Hiccups

depressed63 said:

Thanks John. It sounds like
Thanks John. It sounds like you went through something like my husband only they still have not said anything about surgery. He did have a bad acid reflex (GERD) attack yesterday with the hiccups. He couldn't eat anything after 3:00 yesterday and he hasn't eaten much today. He is drinking a lot. I noticed Wednesday when chemo was almost done he started to have short term memory loss and that has gotten worse. He's still going to work. I know everyone is different but does the tiredness get worse each day and does it get better a little bit before he starts this all over again at the end of this month? I'm sure the radiation with the chemo probably will be difficult to. I'm just wondering how long he should go to work.

Donna

WORK
I was on the nine weeks of three weeks cycles, sounds like you are also...then I had seven weeks of concurrent chemo/rads. Seven weekly doses or Carbolatin, 35 daily rads.

I had no surgey as for a dissection, I did have the tonsils out before the chemo...

As for work, I primarily do computer work, so I was lucky enough to work from home for nearly nine months. But my suggestion is that if he feels like it and can, then do it.

Drinking a lot is good, you can't really seem to get enough hydration....it does a body good.

I didn't experience any memory loss, even though that can be a side effect of chemo. Main thing I can tell you there is to communicate frequently about anything that he experiences with your MD's. Mine was and still is awesome, my chemo md told me that anything I have a side effect with, she has something for it, she always did too.

For me I was more fatigued during the concurrent chemo/rads. But that came during the third week or so because by then I was mainly on only Ensure Plus, water and pain meds for the next seven weeks or so...

So I was taking in little nutrition, and I just didn't have much energy to burn or ambition. The period of concurrent I always refer to as GroundHog Day, like the movie...same thing day after day after day....just do your treatment, go home get rest, then do it again the next day.

As for the three week cycles, for me the week of chemo and wearing the pump was rather dedious, didn't feel like I was progressing that week. I couldn't wait to get the pump off and let the chemo do it's thing. The second week was a little mixture of blah, blah...not great, better than the first week, but not nearly as good as the third week...just before you start it all over again.

I'm sure he'll do well....I was doing my yard work, fishing and whatever mostly during the chemo weeks....just relaxed during the concurrent weeks mostly.

Best,
John

robinleigh said:

Hiccups
Donna,

I finished 6 weeks of radiation and three rounds of cisplatin on April 18th. I suffered from bad hiccups on my first chemo round. I was prescribed a low dose of Thorazine which stopped the hiccups. I would take a pill a day or so before my next round of chemo and then a day or so after. I never had the problem again. Good luck to you and you husband

Andy ( Robinleigh's husband)

Second those comments
We tried Thorazine for that also and it helped - developed GERD and he is still on Prilosec (the CVS version).

The dexamethasone that they often give along with Emend to help prevent nausea the first few days might be one of the culprits - at the time, I found a study that was finding more hiccups in men who took it (the problem was not so bad for women, apparently). However, folks not on dexamathasone also develop hiccups sometimes.

BTW, Thorazine is in the same category as Compazine, so don't take them together, unless your doctor tells you to. They are both antinausea drugs, and Compazine is generally preferred, but can be replaced by Thorazine when hiccups show up.

They do fade - Doug found the reflux to be more annoying in the long run.