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Dehydration

Hendo10
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Hi.  
my mum has stage 4 lung cancer and also has it in her lymph nodes.   
Although one of her chemo's has been dropped (the intense one).  She's still having one and imunotherapy every 21 days.
 

A few times she's been very breathless and struggles to make it around the house.   I also found out due to the metal taste thing, she's barely drinking anything a day.  One maybe two cups of drink.   After being on a saline drip for a few hours she feels less breathless.    So I'm trying to convince her to drink more in a day.   We know having copd and stage 4 lung cancer is going to affect her breathing.  But I would just like to go back to mum with something from a reputable source to convince her drinking could help keep her breathing a little bit more than at present.     As the great Dr Google has hinted there is a link    But that's Google     

Thank you in advance. 
lynn.   

  • Hello Hendo10 and thanks for posting, 

    I am sorry to learn about your mum.

    Dehydration is definitely something to avoid, it can cause lots of problems for example fatigue, headaches, dizziness and light headedness and can increase heart and breathing rates; it could also affect the way the kidneys work. Being dehydrated can make saliva and phlegm stickier which along with a dry mouth might have an impact on breathing.

    I am not sure if it was only the saline drip that improved your mum's breathlessness, sometimes being in hospital can help as well because of the anxiety that breathlessness causes, but in general it sounds like your mum isn't drinking enough anyway so do really encourage her to drink more. The NHS Eatwell guide recommends at least 6-8 cups or glasses of fluids a day (click on this link to find this recommendation). 

    If it will help, I found a reference to dehydration on the information about breathlessness produced by an Australian cancer organisation at this link .

    Our own website has some tips about managing taste changes here and about breathlessness here. 

    Give us a call if you want to talk anything over. Our number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are around weekdays from 9-5.

    Best wishes,

    Julia

  • Offline in reply to CRUK Nurse Julia

    Thank you so much.  
    That's such helpful information. 
      I knew there was a connection with dehydration and laboured breathing from when I had covid.   But when I mentioned this it was dismissed by my family.   Now I can show them this.  
    Hopefully she'll use her new bottle and remember to fill it up.  
    she used to drink 5+ cups of tea a day.  But the metal taste she's been experiencing has put her off tea.     I'm hoping her taste will come back and the metal taste will go too.   So she can enjoy her a usual cuppa.   
     

    Thanks again 

    best regards 

    Lynn.  
     

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