Extreme stomach pain and nausea - had to stop chemo/radiation

slpmom

My husband has stage 2 (N0M0) EC for which he has been receiving 3 chemo drugs (cisplatin, another I can't remember the name of and 5FU on a pump). He has also received 15 sessions of radiation. Shortly after the second round of chemo, he developped severe neuralgia in his hands and feet and then the stomach pain and nausea started. He is going on 4 days now without eating (or should i say trying to eat and then throwing up). He has been on 3 different anti-nausea meds, 2 different pain meds (the most recent one - the patch, is taking the edge off a bit) and now an anti-spamodic. He has had to stop all treatments.  He can't keep anything down, not broth, not even water. It burns like heck on the way down and then he says his stomach feels like someone is crushing it. Even when he doesn't eat, he gets pains and then throws up bile. Soooo, he will have to have a G or J tube put in but his white blood cell count is too low (neutrophils at 1.0) for them to do it. Oncologist gave him one shot of neupogen yesterday. They have given him a few bags of saline IV. So if he can't get  a Gtube right now, how long can he go without eating? Why is this happening? Has this happened to anyone else? How long can this pain and severe nausea last? When i ask the oncologist, they say it takes 2 weeks for the effects of radiation to wear off. The radiation guy of course says it was the chemo that caused it. I will bring him to the ER but what can they do if they can't put in a Gtube because of low neutrophyls?

paul61

I also had abdominal pain during chemotherapy

When I was having chemotherapy, I did have a fair amount of abdominal pain after eating, particularly the week I received my infusions. I received Cisplatin and Epirubicin every three weeks and I was on a 24x7 personal IV pump for 5 FU. I took Amend for nausea and that worked fairly well; but the abdominal pain was something I just learned to live with while I was on chemotherapy. It was normally worse the first hour after eating and gradually improved until I ate the next time.

The burning throat will improve a couple of weeks after radiation ends but it sounds like your husband’s medical oncologist needs to investigate a solution of the stomach difficulties.

In answer to your question “how long can someone go without food?”, as long as a person is getting adequate hydration they can go quite a while without food. Of course I would think before your husband lost a significant amount of weight; if they could not place a feeding tube because of low blood counts, they would put him on total parenteral nutrition (TPN) to insure he does not get too weak for treatment.

When I was first diagnosed I weighed 150 lbs, when I completed surgery and chemotherapy I weighed 118 lbs. I have since gained some of the weight back but it is typical for esophageal cancer patients to lose a significant amount of weight while going through treatment.

It looks like your husband’s medical team is waiting to see how things are once your husband recovers from the effects of radiation treatment to decide what the best next step is. I would not give them much more than a couple of weeks before you start to get very insistent about intervention to meet your husband’s nutritional needs.  

I hope things improve for your husband soon, I know how difficult it can be to be miserable and have people keep saying “you need to eat”.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams

McCormick, South Carolina
DX 10/2009 T2N1M0  Stage IIB - Ivor Lewis Surgery  12/3/2009 - Post Surgery Chemotherapy 2/2009 – 6/2009
Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU - Four Year Survivor

 

slpmom

Thank you so much for

Thank you so much for replying! I did not know about TPN. That is good to know. It's good to see that someone else had similar symptoms and made it through. I guess he could handle some of the stomach pain if it didn't make him throw up. The pain patch is making him more comfortable but he can only drink echinacea tea (weird but it doesn't burn!).....still no eating. I guess we will just have to take it a few more days and then I'll bring him in to the hospital .....I see you did not have radiation? Did you not need it? You see the other thing I'm wondering is how on earth he could continue the rest of the treatments?! after recuperating from this bout I can't imagine him starting it up again.....he is supposed to have ivor Lewis in a few months. My husband was 240lbs and now 195 .....going to lose more I guess.It's wonderful to see how you've recovered!! Thanks again!

paul61

slpmom said:

Thank you so much for

Thank you so much for replying! I did not know about TPN. That is good to know. It's good to see that someone else had similar symptoms and made it through. I guess he could handle some of the stomach pain if it didn't make him throw up. The pain patch is making him more comfortable but he can only drink echinacea tea (weird but it doesn't burn!).....still no eating. I guess we will just have to take it a few more days and then I'll bring him in to the hospital .....I see you did not have radiation? Did you not need it? You see the other thing I'm wondering is how on earth he could continue the rest of the treatments?! after recuperating from this bout I can't imagine him starting it up again.....he is supposed to have ivor Lewis in a few months. My husband was 240lbs and now 195 .....going to lose more I guess.It's wonderful to see how you've recovered!! Thanks again!

I did not have radiation because I had surgery first

When I was originally diagnosed and staged they though I was Stage 1 so I went directly to surgery. After surgery when they did the pathology on the removed lymph nodes they found my cancer had spread to one of the nodes so I then had chemotherapy. Not the best way to do it because chemotherapy is much more difficult after surgery. But I survived and am still here taking things one day at a time.

Best Regards,

Paul