Hi Cah, I've had one EC chemo cycle and the second is next week for breast cancer recurrence. I've a further EC then 9 of T and I too am worried that I'll have put weight on.

I found quite quickly after the first cycle that the only way I stopped feeling so sick was to eat...particularly yumyum doughnuts, hash brown fries and ginger ale. This lasted approximately 7 days, I felt so sick even taking the anti sickness tablets and using pressure wrist bands.  I've eaten sensibly the rest of the cycle.

I'm going to ask if they have another anti sickness med as this one really didn't work for me.  I had steroids for four days after chemo and also Filgrastim injections for a week.

Hope you find something nice to eat and just enjoy whatever you fancy, it's not for long and we don't need to suffer anymore than we have to. I can accept that for a few days after chemo I'm not eating properly and make up for it the rest of the time. I've eaten lots of fish, salad and strangely beans on toast this week. 

Take care Liz x

Thank you Liz x

Hi Cah

I couldn't stop eating whilst I was having my chemo treatment! I put it down to the steroids I was on as well. Don't be too harsh on yourself over it and just enjoy what you can.

Take care xx

Thank you x

I have already been warned that I will be putting on weight before I even start, Oncologist has warned me of that, I found it quite amusing that he pointed out to eat sugar free sweets and the 3 sentences later told me if I had more than usual amount of pooing to contact Hospital, I truly think those two are linked. 

Yes, I found this too.

I could eat constantly but the food I want is sweet stuff and rubbish (well really  yummy and unhealthy actually) and yes I have put weight on but I needed to as I had lost an awful lot of weight before chemo and looked shocking.

I am trying to curb eating so much now and trying not to buy so many chocolate biscuits or snack during the night haha!

I am looking at healthy recipes in books and if I’m not up to making them my husband will (thankfully he loves cooking and is good at it).

 I’m not being too hard on myself as I have enough going on in my body.

so I think compromise and enjoy for now.

Good luck x

Kat-7 thank you.

Wishing you all the best too x

Cancer has so many misconceptions around it. Before my wife got cancer we thought how most other thought. That people with cancer are deathly thin, your skin gets that deathly grey hue to it, you sleep all the time.

Well, my wife put on weight, her skin looked the best it had for years (she suffers from bad eczema at times and the chemo got rid of that), and she suffered greatly with insomnia. Insomnia remained for around a year after treatment had ceased.

The truth is, the only time you people usually get thin is if the cancer (no idea about blood cancers) is late stage or affecting your appetite/digestion. The tiredness is also greatly affected by the type and stage of the cancer.

My wife's cancer was very locally advanced upon diagnosis and she had been exhausted, but she had also been very busy running after her elderly parents. The oncologist stated one or 2 lumps in her breast wouldn't cause fatigue. Fatigue is usually reserved for systematic cancers such as blood cancers and advanced cancers.

Can't edit the above post. But regarding the last paragraph, people who have internal bleeding can also have fatigue due to anaemia. Supposedly can be quite common in bowel cancers.

Thank you for your reply.

Sending good luck wishes to your wife