Lessening the Side Effects of Chemotherapy

I brought my list of side effects when I saw the doctor the week after my first infusion on September 22. That was very helpful as now we had a better idea of what my particular side effects looked like. For example, where some get diarrhea, I was constipated, so needed different treatment. It took a while to figure things out, but this is what worked for me - 

Chemo belly (bloated and gassy) - 

• Every morning with my supplements - the maximum amount of stool softeners
• With each meal - TUMS (I used Equate brand Antacid Chews) and Gas-X (I used Equate brand Gas Relief)

Heartburn / GERD - 

• With lunch and after dinner / before bedtime - Acid Controller

Constipation - 

• Every morning - MiraLax (I used Equate brand ClearLax) in 6-8 ounces of pineapple juice as it tastes better than putting it in water, and pineapple juice is also helpful for constipation
• Drink as much water as my body could handle. This also helps flush the chemo drugs out of your system more quickly so you fell better.
• Because water seemed to go straight through me, so the doctor suggested I drink electrolytes as well as water. One brand she suggested was Liquid IV. I drank two per day until I felt I could get by with only one and drink more water. The electrolytes contain a lot of sodium, so I did not want to drink more than I had to. 
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Mouth sores - 

• CHEW LOTS OF ICE DURING THE INFUSION!!! This is VERY helpful!
• Use children’s toothpaste.
• Over the counter mouth rinse for oncology patients
• Mouth Rinse (mix all until dissolved; make a new batch daily)
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pint (2 cups) warm water

Bone pain from the Neulasta injection - 

• Claritin brand allergy medication - one pill in the morning and one in the afternoon; start the day before the injection and take for 3-5 days. I took them the five days to make sure. My doctor let me take another OTC allergy medication as well. If prescribed you should ask your doctor.

Sensitive scalp / hair loss - 

• There is not much you can do about this unfortunately. Some use an ice cap to prevent some of the hair loss, but it seems it does not prevent it all, and the scalp will still hurt and be sensitive. The only thing that helped my painful scalp and neck was shaving off the hair. 
• DO NOT shave your hair too close to the skin. Nicking the scalp can cause infections, plus you can get ingrown hair that can also cause infections. Infections can be very bad when you are going through chemo.

Nosebleed - 

• Afrin (oxymetazoline) helps stop nosebleeds. Mine never got very bad, so I don’t know how well it works if there is major bleeding, but it helped mine.

Neuropathy (numbness or pain in your hands and feet) - 

• Put ice on your feet and hands during the infusion. My infusion center provided the ice, but I understand not all facilities do so. You can purchase cold gloves and socks online if needed. You should ask before your first infusion if you need to bring your own so that you are prepared. The icing helped me.

Lightheadedness -

• For me, this was usually due to not consuming enough protein, so I kept protein bars in the pantry and my purse as this was the easiest way to get the protein I needed. My favorite is Clif’s Builders Protein. It contains 20 grams protein, the most I found in any protein bar, and it tastes okay.

Consuming enough food / calories (Many foods don’t taste good or you just know they will not go down well.) -

• I am fortunate that my husband made most meals and cleaned the kitchen, but I never knew what my body would be able to handle on any given day, so the week prior to the infusions I made a couple of different types of soup to make meals easier. 
• I found a brilliant product that we still use. It is made to freeze one cup cubes. I freeze them and then move them to ziplock bags. We keep several different kinds of soup in our freezer that we can take out whenever we need.

Nausea - see the “Week After First Chemo Infusion” post.