It is not a failure nor is it a sign of weakness to take anti-nausea medications, called antiemetics, during cancer treatment. In fact, when warranted, you should take anti-nausea medications so that you can maintain caloric intake and stave off nutrient deficiencies.
Common drugs that may be used to prevent or control nausea and vomiting include:
Ondansetron
Dexamethasone
Lorazepam
When nausea strikes and food intake declines, it is important that you try and get easily digestible, nutrient dense foods and liquids in to your system to maintain weight and nutrient intake.
There are many natural strategies that you can use either individually or in combination to help you through this time.
Tips for Supporting Cancer Patients Who Don’t Feel Like Eating
Here are some tips that you can use when nausea strikes and you just don’t feel like eating:
Increase intake with fluids and electrolytes. Adding a pinch of himalayan salt to water is a quick strategy to increase electrolytes
Cook vegetables and eat at a warm temperature
Decrease intake of raw foods as these can be harder to digest
Include nutrient dense smoothies in to your diet
Include bone broth in to your diet to increase intake of important minerals and gut healing nutrients
Consume ginger i.e. in tea form, in crystallized form, added to stir a fry and in homemade juices
Use peppermint i.e. in tea form, essential oils
Drink Chamomile tea to soothe an upset stomach
Avoid greasy or fried foods
Avoid foods with strong odours
Avoid spicy foods
Eat smaller more frequent meals
Acupuncture
Hypnosis
Muscle relaxation with guided imagery
Along with the above mentioned tips, I also recommend that you keep a food journal. This can help you to identify and keep track of food that has both worked well in your diet and foods that have not.
Lymphedema is the abnormal swelling that is caused by a build up of lymph fluid and most commonly occurs in the arms and in the legs.
According to the World Health Organization there are over 170 million people world wide who suffer from secondary lymphedema. It affects approximately 15% of all cancer survivors and an estimated 30% of those treated for breast cancer after surgery to remove lymph nodes.
The onset of lymphedema can occur during treatments, days, months or years after the treatment protocol is completed.
Unfortunately lymphedema cannot be cured but it can be managed by employing some or all of the following strategies to encourage movement of the lymph fluid:
✔Dry Brushing
✔Contrast Showers
✔Rebounding
✔Regular Exercise
✔Lymphatic Massage
✔Compression Bandaging
Dry Brushing
The benefits of dry brushing are many and include:
Dead layers of skin being removed and pores unclogged
Blood circulation increased to the internal organs and the skin, which promotes oxygenation and healing
The detoxification qualities of the skin maintained
Hormone and oil-producing glands being stimulated
Nerve endings stimulated in the skin helping to maintain the health of the entire nervous system
Muscle tone assisted and fat deposits more evenly spread
How to Perform a Dry Brush Massage Use a natural bristle brush with a brush pad about the size of your own hand
Start with the soles of your feet. Brush in a circular motion as you move up your body brushing feet to legs, hands to arms, back to abdomen, and chest to neck. You don’t need to apply a lot of pressure. Just enough to make your skin feel warm, about 5-10 minutes. The massage is best performed when you wake in the morning and before you go to bed at night.
Contrast Showers
Alternating hot and cold showers improves blood circulation, increases cellular oxidation, enhances immunity, strengthens the nervous system and flushes cellular toxins into the blood.
When we shower in hot water for less than five minutes, it has a stimulating effect on our circulation. When we have a cold shower for less than one minute, we stimulate blood flow and metabolism. Cold showers first constrict and then dilate blood vessels. When we finish with a cold shower the following physiological effects happen:
Increased oxygen absorption
Increased tissue tone
Increased white blood cell count improving immunity
Increased red blood cell count
Decreased blood glucose
Heightened metabolism
Rebounding
A rebounder a small trampoline. Jumping on a rebounder 5-10 minutes a day improves the circulation of lymphatic fluid. Muscular contractions push the fluid through the lymphatic vessels. When the muscular contraction is used in combination with deep breathing, lymphatic circulation is enhanced even more. This improves the body’s cancer-fighting ability.
Additional benefits of rebounding include:
Gentle massage of the internal organs, including the liver and colon
Improved muscle tone
Improved digestion, elimination and body detoxification
Burning calories
Increased energy
Improvement in cardiovascular health
Stress reduction
Regular Exercise
Exercising, of all kinds, causes muscle contractions encouraging the flow of lymph fluid. Exercising also:
Improves insulin sensitivity
Helps manage weight
Improves mitochondrial health
Reduces stress
Improves muscle tone
Lymphatic Massage
Lymphatic drainage massage stimulates the circulation of blood and lymph, moving tissue fluid into the lymph vessels from the tissues.
As a result, lymph drainage massage can help remove toxins and wastes from the tissues. Increased lymph flow will also help with immunity, reduce the risk of infection, and speed the healing of inflammation.
Lymphedema Compression Bandages
Compression bandages help to limit the amount of fluid building up in the limb. When functioning without limitation, there is a constant flow of fluid from the tiny blood vessels into the tissues. This fluid will then be drained by the lymph system. For those with lymphedema, wearing a compression garment reduces excessive or unnecessary flow of fluid from the bloodstream into the tissues.
Lymphedema compression sleeves encourage the fluid within the affected limb to move towards the body where it can drain away more easily. Compression sleeves have a graduated compression, with more at the hand or foot than at the top of the garment. This directs the fluid to the root of the limb which is either the groin or armpit.
Finally compression garments provide the muscles with a firm resistance to work against improving the function of the lymphatic system and encourage the movement of fluid along the lymph routes.
Summary
Your routine for lymphedema management:
1) Make a daily practice out of dry brush massage
2) Have a contrast shower daily
3) Use a rebounder four hours weekly; 5 – 30 minutes once or twice daily
It is a reality for most cancer patients that part of your protocol will involve surgery, chemotherapy or radiation either as stand alone treatments or in combination. With that said, it is of great importance that patients and their caregivers understand the necessity of preparing for cancer treatments and have strategies for dealing with their side effects.
Preparing your mind and body for treatment coupled with certain lifestyle adjustments can enhance therapy efficacy and reduce both the incidences and severity of side effects. For instance, as noted in this report, Nutritional intervention and Quality of Life in Adult Oncology Patients by Marin Caro et al Marín Caro MM1, Laviano A, Pichard C 20071:
“Nutritional intervention accompanying curative treatment has an additional and specific role, which is to increase the tolerance and response to the oncology treatment (and) decrease the rate of complications”.
When side effects do occur it is of great benefit to have options in front of you to deal with them. If too these side effects can be dealt with by natural means, medical intervention may be avoided.
In my own cancer protocol my medical treatment involved surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. As I made my way through each I took both mental and physical notes of what I felt helped me and of those moments when I thought “boy I wish I had known that”. And it is from this exercise coupled with my professional training that I have created my ebook.
Chemotherapy, Radiation, SurgeryNatural Strategies for Preparation & Dealing with Side Effects of Cancer Treatmentsis a reference manual for patients and their caregivers to use before and during treatment. It begins with strategies and tips for preparing for treatments and then moves in to chemotherapy, radiation and surgery succinctly dealing with common side effects by offering pointed complimentary strategies for dealing with each them.
I truly hope that you will find the information that is contained within my book of great benefit to you as you move through your treatments and into recovery. Click on the button below to download this great resource for free!
I just posted an article to my Facebook and Twitter called “When Pain Persists After Breast Cancer Surgery” written by Leslie Garisto Pfaff. I literally read the article and thought ‘By God I am not losing it!’
Without going in to detail the article is about persistent pain following breast cancer surgery. A strong causal theory is damage to the intercostobrachial nerve. The subject matter is extremely interesting and I encourage you to read it but it’s not what provoked me to post this.
After reading this article I felt rather stupid. Although I don’t suffer with pain since my surgery, I always have a tenderness running down my side. But in light of the bigger picture I felt this was a somewhat trivial thing and didn’t bring it up to any of my doctors. But here is the question: WHY NOT?! Getting that explanation 4 years ago would have greatly set my mind at ease and gone a long way to explaining other minor things that I have experienced.
Being hit between the eyes with this just brought home to me something I so easily ascribe to others. Personal advocacy is key to healing. Our health is our own responsibility. Yes we have a team to guide us along the way but we drive the ship.
So sadly I learned today that I am victim of the old adage ‘Do as I say and not as I do’. But I am coming clean with the hope that a short article has led me to a greater lesson.
Along with the above mentioned tips, I also recommend that you keep a food journal. This can help you to identify and keep track of food that has both worked well in your diet and foods that have not.
