Folfox kicked me down(help)

braelee2
braelee2 Member Posts: 130
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Had my first treatment on Tuesday and I'm still not feeling good. Could not eat or drink anything. All I want to to do is sleeep. Any ideas how go get through this.

Comments

  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #2
    Listen to your Body
    And sleep.... Also try ginger ale and crackers. They seem to be easy to take usually.
    When I get chemo every other week, I don't fight it and I sleep from Wed-Sat for the better part of the days...
    Hang in there BraeLee
    -phil
  • Momof2plusteentwins
    Momof2plusteentwins Member Posts: 509 Member
    #3
    PhillieG said:

    Listen to your Body
    And sleep.... Also try ginger ale and crackers. They seem to be easy to take usually.
    When I get chemo every other week, I don't fight it and I sleep from Wed-Sat for the better part of the days...
    Hang in there BraeLee
    -phil

    I'm starting next Tuesday
    It sounds like everyone gets these bad side effects. I am not looking forward to starting. Hope it gets better for you. Has your doc offered anything to help? Have you had any nausea, diarrhea, or neuropathy?
    Sandy
  • braelee2
    braelee2 Member Posts: 130
    #4
    Momof2plusteentwins said:

    I'm starting next Tuesday
    It sounds like everyone gets these bad side effects. I am not looking forward to starting. Hope it gets better for you. Has your doc offered anything to help? Have you had any nausea, diarrhea, or neuropathy?
    Sandy

    Nausea lots of it and heart
    Nausea lots of it and heart burn
  • dmj101
    dmj101 Member Posts: 527 Member
    #5
    Sorry you are feeling ill
    I didn't have any side effect from Folfox other than fatigue at first than I had the neuropathy..
    If you are really feeling ill .. tell doc.. they should have given you compazine for the mausea at the very least and told you to take imodium for the diarehea..
    I suggest taking the sleep you need and eat light.
    I remember not feelng like eating. but chicken broth allways felt comforting..

    Feel better soon..
  • tommycat
    tommycat Member Posts: 790 Member
    #6
    :(
    It really is one step in front of the other.....are you doing 8, 10 or 12 infusions? Now you can mark one off and start the countdown.
    Do listen to PhillieG and listen to your body and let go of the "shoulds."
    For me----going to be blunt here---it got worse before it got better. Toward the end I was accepting offers of rides to treatment, as I didn't know if I could trust myself to go or not.
    I would eat more than usual on the off weeks, because nothing really tasted that good after infusions. I stopped even thinking about nutrition, and focused instead on getting food into my body. If grilled cheese sounded good three days in a row, then it was grilled cheese three days in row.
    Also, has anyone showed you how to use Immodium "off label"?
    Thinking of you Braelee....this is a very hard road, but you CAN do it.
    Big hugs,
    Tommycat
  • jjaj133
    jjaj133 Member Posts: 867 Member
    #7
    I can't really help here. i
    I can't really help here. i just wanted you to know I am saying prayers for you. Listening to your body is good advice.
    Hang on,
    Hugs,
    Judy
  • danker
    danker Member Posts: 1,276 Member
    #8
    braelee2
    I had 5-fu with a chemo pump delivering 1 1/4 cc per hour 24/7. I was also getting radiation Monday thru Friday. Only side effect was diarrhea. Boy are we ever different-unique. Best of luck with it .
  • Varmint5
    Varmint5 Member Posts: 384 Member
    #9
    braelee2 said:

    Nausea lots of it and heart
    Nausea lots of it and heart burn

    Nausea
    Braelee, my daughter tried everything for nausea. She had a very bad reaction to compazine so she could not take that. Finally she got the Sancuso patch and put it on her arm on Friday, the morning she had the pump removed, since her nausea generally started on Monday after Folfox Wed-Fri. She also took Zofran. She is now on Folfiri and it isn't giving her the bad nausea. She also took ranitidine (Zantac) twice a day for heartburn. It is over the counter, 150 mg. You could try that. Good luck.

