How do you keep food down with PEG?

George_Baltimore said:

Boost and Ensure
Is meant to be a supplement not a replacement for food. Whatever 2.0 he is using probably meets every nutritional requirement that his body needs every day. Read the labels of both and you will see there is a huge difference. As far as throwing up, when I was going through chemo and rads, I threw up almost constantly. I doubt that it's the liquid food that's causing it. It's probably the chemo. Maybe an anti-nausea drug will help but don't expect miracles. It will get better with time.

I was thinking mabe smaller
I was thinking mabe smaller doses at a time of the tube feeding. Gradually build him up to the volume he is supposed to have. His system is not used to that much at once. Hope he starts doing better soon. You are near the end of treatment as are we. We have 9 more rads and 1 more chemo. Hanging in there one day at a time.

Joan

luvofmylif said:

I was thinking mabe smaller
I was thinking mabe smaller doses at a time of the tube feeding. Gradually build him up to the volume he is supposed to have. His system is not used to that much at once. Hope he starts doing better soon. You are near the end of treatment as are we. We have 9 more rads and 1 more chemo. Hanging in there one day at a time.

Joan

I think that's a good idea, Joan....
Smaller portions, just more often. I don't think it's the actual food or the PEG that is causing him to throw up...rads and chemo are the most likely culprits...I don't know how big of can 2.0 is in, I've never heard of it...or how thick it might be. For me, once I reached a certain stage in treatment, mixing my boost with whole milk helped me, plus I'd drink whole milk all by itself to get the calories and the hydration....I'd spread out two 8 oz Boosts, and 2 glasses of milk through out the day.....I know he needs more than I did, but spreading them out might be just what he needs.

p

Hard12Find said:

Chris,
Volume and speed of flow made all the difference for me, however at some point my body said screw this canned stuff you need food. I use a blended gruel of malt o meal, cream of wheat, broths, anything i can get through the tube, smoothies, and it made it a lot more bearable.,
I had nausea bad pretty much every day, and only have 5 more radiations to go, I try to limit my meds to absolute necessary, pain and anti nausea, nothing extra to stir the pot.
Slower flushes.

Another option is the food pump, to put in really small quantities even while you sleep, however with me I would wake up overful, and off to the bathroom.

Work with your Docs on managing nausea, scopalamine patches, fentenyl suppossitories, ondansitron, corticosteroids, whatever it takes...save his weight now as I lost 50 + pounds.
Jim

I was thinking about ;the pump also....
the Home Health nurse told me if I had trouble with nausea, they could get me a pump, and I could be fed all thru the night as getting some during the day. The pump can be set to deliver so much per hour...I didn't have much trouble so never got one, but I was relieved to hear about it when I first started using my tube...knowing all the options makes me feel more secure .

p

cureitall66 said:

It's Nutren 2.0...
He wasn't really throwing up much until the peg/feeding started. But, maybe since we are getting farther to the end of tx he's getting more sensitive to the rad/chemo.

I thought the same thing about dividing up the feedings. Weekends aren't bad to do that, however, during the week driving to tx everyday (2 1/2 hrs one way) is getting difficult to work around. He gets home late and it forces him to catch up because he's hungry. Well....we are into week six this Monday...YAH!!!

Thanks for your reply everyone.

Cris

2.0 vs 1.5
my understanding is that 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 designation is based on the number of calories per can. 2.0 should be quite high, like 500 cal./can. 1.5 is less, like 335 per can.
I wanted to get 2.0, but they wouldn't give it to me. even going from 6 to 7 cans of 1.5 per day, had to get a new prescription. that was baffling to me, since I never had nausea.
anyway, apparently controlling caloric intake is important. maybe he'd find 1.5 easier to handle?

cureitall66 said:

A pump....
Good to know there are other options. We'll check on the pump Monday. Until then, we're going to do more feedings in smaller amounts at a time....see if that helps out.

Thanks for the replies.

Ya I had the pump because the chemo made me so sick
I ate three times during the day - one can of food each time, and I'd set the pump rate so that it flowed in over a 45-minute period. At night, I'd fill the feed bag with five cans of the stuff, and set it to flow over a seven or eight hour period. That way, the alarm that sounded when the bag was empty would serve as my wake up alarm. It was a slow enough rate that it never made me sick. Worked very well for me.

Just about three weeks after chemo/rads ended, I started feeling a whole lot less sick to my stomach, and discovered that I was able to 'down' a whole can of food within just about a five or ten minute period and it no longer made me sick.

Deb

cureitall66 said:

Room temperature...
Yes, we've been keeping it at room temperature. Right now we're going to try a feeding over a couple hour span then take meds after the feeding....see if this will stay down.

I guess it's all about trial and error...I just know he's HUNGRY...: )

Thank you for the thoughts...sometimes that helps to mention as our minds can be somewhere else and not even thinking about some obvious things.

Cris

Dilute
Hubby had the problems yours is having (except he was never hungry). We second everything everyone else has said and add dilute the 2.0. Dale had Nutren 2.0 and we decided it was too "rich.". I pour the Nutren into a water bottle with about 2-4 ounces of water added. Makes the liquid thinner, goes down tube easier, doesn't seem to make him as queasy. We still do it that way even tho he is now supplementing with real food.

We had a nearly 2 hour one way trip. You must pack food and feed during the trip. Get a cooler, put a couple of water bottles with the food mixture, a couple of bottles of bottle, the syringe and some paper towels. You don't need ice -- nothing needs cooled. We have fed in the parking lot, in the lobby at the cancer center. You do what you have to do.

Regular feedings seemed to help, too . Letting him go too long between meals made his stomach cramp which pulled on the Peg tube.

When we were about where you were in treatment, we were having serious doubts we would make it through. This is the tough part. You will both make it. Prayers for strength and healing.

Deb

VivianLee5689 said:

Cris
David now has the continuous feed pump. He is set at a rate of 45 ml an hour. It is slower than what the gravity feed bags can do. That seems to help. He was on the scolderam patch and that helped but we had to take it off Friday because of side effects. Unfortunately laser night the nausea came back. As far as him eating more often he needs too. If David has a long day at the doctors he takes a gravity back slams puts some water and food in there. He hangs the bag wherever he can. I've seen him hanging it on a cabinet while in the doctors office. The doctor came in to see him and seemed impressed he found a way to eat. I am worried with him going all day he might get dehydrated and now it's sounds like he risks malnutrition as well. I hope things get worked out soon.

Pump for sure
Helped me. I was vomiting with each feeding no matter how slow we would do it. I ended up in the hospital for a few days due to the dehydration and while there they started me on the pump. As soon as I got home my home nurse met us there and got me started up once again. It made a world of difference.
Good luck to you.
Billie