To continue or not

Can I ask what type of nausea medication do they have her on? There are many choices and some work better than others as everyone reacts differently to treatment as well as medication. Also dehydration plays a huge factor in how she might feel. Is she having chemotherapy as well? If so they can get her in for hydration my husbands doctor had to do this several times for him to rehydrate.My husband had chemotherapy and radiation and alot of troubles at the end with nausea and vomiting from radiation but he made it through, you can PM me as well if you like and I can try to give some tips that helped him.

Aanchal Kanodia said:

She is only 48 years old! We

She is only 48 years old! We are seriously thinking of stopping the treatment after 15 sessions are done. Maybe its doing more harm than good. 

Although it may actually get even worse, please remember it will start improving a few weeks after finishing treatment.

Her side effects are pretty much common, experienced by most of us.

Is she also on platinum-based chemotherapy (Cisplatin)? If only radiation, maybe the nausea is caused by an additional issue (some “bug” etc.) 

HOWEVER, the nausea/vomiting is not managed properly by the medical team. There are powerful anti-nausea medication (ask about Emend) that are incredibly effective.

Don’t give up! She is young, and all the reasons to continue fighting.

Aanchal Kanodia said:

No chemo for her. And we have

No chemo for her. And we have tried every kind of anti-nausea pills. You name it and we have tried it. It seems like my mom has to experience cumulative problems of everyone at once. She keeps saying that we are making her do this for our selfish needs and not giving her a quality life. Also, can you tell me how do you calculate the dosage according to the weight and age of a person? How much does did you get? I think she is getting around 200 grays each session. 

It's more like 2 Gy (greys) per session, up to a total of 70 (35 sessions). That's what I had.

Emend was the most effective for nausea, I had 1 pill per day, for 3 days; but this was during chemo treatment.

If no chemo though, the team should check if she is well hydrated, and if no other gastric/intestinal issues

Your mom is very young and her symptoms may be caused by something else, like a flu bug.  It’s hard to say.  If you stop treatment, chances are the cancer will spread and she will end up sick and in pain from the cancer itself instead of the treatment.  Treatment is very rough, but since this disease is highly curable, it’s well worth it in the long run.

I had bad nausea during the last few days and for weeks after radiation.  It turned out to be from the pain medicine I was on.  I had been on the medicine for several weeks without nausea but when my dose was increased the nausea started.  It took us a while to figure out the cause.  

Aanchal Kanodia said:

Hi Martin,

Hi Martin,

Are you saying that you started to heal after week 4?

she hit her bottom at week 4

I'm the same age as your mom and I went through virtually every symptom you posted above. Mine all came and went within about a two month period, starting around week 5 of treatment. I did 35 rads and 3 mega doses of chemo. I elected to do no surgery and no PEG tube or chemo port.

I never lost taste - but I wish I had, as the combination of metal taste and the mucous made me very nauseous. I never threw up and kept my urge to eat by doing regulated THC (marijuana). It's illegal in my home state, so I traveled out of state to get it. It was a miracle for me. No throwing up, I felt the urge to eat again and my anxiety lessened a lot. It even helped me to sleep. And all without the fear of addiction or the nasty side effects of opioids. I did chocolates and gummies when I could eat. When I couldn't, I did creams and patches (10mg at a time).

I did have a very bad cough for a short time - attributed to the very thick mucous. It was so bad I'd cough up bits of bloody throat tissue and I couldn't sleep. That is the only time I gladly took an opioid - Hydrocodone. I had it as a liquid and sipping it was the only thing to immediately stop my cough. I never took enough to feel any pain relief effects, but just a very small sip totally stopped my cough for hours.

Fatigue was rampant during my treatment. I simply had to remind myself it was just a side effect and to power through it. I'd make myself walk a couple of miles either outside or at the gym. I hated it, but it kept my muscles moving. There was probably 2 weeks I simply stayed in bed and let my body rest.

I also suffered neuropathy in my legs, feet and hands. Again, docs said that exercise would get rid of it - after two weeks of going to the gym, all symptoms went away.

I'm 6 months post treatment and back to 100% - minus some saliva. I take those ACT lozenges from Walmart and that's all I need for my dry mouth.

Treatment was horrible, but I always reminded myself it was temporary. For most people this is not a cancer where they tend to keep you sick in treatment until you succumb and die. This cancer has an initiation. If you can get through the initiation, you most likely have a very long and healthy life ahead of you.

Aanchal Kanodia said:

I really apprectaite all of

I really apprectaite all of you for giving your time. After a 10 day break we have started the treatment again. The radio oncologist says that he could get it done in 20, i don't know how he is doing that. So right now the plan is to get through 7 more. Hopefully we will get there this time with a little less trouble. 

oh my dear, I was almost the same age (just a couple of years younger)when I went thru Rad. I had 49 treatments and it was HELL not going to lie! I ended up getting a PEG and it helped because it was my only way to get nutrition which also helped my depression. When youre hungry and in pain its horrible. The nutrition helped a lot. I also went every other day to the cath lab and got hydration, what a difference that made. Being dehydrated is so draining. Maybe see if that is an option for her?