A C Chemo & colitis

This cancer lark leaves a lot to be desired, I'm sure hemp oil would be a lot kinder than chemo. Unfortunately we do not have a lot of choice but to trust the people in the medical team.

I saw my gastroentorologist yesterday and she said higj Fibre and heaps of fruit and veg unless I get the runs and as soon as runs over back to higj fibre

Also.told memsoups soups soups soups and especially good old chicken soup with a lot of chicken. Her advuve was to prep it in advance and freeze.for when not able.to cook as she recoons that soups will be gentlest on the tummy

Also told me start movicol.pre treatment and not to stop.untill.completely done with chemo and gut is healed. She said only stop when runs hit and when the.stool firms up start movicol again straight away.

Also she strongly advised to start using hemmoroid creams and even suppositories immediately after chemo and effectively same as.movicol - her advice is to keep on using it throughout as that will initialy help protect the backside from overeacting to the toxic fire like sludge that is being expelled so may prevent hemmoroids and if i ternal henmproids start this will help heal them and prevent or mittigate rectal bleeds.

Effectively her words were : Chemo is the most unnatural hardest thing your gut wiur ever have to deal with and this is where just want you to get through it and stop worrying about conventional gastro rules. This is where we throw out adviice about not taking movicol and hemmoroid treatments as a premeptive strike as you want to help your gut that already has a preexisting condition cope the best it can

Now I do not have diverticulitis (I suffer from 2 different conditions) so maybe do check the movicol bit with your gastroentorologist but the soup and hemmoroid ointments/suppositories bit would not have any adverse effects...

Jel.

Mine was 4 doses of Docetaxel & Cyclophosphamide I think. I had nothing after that, just the hormone therapy of Taxomifen.

After the first dose of chemo I had zero white cells so each dose thereafter I got the injection. Now two months later my white cells are down which is why I can't shake this cold and my Dr gave me antibiotics to ward off any likely pneumonia complications.

Hope your cold has gone Brenda. The oncologist told me on Tuesday that I would have to have the injection every time too, when I was in hospital it gave me really bad backache & bone pain, so I will have the endone ready.

I cannot wait to get this over & done with. Did you have to have paclitaxel weekly after your A C?

Eileen x

Glad you got a weeks reprieve as it doesn't sound too good at all. I had zero white cells after the first chemo so I got the injection to fix that the day after every chemo thereafter.

Most of my internal troubles were the stomach and oesophagus which for weeks hurt even to breathe. You are right chemo mucks up everything but take heart, as soon as its finished you get back to normal bit by bit. Even my hair is starting to grow back now.

Thanks Jel I will definitely be taking the movicol twice a day as you suggest. It is hard to know when to change the diet from low to high fibre with the tummy problems we have. at least I have a few days to get right before chemo. x 

Definitely what Kath said - movocol The daybbefore and then twice daily for the initial.3 days... as soon as your stools start to get bery soft stop as you may get a boit of runs too so do not want.to irritate tummy.

And movicol works brilliantly

Also bananas - have heaps on hand as they are good for both constupation and runs so helps to have them on hand. While contupated oranges are.also really good as they help make you regular.

Just do not overdo it with fibre past initial few days so you avoid my pitfall of overirritating the gut...

Jel.

Thank you I have got movicol ready for the next time. I was using 2 coloxyl with senna but they just did not work for me at all. 

I start movichol the night before chemo and the morning of to combat the constipation of AC. Only need 2 to 3 days maximum. As to the gassiness and pains...smaller frequent meals helped and reduced gluten and dairy helped a bit for me in the 1st week after chemo. I also had nexium twice daily as reflux was also an issue for me.

I will be thinking of you on Monday.

My oncologist has asked for a copy of the CT scan taken at a different hospital & thinks it could be diverticulitis. I will know more next week when he has seen it.  but that was my initial thought too, as I have had diverticulosis for years but it does not often flare up, I think the chemo has set it off. So I will be on bland foods for a bit, the chemo makes me so constipated so will have to try & keep on top of it.

Eileen