lab questions

maglets said:

nausea
I have been sick....just nausea but not vomiting all month. Unfortunatley my onc is away on mat leave. I want to ask for something else....i have been using meteclop///SP? and it does not help....I thought I might ask for zofran because so many people here seem to be on it .

Also right at the end of my cycle....21 days.....I get really down and don't want to do much...I can't tell if this is depression about being infused with the oxy in another 2 days or the threat of doing blood and having it really low or just plain low at the end of the round.???

any thoughts?
mags

Nausea and stuff
Hey Mags,

I'm trying to think back when I was on my FOLFOX treatments. I remember that the steroid they gave me for the days I was on the pump (which I can't pronounce the name, let alone spell it... but I think most of us have been on it)... that steroid really did the trick for me, in more ways than just nausea. But there were a couple of days or evenings where I could feel that darn feeling of nausea coming on. I had no idea if it was going to develop into full blown vomiting or just remain as nausea. On those times, I admit I would take a puff or two of the BC herb and in all seriousness, I could literally feel that ball of nausea in the pit of my stomach just dissolve and fade away. I didn't over do it, just a puff or two. I am NOT a smoker, so it's not something I make a habit out of. But then, I don't make a habit of taking steroids either

Now... as for the mood swings, especially as you are getting close to starting a new cycle. Ha! Is it any wonder you don't get a case of the blues, knowing you are about to be infused with that darn oxy AGAIN?? The oxy was the worst chemo for me to handle... it created all sorts of toxicity in my system. No matter how upbeat one is normally (and you are one of the most upbeat people I have met on this here board!), one can not be upbeat about facing another round of the poison that is going to save us.

I can't remember... have you tried "Ativan" at all? I am no doctor so I would not go by this one suggestion but see if you can talk to one while your onc is on Mat leave and get him/her to prescribe you a mild anti-depressant med. I have used Ativan and found it really helped with the mood swings... just sort of balanced everything out so that I didn't dread the next treatment.

Something to at least talk to a doctor about and see if they think it might help.

Hugggggggs to you my friend!!

Cheryl

NWGirl said:

Emend and Steroids
For me I couldn't have gotten through FOLFOX w/o Emend - it was a life saver. I still got nauseaus, but w/o Emend I was literally flat on my back - couldn't move a muscle, fatigued. As for the steroid I got, dexamethazone (sp?), it never seemed to do much for me. Then one day I realized I was experiencing bouts of short term depression - about 5 days in length after chemo treatments. This was after the doctor increased my dex in an attempt to relieve some of my nauseau. It was very upsetting - so I dropped it cold turkey. The depression went away immediately and the nausea was no worse. I know for a lot of people the dexamethazone really helps - but not for me.

Dex!
Yes! That's the steroid I was talking about but couldn't remember the name or how to pronounce it (dex is so much easier)

And, like any med, prescription or "natural", people are going to react differently, which is probably why doctors will say there are so many meds out there to combat side affects, it's just a matter of finding the ones that will work for you.

The dex worked miracles with me. Not only were my bouts of nausea very minimal, what I really noticed was the dex totally eliminated my arthritis. Seriously! I could actually walk up and down stairs like a normal person, one foot in front of the other... vs the taking the stairs one stair at a time when not on the dex. The muscle/joint aches totally disappeared so I was probably one of the few people who became more active physically/mentally while ON chemo than off of chemo. I begged my oncologist to pleeeeeeeease let me stay on the Dex 3 days every two weeks even after I had finished the chemo because just being on it for 3 days out of 14, it kept me agile. But alas, she wouldn't go for it. She said that steroid use, over the long term, can cause more problems that it fixes. Apparently with long term use of Dex, it can cause diabetes (???). How a steroid causes diabetes is beyond me, but apparently that is so.

So, to find out that it can cause depression, although I didn't experience that, it doesn't surprise me. I figure any med that is that impressive that I think of it as a miracle med, then it has to have some drawbacks.

So Mags... like increasing or decreasing any med... it's best to give it some thought, find out the pros and cons and, if you only had a doctor that you could discuss this with right now. Grrrrr! We have to get you a doctor who isn't off birthin' babies or having babies themselves

Hugggggggs,

Cheryl