Nausea, anyone?

Well, I must admit that I wasn't prepared for the nausea that has accompanied my radiation treatments. That's to say, I got it intermittently starting in the second week, and by week 4 (of 6) it was with me continually. I should add that I have not had chemo.

What has really enervated me is that here I am nearly 5 weeks POST RT and I'm still nauseated, to a greater or lesser degree 24/7. I've been taking Prilosec 2x daily, and Zofran on and off - more off now than on, but for awhile I took it constantly.I can't see that it helped. I'm assuming that the Prilosec is helping keep things from getting worse. Last week I bought some ginger capsules. Tried them... not much help. Ginger ale: ditto.

Has anyone else had this experience, the extended nausea? My RO suggested that it might be the mucositis that was causing it. Can I expect it to continue as long as I'm still experiencing mucositis? (which my RO said I could expect to continue up to 6 weeks, although I've read here on the board that people have it for months and months)

When I mentioned to my ENT that I've been on Percocet, at first, now just Oxycodone, he said that those drugs could cause nausea too. I'm just about weaned off the Oxy now, down to 1 at night and will probably stop that in a day or so, but no relief.

If anyone has any suggestions, home remedies or solutions... I'm all ears.

thanks all.

David

Don't have any remedies..........just time.  I was really nauseous during and after treatment......also no chemo.........and my doctor told me this really isn't "normal..........that was a great help!!!  I did discover that I was less nauseous if I was well hydrated.  Are you getting plenty of fluid???  Maybe have them try an IV of normal saline (1000cc bag).   Seemed to help me alot.

Steph

Thanks for your reply, Steph. In fact, during the first 2 weeks post-RT I went in twice for IV fluids. The first time it gave me a lift for a day or so, the second time I really couldn't tell the difference even though I'm sure it helped on some level. 

I'm trying to drink as much water as possible and will per your suggestion redouble my efforts.

I'd forgotten in my initial post to ask if anyone had tried marijuana. I'm not particularly keen to get high (it's been many many years since my fling with the stuff as an adolescent...), but if it'll kill the nausea I'll try anything.

Thanks.

David

hi i had severe nausea thru my treatment also, and the doc also told me that this was not normal. I was hospitalized three times for dehydration the only thing that would make me feel better was iv fluids and it would take 24 hours of fluids before i would feel better. doctor put me on marinol (synthetic marijuania) didnt help at all. it got better slowly over time

Thanks, dad, and sorry to hear you went through this unpleasantness too. Ditto that the marinol was ineffective.Oh well, as you say, it'll take time!

David

My mother has just finished radiation, and she has been experiencing severe nausea and vomiting before, during and after the radiation treatment. She was in ER twice for vomiting. Mucus does cause nausea and vomiting. Her GI doctor asked me to give her water with salt and baking soda to help dilute the mucus. She does like water with sea salt (so far I haven't added baking soda yet). Pain med could also cause nausea, and constipation makes it worse. So having regular bowel movements will help.

 It worries me so much whenever I watch her vomiting. She has been on reglan and zofran. I tried to get her take both 30 minutes before each meal. She has not started chemo. I worry that she may vomit more when she is on chemo. When she feels nauseated, I give her one slice of ginger, or a few drops of ginger juice. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

I hope your nausea will go away fairly soon, so does my mom's. Wish you the best luck!

May, I'm so sorry to read about your mother. Her situation sounds far worse than mine. I think lots of water might help assuming she can tolerate it. Since reading Steph's post just above, as well as dad's, I've been trying to increase my H2O intake and this morning I feel a little bit better. Of course this could be normal progress, or all in my head... but I'm going to keep drinking constantly just in case!

Best of luck to your mother. It's great she's got you helping her.

David

I finished 33 rad treatments and no chemo in Feb and delt with nausea after treatment. It started about the same time the heavy mucus started. It would agravate my gag reflex when trying to bring it up and spit. With that said, it went away about the same time my mucos went away. It wasnt always the mucus. sometimes it was what I was trying to eat or how much. I remember a couple of times that I ate a 1/2 bowl of cream of wheat I got nausous right after both times. I wondered why i was getting sick also and my rad onco didnt know why. Of course that always makes you feel better. Just like everything about this recovery, it all takes longer than you think it should. Hang in there, it does get better and probably is a little better since your original post.

God Bless

Tom

Thanks, Tom. My impression is that we've both gone through the same thing, or in my case am still going through it. My RO thought it was the mucositis causing it, my ENT suggested it might be the pain meds. Either way it's a drag, and like you I find that the hard hits can come either out of the blue - i.e. purely mucous-related - or when trying to eat something - which for me still means drink.

Yesterday I had a few hours' relief. Thought maybe I'd turned the corner but the nausea came back in the afternoon. Same pattern today and here at 10:30 am I can already feel it returning. So maybe the lessening of symptoms has to do with being asleep?

As you say, it's all a question of time!

David