Still experiencing nausea 9 weeks after competing chemo

Hi there,

 

Just wondering if anyone on here has experienced post chemo nausea which lingered for a long time following completion of chemo? I completed chemo (FEC-T) almost 9 weeks ago now, but I am still experiencing a horrible nauseous feeling in my oesophagus. My tummy is mostly fine, it's predominantly in my oesophagus that the nauseous discomfort occurs. There is a feeling of something being stuck in there, and sometimes a bubbling/fizzing sensation. Neither my Oncologist nor my GP seem to know what it is as my symptoms don't really match those of common gastro complaints like heartburn, acid reflux (apart from the fizzing feeling, I guess?) etc, as I don't have any burning chest pain or difficulty with swallowing. I have tried omeprazole, cyclizine, metoclopramide, Gaviscon and Rennie's and none of them have helped. There has been no improvement at all during this time, the feeling is constantly there and never really eases up. I can eat, luckily, and I eat really healthily, and have eliminated all caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods etc to see if that helps, but it hasn't. Be really grateful to hear from anyone else who may have experienced/is experiencing anything similar and whether it eventually passed?

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Elaine

  • That should be 9 weeks after "completing" chemo...! Sorry!

  • Hi I'm interested to see if you found a solution to this as I am experiencing the same symptoms 10 weeks after chemo finished

  • Hi Jasm, so sorry to hear that you are experiencing nausea 10 weeks after chemo, really feel for you, it's so rough. Mine did ease eventually, although I reckon it probably took between 3 - 4 months. My nausea wasn't really in my tummy though, it was more of a weird discomfort in my upper oesophagus, which I still get sometimes, but is nowhere near as bad as it was in the months post chemo. Had lots of procedures done to investigate what it might be (gastroscopy, barium swallow, even a CT scan), but they were all clear and didn't show anything unusual, not even acid reflux. One doctor suggested that the lining of my oesophagus had probably been irritated by the chemo drugs and also by some gastritis caused by the chemo (I suffered very badly with nausea while on the "FEC" bit of my chemo regime, wasn't so bad when I switched to the "T" bit (docetaxel)), and that that can take a long time to heal, but it does eventually. I found that cutting out acidic food (tomatoes in particular for some reason!) and reducing dairy has helped a lot.

    Really hope you start to feel better soon - I know it might not feel like it some days, but you are on an upwards trajectory and improving every day. I am now 18 months post chemo and feeling a lot better.

    Elaine

     

  • Thank you so much for your response. Interesting that we had the same types of Chemo, I didn't  suffer from sickness during chemo but I think that my current reflux symptoms are also caused by Chemo and my system probably just needs time to heal. I have stopped acidic foods and drinks. I don't really want any investigations. I have a clinic appt in a few weeks and will discuss with them. I am having Fuzco injections which also may not help 

     

    thanks again for your help! Have a great weekend x
    thanks again for 

  • Hi, I had a strong dose of chemotherapy before having a stem cell transplant. This was 6 weeks ago but I am still being sick and eating very little. I am getting very anxious that I will never recover as this sickness will not stop. Will it ever stop?