No appetite

imackie48
imackie48 Member Posts: 96
in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1
How can I regain my appetite, i am 6 days post taxol.
Irene

Comments

  • LizGrrr
    LizGrrr Member Posts: 127 Member
    #2
    Appetite
    I've been through 2 chemo sessions and I wish I had your problem. The first time around I ate healthy, small meals throughout the day and lost some weight (which is a good thing!). This time around I have such a gross taste in my mouth that I keep eating trying to find something that tastes good. So far the best things have been Chinese with a lot of soy sauce, and really vinegary German potato salad.

    Are there any foods that *smell* tasty?

    Liz in Dallas
  • jazzy1
    jazzy1 Member Posts: 1,379
    #3
    Irene
    I was similar to you with not much of an appetite. If I really tried I could find something which helped increase my sense of food. Be creative on different foods. You can always mix up some smoothies with lot of vegies and fruits, plus add some whey protein to keep up your strength.

    When I asked my radiation doc he suggested drugs to increase my appetite, but that's the last thing I needed, more drugs.

    Also, eat small meals and drink lots of water.

    Hugs,
    Jan
  • RoseyR
    RoseyR Member Posts: 471 Member
    #4
    You might also try this ...

    I realize we're all biochemically different and therefore respond differently to the same chemo regimen.

    Perhaps I was just lucky to have no loss of appetite during taxol/carboplatin.

    Or perhaps three supplements prescribed for me helped.

    I do agree with Jazzy that whey protein smoothies (with a banana and/or berries in them) are appealing and nourishing. Good brands of why include Designer Whey, Whey Cool, Dr. Mercola's Whey, and a few others. (Look for organic product with no more than 4 g of sugar per serving; Whey Cool has NO sugar at all and is available online. Mercola's tastes a bit better and comes in three flavors but has a bit more sugar content although organic.)

    The three supplements that may have helped to retain my appetite were these:

    ProGreens (one scoop before breakfast in a glass of water); available online
    Fish Oil by Pharmax (one tsp after breakfast, one after dinner, no bad taste at all)
    glutamine (one tsp in glass of water three times a day between meals--taken only a day before chemo and the first three
    days OF chemo)

    Best,
    Rosey
  • JoAnnDK
    JoAnnDK Member Posts: 275
    #5
    RoseyR said:

    You might also try this ...

    I realize we're all biochemically different and therefore respond differently to the same chemo regimen.

    Perhaps I was just lucky to have no loss of appetite during taxol/carboplatin.

    Or perhaps three supplements prescribed for me helped.

    I do agree with Jazzy that whey protein smoothies (with a banana and/or berries in them) are appealing and nourishing. Good brands of why include Designer Whey, Whey Cool, Dr. Mercola's Whey, and a few others. (Look for organic product with no more than 4 g of sugar per serving; Whey Cool has NO sugar at all and is available online. Mercola's tastes a bit better and comes in three flavors but has a bit more sugar content although organic.)

    The three supplements that may have helped to retain my appetite were these:

    ProGreens (one scoop before breakfast in a glass of water); available online
    Fish Oil by Pharmax (one tsp after breakfast, one after dinner, no bad taste at all)
    glutamine (one tsp in glass of water three times a day between meals--taken only a day before chemo and the first three
    days OF chemo)

    Best,
    Rosey

    Nestle malted milk mix and other stuff
    I found that the powdered malted milk mix was palatable when I was feeling poorly. I also could tolerate chicken noodle soup, pasta with butter, Dole mandarin oranges (the kind in a jar), and sometimes salty things tasted good, as well as shortbread cookies. At this point, I think it is more important that you eat anything you can and not worry about the nutritive "value" right now.

    JoAnn
  • Double Whammy
    Double Whammy Member Posts: 2,832 Member
    #6
    JoAnnDK said:

    Nestle malted milk mix and other stuff
    I found that the powdered malted milk mix was palatable when I was feeling poorly. I also could tolerate chicken noodle soup, pasta with butter, Dole mandarin oranges (the kind in a jar), and sometimes salty things tasted good, as well as shortbread cookies. At this point, I think it is more important that you eat anything you can and not worry about the nutritive "value" right now.

    JoAnn

    Your body needs calories to recover
    And it needs more calories when it's being blasted with poison. Cancercare.org has lots of useful information on managing nausea and increasing appetite.

    When I had that icky metallic taste and no interest in food, I found things I could consume through a straw helped. Things like milkshakes and smoothies. And they were calorie dense, too. Protein, too. I forced myself to eat a little bit of food often. Scrambled eggs (again protein) tasted fine. Mostly ice cream in any shape was my salvation. Chicken noodle soup, too.

    As JoAnn said, don't worry so much about nutrition as calories and protein.

    Sorry you're having a rough time. Chemo sucks, but you will get through it.

    Suzanne
  • CindyGSD
    CindyGSD Member Posts: 190
    #7
    Irene...
    I didn't have much of an appetite right after chemo but I just kept reminding myself that eating is what will keep my blood counts up and allow me to get my next scheduled chemo right on time so I pretty much forced myself to eat. I never had issues with the metallic taste everyone is talking about, mine was more like saline solution...salty.

    I found drinking Ensure was one way to make sure I was getting what I needed, but I also ate high protein foods like cottage cheese, eggs and cheese. I bought vanilla flavored whey powder and mixed that with milk or made smoothies with it. I tried nuts but found that it was just a little too much roughage. I also like hummus with baked pita bread. I found that spicy food worked best for cutting the blah taste in my mouth and Chinese also agreed with me.

    One thing I could not eat was red meat so I did not get any of my protein from that source.

    Take care and good luck.

    Cindy

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