Chemotherapy problems with nausea

Hi Lisa,

I just went through the 7 weeks of daily radiation (35 days) and chemotherapy (weeks 1, 4, and 7 - 2 days per week) myself for cancer of the tonsils and lymph nodes in my neck. The nausea after cycle 2 (the end of week 4 and into week 5) really clobbered me, and at the time I was only taking the ondansatron. In speaking with my doctor, we became much more aggressive with my medications, and it made a big difference to the point where I had no nausea at all after cycle three. After getting more agressive my medication cycle became this:

• I took Ondansatron at 730AM, 330PM and 1130PM
• I took a steroid - Dexamethasone at 930AM
• I took Codien Sulfate at 930AM and 930PM
• I took Lorazepam at 1130AM and 730PM

This was in addition to the gabapentin and Tylenol for pain, the Mucinex DM to help with the congestion/mucus and the Benzonatate which helped with my coughing. While the increase in the medications was agressive and for a limited period of time, I found it helped me tremendously and was the key difference in my experience between cycle 2 when I had awful significant nausea, and cycle 3 when I didn't have any at all.

The other thing for me that made a big difference was the constant gargling. I did a quart of water every day with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of salt, and just gargled that with warm water throughout the day. I found it got rid of the "nasty" taste in my mouth that helped contribute to the feelings of nausea. This is besides making some of the pain in the mouth from radiation go away.

Finally for me, water tasted terrible and made me want to gag. I ended up using Vitamin Water Zero - Acai Blueberry Pomegrenate in a 50-50 mixture with regular water - it wasn't acidic and added just enough "good" flavor that made it easier for me to drink without the "gag" from tasting terrible experience.

The other comments about food are good - but the reality was for me after cycle 2 - nothing stayed down regardless of food. I had a day when I just drank water and I was throwing that up. Pretty awful. So I might consider speaking to your doctor about the medications and seeing if there is more they can do.

Best of luck to you, and sorry if this post is too late to help, but it might help someone else.

Mike

Also ask about Benadryl, compazine or phenergan as options. There may be reasons not to use but worth an ask.