Colon cancer - Diet advice

My husband is two weeks post radiotherapy and oral chemo and is still experiencing severe diarrhea, not sure if this due to treatment or the cancer. He has lost tons of weight and naturally lacks energy to try and build himself up. He is due to see oncologist in four weeks. What I was wondering is would a diet which is lower in fats help? Diets for build up seem to be full of cream, full fat milk, butter etc. I think this is sort of diet may be too rich for a delicate system. Comments and personal experiences greatly appreciated.

  • Hi and welcome to the forum.

    I remember suffering diarrhoea for the few weeks after my radio/chemotherapy, but I was supplied with medication (Loperimide) to help with this.

    It may be worth getting in touch with your husband's oncologist (or specialist nurse if he was assigned one) and letting them know how your husband is.  

    I did increase my fat intake, but still tried to maintain a good dietary balance. There are some useful pages on the CRUK website about dietary information. 

    Take care, Jo x

  • Hello scotsace and welcome to the forum,

    I see you have received great advice from Jo. We do indeed have some useful advice specifically on diet after bowel cancer on our site. You can read more about this here. The page does mention that radiotherapy and chemotherapy to the bowel can cause diarrhea but as Jo said, it might be a good idea to get in touch with your husband's oncologist for suggestions on how to deal with this. 

    Our nurses are also available Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5pm on 0808 800 4040 (it's a free number too!). Don't hesitate to give them a call if you have any questions as they know a lot about cancer and may have some useful suggestions for you.

    Best wishes,

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator