CHEMO TIP
PeterB
Member Posts: 65 ✭
Went thru chemo five years ago after a mastectomy. While in chairs the chemo nurses advised me that they administer steroids to help with the nausea. And that you would come down of the steroids two to three days later. Did not like that feeling.
Nurses said to ask the oncologist to take out the steroids. They advised that when I felt sick, to eat. My staple was Jazz with Vegemite or Peanut Butter.
Even kept them in my draw at work. It worked for me, never threw up while getting the chemo. And was told that only I would have to clean up any of my toxic body fluids. That helped too.
Also having a port put in my shoulder was a great idea. So much easier to administer the chemo.
PeterB
Nurses said to ask the oncologist to take out the steroids. They advised that when I felt sick, to eat. My staple was Jazz with Vegemite or Peanut Butter.
Even kept them in my draw at work. It worked for me, never threw up while getting the chemo. And was told that only I would have to clean up any of my toxic body fluids. That helped too.
Also having a port put in my shoulder was a great idea. So much easier to administer the chemo.
PeterB
2
Comments
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I never used steroids after the obligatory ones with treatment, and dropped those when I switched from A/C to taxol. I was never sick, didn't feel very hungry for a couple of days after treatment on A/C. My appetite was fine on taxol but my taste buds went AWOL! Lots of people really need them but my oncologist was fine about taking me off as long as I didn't complain if I got sick. Which was fair enough.1
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Hey Peter, aren't the nurses great. I was pretty naïve and never asked much, info overload about that time. But as I never suffered from nausea through 4 AC & 4 Docetaxel, one less drug might of been worthwhile. I suppose they have a one size fits all, unless you need more help. In saying that for the AC I took dexes for 4 days after. 1st dose 24-12, Chrissy day I woke starving and hyped, 5th day depression and massive headaches... 2nd dose I swear onc said I could miss the dexes and all good, but 3rd dose he said no no reduced dose, so yeah fine. Then I had docetaxel, took reduced dose before 1st dose. Oh boy, oh boy, took all of those suckers 2nd dose - didn't help much. I suppose its one size fits all, unless you question or need more help. If I had to do it again (gripping my wood chair here!) I would question the whys and wherefores. Hope life is treating you well.0
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Oh I felt sick on steroids 4 days, stemitil and ondasetron. And eating also helped me...hense I gained a huge amount of weight during treatment, especially as my activity plummeted too. We are all so different in how we react to chemo.0
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Great to hear how you managed and thanks for the tip, personally I found the steroids made me"high" and really did not like them one little bit,I have also been offered them for pain relief and gave a big NO to that as well, like Primek I also found that I gained weight 12kgs in total,which didnt do much for my self esteem,
Went on a sugar free diet after, lost the 12 kgs, then decided that life really was not much fun without the "sweet stuff" and now have put about 6
kgs back on, still I am in a good place and feel that having chocolate and the odd cake is not going to hurt too much, we all need a sweet treat now and then,
wendy550 -
I was similar to Afraser whereby I was off steroid after AC. I felt worse with steroid and I realised this because whenever they injected it into me, I felt nauseous. Good thing I mentioned this to my oncologist because if not I would have thought it's just part of treatment.0
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I LOVED the steroids that came with the AC chemo. They made me feel invincible and magnanimous all at once - I thought my cancer was a gift. When I started on Taxol with no steroids I cried for 12 weeks...1
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I too loved loved loved the steroids I had with taxol. Made me feel like superwoman with a tonne of energy. Cleaned whole house and steam cleaned the carpets on them.1
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@Nadi - My place was spotless. I worked slowly, methodically, around the clock. I had a ton of energy in my mind but didn't seem to notice at the time how slowly I was doing things. I thought I was being thorough, lol. One night I did the bathroom and all the little shelves and bits of things in bathrooms square inch by square inch.
Which is a good thing cause even the idea of cleaning makes me tired these days. I never liked doing it anyway, and now I can 'not clean' and have no qualms whatsoever due to the unbelievable going over the house got at the start of chemo.0 -
@PeterB - At the risk of appearing provincial, what is Jazz? Did you mean Jatz? I'm sorry you got grief from the steroids. It's been the only 'fun' part for me. Not the sort of fun I would usually be looking for but compared to everything else they were not major hindrance for me, especially when the cleaning stopped and the crying began. Then they seemed like a lot of fun, lol.0
