Cancer Discussions, Day To Day Matters Forum - November 6th, 2009 - 7 Comments
What foods and beverages are best to give with cancer/chemo related nausea and vomiting?
My father is undergoing chemo for malignant melanoma that has spread to liver/lungs/kidneys. He has constantly nausea and vomits at the drop of a hat. How do I get some nutrition into him? What would help other than prescription meds which he is already on?
I went through this with my dad – it’s different for everyone. You have to be ready with whatever sounds good to him at the moment – if he has to wait too long for it, the opportunity may pass and he’s nauseous again. It’s not easy – on him or on you – sorry there isn’t a magic answer, but you’re wonderful for being there for him. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
natural vegetable juices-like the ones made from a juicer, no carrots or beets, beet leaves only, parlsey, celery, aloe vera(this is especially good)-no vegetables that will turn into sugar in the body
The best answer is anything he wants. It sounds wierd, but chemo destroys your appetite and taste buds. If he only wants spaghetti, feed him spaghetti. Is he on something for nausea? We often use Zofran as it tends to last longer than Phenergan. Also you can try some cold Boost or ensure. These are essentially meals in a can. Good luck
If he’s vomiting, he needs to ask for his anti-sickness meds to be changed or adjusted. They are much better these days, and I found that though I felt nauseous I never vomited.
He should eat whatever he feels he can manage or will make him feel better. Don’t worry too much about him getting a healthy or balanced diet, he can put that right when chemo’s over. I went through a stage during chemo when I only wanted mashed potatoes; bland carbohydrate was all I fancied, and I ate a lot of them!
I found that ginger in any form helps with nausea – ginger tea, ginger biscuits, crystallised ginger – anything. Cola helped too – some people find it more effective if it’s allowed to go flat before drinking it.
Hope your dad gets some relief soon.
This is diff for every person. I generally just quit eating. Nothing tastes right. I dont suggest serving favorite foods. If he is having that many issues holding stuff down he will develope taste aversions to whatever he is puking up all the time. Atleast I did. Calories and protiens are the most impt things according to my docs. If you can get him to drink boost or diet meal replacement shakes, protien bars anything with calories.
For me IV ativan and marijuana were/are the best anti nausa meds. Most of them are mainly used for other purposes (like ativan is an anti anxiety med) and will just keep him asleep- which may actually be a good thing.
The other meds he is on is probably making this dept worse, but they are necessary.
I was given the motion sickness patch, which helped for a couple weeks, then just started irritating my skin. But if motion sickness is an issue def worth a try – on the same line so is dramamine but ask your doc first.
I took nyquil sometimes, but I would advise against bc the alcohol content can interfere with other meds.
At one point in the hosp I was put on IV nutrition.
In the end there may be nothing you can do. the areas they are targetting are making his sys very sensitive.
all veggies and all peelable fruit….
anything he feels like eating is good. the point is to get food in him, worry about the other stuff later. good luck.