Just started chemo need advice to manage side affects

Hi

I had by first round of Chemo last Friday on Sunday night terrible pain in legs the same on Monday with added scores in mouth,

pain better Tuesday. Just felt sick Wednesday lost voice, Thursday felt better but still had no voice by the evening chest pain during the night chronic back pain and upset tum I don't have a tempature but the pain is chronic ,

Any one got any tips please much appreciated :) 

  • GMorning Suran and welcome here to our friendly and caring site. Sorry you are having side effects so early with your chemo. Chemo is a fight! But its a fight for health - so try your best! First thing is to let them know - the oncology team needs your input to plan and do the chemo = so if you're in pain - give them a call and ask their opinion. In mean times - we found that keeping warm helps. You could ask the doctor for painkillers perhaps but if you are against them (as my wife was) then drinking loads of fresh water may help. She slept loads during her chemo and got to round ten - before dropping out. Everyone is different with chemo = but the effects can accumulate - so ask the onc. to help.

    All the best = steven

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    Hi Suran

    Welcome to the site and sorry to hear about the side effects you are suffering with. Steven is right,  It would be very wise to contact your chemo team and tell them what is happening - if they know, they can help you.  They will be able to give you medication to help with sickness, pain, etc and advise you regarding your voice loss etc.  It may transpire that you need dose reductions of some drugs for your next cycle and they really need to know what is going on so that they can get your treatment plan right for you!!!!!!!  Rest as much as you need and please please ring the team today! x

  • Hi Suran,

    Don't suffer in silence, contact your chemo team and tell them about your suffering as it can take a while to get the pain and nausea relief balanced properly. 

    Obviously the side-effects vary from person to person as well as from one chemo drug to the next.

    As a former chemo patient, the only useful advice I can give is to make sure you drink plenty of fluids and, however cr@p you feel, try to maintain a balanced diet. I found homemade powershakes were good for this when I couldn't keep anything down. Google home made peanut butter power shakes and you'll find a variety of recipes. I also found that light exercise (dog walking in my case) helped me recover from the intravenous elements of my chemo regime. 

    Finally - if you feel you need to sleep, give in to it as this is your body's way of recoevering.

     

    Good luck!

    Dave

     

     

     

  • Hi Suran

    Sound similar side effects that I had.  As the others have said speak with your chemo team.  I kept a diary how I felt so that I could relate all this to the Doctor and they reduced one of my drugs.  The more information you can give them the better.

    Agree with the drinking plenty of water especially before during and for several days after treatment. Including during the night if I woke up.  It can make you feel a bit sickly so sometimes I mixed Crannberry or Blueberry juice with it 50/50.  I also had sores in my mouth (did not lose my voice) so they gave me "Difflam oral rinse" I also brushed my teeth every few hours using a soft toothbrush and a small amount of sensative toothpaste. This stopped me getting a sore mouth.

    Through the routine - I had treatment every three weeks  I found that the pain went in cycles usually started two days after treatment and lasted 4 days, easing off on the 4th day.

    I would recommend - No Alcohol, no coffee starting the day before treatment and until the pain went and the same for spicy food.  It does not stop the pain but did reduce it.

    If you have any heat pads use these on your legs it does ease the pain but you will probably have to have pain killers for the worst days.

    I also had a reaction to the steroids that they gave me as a premed and two days supply after so (with the doctors agreement) I did reduce my evening dose and this seemed to help with the upset stomach and strangly chest pains.

    When my pain was at its worst my feet & legs were so painful it was difficult to walk across the room but once it had subsided I used to take short walks every day and went on the exercise bike.  Keeping active  between sessions really helped.

    Fortunatly I never felt sick during my treatment but did get tired and you do just have to rest.

    Hope some of this helps.

     

     

     

  • Many thanks for taking the time to reply, I really appichate it. Your right I need to speak to the team and stop thinking I am a waisting there time my difficulty I have always struggled to ask for help.

    like many of us I was lacked incit to the impact of chemo , I think I see my self as a superhero thinking a am exempt to side affects and this has been a shock.

    on a posstive I am nit sounding a Marge Simpions any more voice is returning ,:) 

  • Many thanks for your kind words I really appreciate it, I will tell them on next visit and bedtime time will be more prepared with pain killers,

    The volice  is  returning  and hopefully today will be a better day :)

  • I had chemo two years ago, I did not suffer too much.  I am sorry you are in such pain, but the unit in the hospital told me that they are contactable day and night if you have any problems - maybe you could contact them if things don't get better.  I did have some headaces but took painkillers and those cool pads you put on your head.  I also found taking small walks helped (if possible) - as I suppose this helps get the chem through your body.  I also drank quite a lot.  I felt sick for the first few days of each chemo session but the doctor helped me control this with medication.  Feeling unwell only lasted about 7 days, and from then on I was O.K.  When I had the second treatment I told the nurse who put an extra bag of fluid through me before chemo.

    Hope you feel better soon, I thought the time went very quickly. 

    Diane xxx

  • @Suran - I meant phone them on the emergency number they should have given you, not wait until your next visit! 
    Sorry to nag but I think you may be making exactly the same mistake I did - trying to tough it out when there is really no need! As others have said they can give pain relief, adjust your drugs, give you more fluid next time, use heat pads or ice packs to adjust your temperature during the infusions etc. The last part may seem counter-intuitive but one of my infusions felt like icewater while it was being infused and another cause overheating!