds! As far as his eyes watering, the 5FU causes the tear ducts to shrink, which is why his eyes are watering; the normal fluid that is produced to keep the eyes moist normally exit out the corner tear ducts. They've shrunk and are no longer able to handle the normal flow of fluid. Good news is that this situation usually corrects itself once chemo is ended. I had the problem terribly and thought I was going to have to have the ducts reamed, but they are completely back to normal. It did take a while, and people always thought I was crying when I was in public, but no big deal! I pray your father is able to find some relief from his symptoms, they sound very worrying.
    mary
  • Lifeisajourney
    Lifeisajourney Member Posts: 216
    Falls
    I was on folfox, not sure what your dad is on, I had three major falls and was very weak, didnt tell onc, thought I could tough it out. I made it thru 7 treatments and was hospitalized for 10 days. I was very stroke like, so had spinal taps, brain mri, etc, they even thought I would need therepy for speech. Once I was off it things started to come back, still have terrible neurpathy in feet/hands after 18 months. Just be sure onc is aware of falls and things of that nature, I should have told them about the falls as they happened, my arms and legs just turned to jello and down I went. Just a FYI on my experience. Good luck and keep strong. Pat
  • Patteee
    Patteee Member Posts: 945
    Hi
    Has there been any talk

    Hi
    Has there been any talk about reducing your Dad's chemo, specifically the oxili? Sorry, guessing that is what he is on? Does the oncologist know he can't feel his fingers?

    My gait was also off- I held onto everything to get around. He may need a walker. The other concern I have, the dizziness and falling is also a sign of dehydration. My last oxili treatment I was hospitalized due to dehydration. I could not stand up without falling. He has had diarrhea, I guess my chief concern would be his fluid levels are probably off and he may need a couple of bags of fluids to get him back in shape.
  • VivianGB
    VivianGB Member Posts: 46
    Patteee said:

    Hi
    Has there been any talk

    Hi
    Has there been any talk about reducing your Dad's chemo, specifically the oxili? Sorry, guessing that is what he is on? Does the oncologist know he can't feel his fingers?

    My gait was also off- I held onto everything to get around. He may need a walker. The other concern I have, the dizziness and falling is also a sign of dehydration. My last oxili treatment I was hospitalized due to dehydration. I could not stand up without falling. He has had diarrhea, I guess my chief concern would be his fluid levels are probably off and he may need a couple of bags of fluids to get him back in shape.

    Dizziness
    Something else that can cause dizziness is dehydration and dehydration can be caused by the diarrhea. Make sure your dad is getting plenty of water. Helps flush the chemo out of his system too.

    I had to take shots for blood clots for 5 months, 2 of them a day. I made my hubby give them to me because I couldn't make myself inflict pain on myself! Is there anyone that can do it for your dad?

    Hope things get better for him soon.

    Viv
  • Kerry S
    Kerry S Member Posts: 606 Member
    must still have chemo brain
    I must still have chemo brain for not telling you this yesterday or it is a repressed memory.

    Gatorade and aspirin are what my chemo nurse put me on when I went thru what your dad is going thru. It really helped.

    The last 2 weeks of the chemo/rad had me where the scary old woman even had to drive me to and from treatments. That was mentally hard to handle for an old chauvinist pig like me. Plus, she drives by the brail method.

    Kerry