Help for FIL chemo side effects

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leguca
leguca Member Posts: 3
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hello everyone and I certainly wish I could meet you all under better circumstances, that's not possible at this time.

My wonderful FIL was diagnosed with peritoneal carcinomatosis in February. Very scary to say the least. He opted for the Folfox protocol with Avastin and had his first treatment yesterday. It is not well. He is vomiting and terribly ill. He is at the hospital right now to remove the chemo early and to rehydrate via IV fluids.

I have been searching through the archives here and have found several threads about the side effects (of which he seems to have every one of them multiplied by 10). However, is there a trick or a tip for helping him to cope?

I am a believer in holistic treatments as adjunct therapy to traditional techniques so any and all suggestions and thoughts would greatly be appreciated.

I am so glad to have found this place. So glad.

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  • lfondots63
    lfondots63 Member Posts: 818 Member
    #2
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    Hi Leguca,

    I want to say glad you found us and sorry that Fil is so sick with the side effects. I am on just the folfox and only have had irritating naucea. Knock on wood no vomitting. I have also had diarehea that I try to control through diet. I've tried the BRAT thing and it sometimes works. Unfortunately I have started using Immodium very sparingly. One thing I know that you should make sure of is have him drink a lot. This will help hydrate. Talk to the doctor about your options also to see what they can do about the treatments. Others here will answer that they had to change treatments because of side effects. I'm only on my second treatment so hoping for the best that I can make it through. Fresh Ginger is good for naucea cut in very small pieces and steep in water. You might want to see if there is a homeopathic or naturopathic doctor in your area. They would give you lots of options. Good vibes your way and Fil's. Take care.

    Lisa
  • CAMaura
    CAMaura Member Posts: 719 Member
    #3
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    Hi there - So sorry that FIL is having such a hard time with his treatment. Sometimes, the docs don't have a handle on how a body will react. After my first session, I landed in the emergency room for constant vomitting and dehydration. Pretty ugly few days. I know I needed to have qanother type of anti-nausea drug. Once it was set in place (EMEND by Merck) I was able to handle things much better. Ask and Ask and push for good meds to counteract the nausea. If you do feel like finding out more about an alternative treatment, you can start by educating yourself via reading: beating Cancer with Nutrition, by Patrick Quillin is recommended; you can also google 'alkaline diet and cancer' for more info. Whatever FIL's choices are for treatment, the nutritional info will be great for you and him now and after chemo. All ther best to you and I hope his stay in the hospital is short...glad he is there though to replenish his fluids and rest. Take care - Maura
  • Etheljean
    Etheljean Member Posts: 1
    #4
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    Alternative medicine

    I was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer March 27th 2016. I decided to opt out on chemotherapy and I am trying alternative medicine.  I've been going to the clinic since April 28th 2016 it is in Tijuana Mexico but I only live one hour from there in San Diego. So far so good I think. I do go to my oncologist here and I do have the fluid  removed from my stomach which is slowing down. I go back to Mexico at the beginning of August with a copy of my CT scan and blood work and hopefully the treatment that I'm doing is working I'm praying it's working so don't be afraid of alternative medicine

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,796 Member
    #5
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    Etheljean said:

    Alternative medicine

    I was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer March 27th 2016. I decided to opt out on chemotherapy and I am trying alternative medicine.  I've been going to the clinic since April 28th 2016 it is in Tijuana Mexico but I only live one hour from there in San Diego. So far so good I think. I do go to my oncologist here and I do have the fluid  removed from my stomach which is slowing down. I go back to Mexico at the beginning of August with a copy of my CT scan and blood work and hopefully the treatment that I'm doing is working I'm praying it's working so don't be afraid of alternative medicine

    Welcome to the forum

    You have posted to a ten year old thread, so if you want to open your own thread, that might be a good idea. 

    Everyone has to follow their own intuition as far a treatments go. As long as you go into it having studied the pros and cons, then I say good for you. 

    I wish you well as you follow your path. 

    SUE

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