    Sandy
  • Luckygirl2
    Luckygirl2 Member Posts: 308
    #10
    as others have said
    Listen to your body, I was given a medication for nausea before they started the chemo each time and then I was given a prescription for two anti nausea pills, one that would make me sleepy and one that would not. Luckily or maybe not so luckily, I had major diaherra and only a few bouts of nausea and vomiting. I also asked for some meds to help with the anxiety/nerve situation.

    When I finally started allowing myself to realize it was kicking my butt no matter how I fought it, I learned to "rest". If you try to fight it, it will just end up kicking your butt that much more or at least for me it did.

    Know you are not alone.

    Hugs and prayers your way!
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #11
    Keep Hydrated
    Ginger and Bananas helped me a lot. Gatoraid, Green Tea and water as much as you can stomach. The colon helps us absorb moisture. We all lost a piece of our colon and need help staying hydrated.

    Sleep when you can. I was up all hours during chemo. There were times I was checking to see if there was two cats fighting under my shirt. I had my wife put her hand on my stomach to show her the movement. The sleep thing will even out eventually. The stomach issues took months after chemo stopped before normalizing.

    No matter what keep hydrated. Hydration will make everything else less severe.

    Best Always, mike
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #12
    Sorry
    Sorry you aren't feeling well. This is a hard treatment. Let your doctor know what you are experiencing and let your body tell you what it needs. Hoping you get to feeling better soon.

    Kim
  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #13
    Rest as much as you can but be careful not to get dehydrated. That is one of my problems...no energy and get drehyrated easy. Pray you get strong fast. Jeff
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #14
    How are you?
    How are you doing now? Better? Make sure to make a list of your side effects and let your medical team know how tough it was on you. Getting additional or different antiemetics might help (anti-nausea drugs). Or there may be other things they can tweak to help you out next round.
  • omrhill
    omrhill Member Posts: 125
    #15
    Any better?
    Ive been thinking about you and hope you're feeling better. I start Folfox in August ... i'm hoping you'll have all the answers by then!
    (((Hugs)))
    Robin
  • ketziah35
    ketziah35 Member Posts: 1,145
    #16
    Ginger tea, licorice tea,
    Ginger tea, licorice tea, pineapple, and crackers.
  • joemetz
    joemetz Member Posts: 493
    #17
    ideas
    i had a very similar reaction as you for my first 2 months, but i complained a lot and they adjusted the pre-meds to the chemo treatments and it helped greatly.
    I did sleep a lot those first two months.

    after trying a handful of different anti-nausea meds, most of which didn't work... or made me sleep more... i had a nurse ask me if i had any way to find marijuana (aka: 420). Seemed real strange to me as i'd only tried that a few times in college days... but i found a friend of a friend who made hash cookies or brownies. Yes, it's illegal drugs... but they worked!

    I had lost 40+ pounds in the first 3 months and have gained 20 pounds back... while on chemo and haven't had to sleep all darn day.

    not sure this is a good idea for you or not, but i had to share.
  • sailor_on_a_lee_shore
    sailor_on_a_lee_shore Member Posts: 52
    #18
    Getting Past the Nausea and Fatigue
    It sound like we both started chemo around the same time. I had my first round of FOLFOX July 5-July 7. For me it wasn't so bad with few side effects until they "unplugged" the portable pump when I started experiencing some nausea and a bit of what I presume is what they call "chemo fog."

    For the nausea the docs gave me two rx for nausea:
    1. Ondansetron HCL 8 mg three times a day
    2. Prochlorperazine 5 mg every six hours as needed for nausea
    The oncologist also said to alternate these drugs although the Prochlorperazine seemed to do a much better job.

    I'll give the same advice as others have to STAY HYDRATED. I suggest sipping lukewarm tap water constantly throughout the day.

    Don't forget mom's remedy for nausea of room temperature ginger ale and saltine crackers.

    As for fatigue, try to keep busy if you can. I have a goal of maintaining my fitness regimen even if I have to cut back on the intensity to do so, e.g. cut back your walking program from two to one mile. Thus far, I haven't missed a workout, such as they are with recovering from surgery, or had to reduce time or distane, but I'm not far into this.

    Good luck and stay strong.
    Rick

Discussion Boards