Chemo and Eating Healthy (Seriously??)

When my sister had chemo
the only thing she liked was chocolate shakes. She had a metalic taste in her mouth and felt like there was a lump in her throat but the shakes went down smooth she'd say.

My input......
I was like you and most of the time I couldn't taste anything. Sometimes I could taste things that I knew might not be the best for me. To be honest I kind of let myself go a little. It was hard enough dealing with the emotional stuff and the recovery from the surgeries. Then came the Chemo and radiation. I figured that I was dealing with enough and I honestly just started eating what I wanted to or craved. I really wanted to get in with a nutritionist or dietitian, but everytime I talked to my doctors about it, they would give me the brush off.
I gained like 35 pounds.... I know that I will lose it, but it is like one of the only comforts I have right now. It was about this time last year when I got diagnosed. I had my first surgery the week before Christmas. My dad passed away 2 days after Christmas. I had my second surgery middle of January and started Chemo in Feb. Then as soon as Chemo was over, I started radiation. In the middle of all of it, my company decided to move me and said that I could move or find another job. My husband was too busy to go with me to treatments and actually went out of town a few times and left me with 2 small children while I was going thru the chemo. It was like for a while it seemed like the world was against me. It was like I didn't have much if any controll over anything in my life. As the aniversary is coming up I know that I am going to go thru the emotions of it all again, but I really believe that I will be able to pull myself together after the first of the year and get controll back over my life.

I guess what I am saying is that I think it may be ok to just do the best you can for now.

HillBillyNana said:

You have to eat!
Tammy, I remember so well how it felt to have that terrible taste in my mouth. I did not want to eat, but my dear husband would say, "you have to eat" and I would cry and he would say 'just a few bites'. So I ate. I seem to remember the first night after chemo was when I really hated to eat. Then the next night i was really hungry. Or maybe it was the other way around. Anyway, I also remember my taster was really messed. We ate at a restaurant one night and the cake was so sweet I almost gagged. My daughter laughed and laughed because she said it was not sweet at all. Almost like cardboard. But do eat as healthy as possible and keep yourself strong. Sip the water but keep drinking. When did you start chemo? How long will you be doing it?

I drink water all the time
I drink water all the time and during chemo I did not like it either. The only other thing I usually drink is coffee and I could not even stand the smell of it. I drank juice which I know is not great but I needed flavor. I also ate a LOT of Italian Ice because one of the nurses said it was a good way to keep hydrated which I was having a hard time doing. Popsicles are also good for hydration but again I know not exactly health food.

Good luck with the rest of your chemo treatments.

Kim

Sher43009 said:

Biotene mouth wash
Try using Biotene mouth wash. It helped me keep some of my taste buds. I ate lots of brown rice, rice cakes with peanut butter, chicken. It seemed the higher proteins the better it tasted. Couldn't drink Poland Springs water but liked Dasani water. Like Kim I liked the fruit popsicles. Keep trying different brands until you hit on one you can tolerate. I got dehydrated after my 4th chemo and never felt so bad. You don't want to go thru that.

Hope you feel better soon.
Sher

I could not eat and lost a
I could not eat and lost a significant amount of weight. People on here have said doing frequent mouth care can help. Others said eating spicey foods helped. Ultimately I had to force myself to eat, a new and novel approach for me. Try to exersize and not gain the weight, or keep it to a minimum. experiemnt with foods you like and can tolerate. You MUST drink or you will end up in the hospital. It seemed to me the fluid needs were more than I needed pre and post chemo. gatorade, ice chips, jello, soup. anything. I really did poorly, had GI problems that led to dehydration , electrolyte embalance and becoming very deconditioned. Seemed like I could never catch up once I got behind even getting fluid during chemo. One thing that helped me then and now is to drink with a straw. I seem to drink more with that.

carkris said:

Also being a nurse i drank
Also being a nurse i drank coffee all the time, now dont really like it at all my friends are amazed!!!!

During chemo, I had to force water
Everything tasted like crap--really metallic. The only thing I could tolerate was peanut butter on white bread (and previously, I had only eaten whole wheat for years), and Cherrios with milk. Don't ask me why--I have no idea. I was not allowed to eat any raw fruit or veggies (which I craved). My onc. said if I was exposed to e.coli or salmonella--I would be in big trouble.

Good luck, sweetheart.

Hugs, Renee

Eat a little, anytime you are hungry...
I would wake up and have an English Muffin with butter, at 3am!

The hydration is the most important part...I searched to find something I could tolerate...I forced water the day before, day of, and day after chemo...but otherwise, I found that flavored water did the trick...the stronger flavor, the better!

Also, the day before my infusion, I baked a big bowl of scalloped potatoes, (I could NOT stand the smell of food cooking right after treatment), and just would take a small bit and nuke it...warm and comfy! Also had a supply of 'healthy' ice cream (?????)...Bryers has no artificial stuff...

This, too, shall pass...hold your head high, you ARE a strong warrior!!!!

Hugs, Kathi

Eating
Use plastic utensils, that seems to help. No chips or salty foods for me, that brought on "thrush". V-8 juice, nutritional drinks, Walgreens brand chocolate, cheapest, scrambled eggs, chicken pot pies, anything soft and warm. Jello, pudding snacks and yes on the Romaine Noodles. Making a big pot of chicken soup with lots of vegs. and dumplings or corned beef and cabbage. Antything to just heat and eat. Eat small snacks all day long not big meals. Hydrate...flush out the system with Gatorade, apple juice, popsicles. Don't taste it but know what I am putting in is considered "healthy" so that somehow makes me feel better.

Sorry...
I know what you're going through. I didn't have a tinny taste - just no taste at all. I found spicy foods worked for me (Chicken tortilla soup and spicy salsa - YUM!) I also started drinking a lot of Simply Lemon Lemonade - the tart taste helped me stand it and it kept me hydrated. Just experiment to see what works for you.
Anna

phoenixrising said:

My diet sucked during chemo
My diet sucked during chemo and I had little appetite for nutritious food. This was during winter in northern Canada so you wouldn't think ice cream would come to mind but I ate tons of it. As well as Dad's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with tea. One of my chemos action was being a pro-oxidant so I figured I would help it out by not having any antioxidants...that was real easy. I didn't like water at all either. Made me feel ill or iller.
jan

I hated sweets too, same as
I hated sweets too, same as my first pregnancy. Everything tasted excessively sweet. I existed on lipton chicken noodle soup and toast and I craved pork chops. hated sweets but wanted salt. could be the dehydration I always seemed to have.