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Mom started chemo on Monday...Help!


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Guest bbypookins
Posted

Hi everyone. My mom had her first chemo treatment Monday. She started having nausea very early this morning (Wednesday) and now she is saying she can't handle this. She would rather die. I need some advice. I know everyone reacts differently, but any ideas as to how long the nausea will last? I tried to tell her to take her Compazine before she started getting nauseous but she had convinced herself yesterday that she wasn't going to feel sick. She finally took it late this morning and she is feeling better, but now she has a really bad headache. Does this sound familiar? Any advice is welcome.

Posted

Don't really have an answer for you except to say that everyone reacts differently to chemo. While my husband has felt some nausea, his biggest problem is fatigue.

In addition to compazine there is also zofran for nausea. If she continues to be sick, call the oncologist - they can almost always fix it.

Ginny

Posted

Hey Kim-

My mom takes an azemet (100mg) an hour before chemo. When she was on Taxol and Carboplatin, she took one azemet pill at the same time for three days then switched to the compazine for the remaining week. My mom had headaches, but no nausea. I think she managed to escape the nausea because she took the pills before any reaction. The doctors keep telling my mom to take her pills preactively instead of reactive. We try to do this with painkillers too. I think the azemet is stronger for the nausea, I would call and ask the doctor for it...also make sure she drinks plenty of fluids.

Kim, I know how hard this is on you. Last night my mom was in a lot of pain and dehydrated. We had to take her to the hospital. It was just awful watching her suffer. You hang in there. Call me if you need to talk.

Posted

Before my husband Buddy took a chemo treatment, he was given dexamethasone 4mg to take the day before, that day and the day after. He never got sick from the treatments. He did get tired and still is.

Posted

I got so sick the first treatment! I remember asking the doctor if he could do something. His response was so matter of fact, I wonder why he didn't say something BEFORE about nausea and premedication.

I got iv zofran and lorazepam (Atavan) before I got my chemo treatment. It helped. I also took zofran three times a day for essentially six months, plus Zantac for nausea and reflux, from radiation esophagitis. Since I got radiation and chemo at the same time it was hard to tell what was from what. But the premedication DEFINITELY helped. Didn't and don't care about being a wuss, but I hate nausea.

Your mom should talk to the doctor about premedications, and maybe take zofran more frequently. I have no experience with compazine.

I do remember feeling like I wanted to crawl under the bed and die I felt so sick, but this too shall pass!! tell your mom just to hang in there, it can be better the next time around. The option to have Chemo is a gift we didn't have 30 years ago, so I was happy to embrace it wholly, the bad with the good. Take heart..... be tough.

When the going got too tough I took bubble baths and naps.

Prayers for you and your mom.

MaryAnn

Posted

Bbypookins, sorry to hear your mothers first experience was a bad one with the chemo. I also took compazine early on in my treatments. However i learned a very valuable lesson. I quit taking it and i got sick quick ! Nausea is no fun. I switched to a med called Kytril. As Natalie points out in her reply it is very imortant to take it preactively instead of reactively. I started taking it everday and didnt have a problem the rest of the way thru my treatments. I found also like Natalie says pain meds are the same way. It is very important to take them as prescribed to prevent as much as possible to begin with. As mhutch pointed out i also found that i needed a good anti reflux med. I started taking nexium ( little Purple pill ) and it has been a godsend. Hopefully your mother will bounce back and not give up on the chemo just yet because of this. Best wishes to you and your family keep us posted.

Regards

Greg

Posted

Hi Kim,

Sorry to hear that your mom is not feeling well. My mom did not suffer from any nausea, but I do know that it is very important for her to take any medications earlier rather than later. Knowing your mom suffers from the panic attacks like mine does, it is much better to try and prevent the nausea feeling before it happens, rather than wait to see if she can handle the symptoms on her own.

Please let me know if you need to talk. My mom as been suffering terribly lately with the panic attacks. The steroids are evil like that.

God Bless,

Denise

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