Side affect on 3rd chemo session

Thanks for describing your experience. That is quite a ride. You are really strong to deal with it. Please let us know how is it going now. I will pray for you. Wish you the best in life.

Brigitte,

I remember feeling very weak for about 5 days also, and that did increase as the rounds went by. Some of that may be your hemoglobin being low, if it has dropped due to the chemo. My hemoglobin dropped down to 7 and at that point, I could barely walk 15 feet without gasping for air. I went into the ER and was given two units of blood which made me feel much better and the gasping for air stopped. I still didn’t have a ton of energy, because my hemoglobin was still way below normal at 9, but it was enough to alleviate the symptoms.

The drug I was given for nausea that occurred sporadically was LORAZEPAM. 0.5 mg one tablet every 4-6 hours. Most of the time, this covered the time period of the nausea and then toward the end of the chemo, I needed to occasionally use more than one pill a day. But, the nice thing was that I could use the Lorazepam only when needed and it wasn’t in my system all the time. If you’re having nausea more often, then the other med makes more sense, but if you are having breakthrough, you may need to speak to the oncologist to see what else they can offer you. I had another drug that they prescribed, but it was for longer duration nausea, which I never did need.

Julie

Julie T.

Brigitte,

I was on adjuvant chemo of Gem/Cis. The second round, I had two days of feeling nauseated off and on but no vomiting. In the rounds after that, I had an occasional afternoon or evening where the nausea hit….no vomiting….just nausea. But, every morning, like clockwork,, when I was either IN the shower or just out 5 min, I would dry heave for about 3-5 minutes and then it was over. I never did dry heave any other time of the day I remember. (2014)

Something you might do for nausea is get a Queeze Eze (sp) at the drug store. Our Walgreens had it in the travel area along with the sea sickness remedies. It is a small lipstick size tube that you take the cap off of, and put it up to your nose (not IN your nose) and inhale the vapor/smell….I think it may be ginger). I used it a lot when I would have the occasional nausea in the afternoons or evenings. Ginger also in the form of ginger ale drink also helped some….particularly if it was more warmish/room temp. There is ginger tea, but while I bought some, I never used it.

The chemo drugs actually build up in your body. The “worst” of it does taper off after 5-7 days or so, but each chemo session will build up the chemo more in your body, making side effects potentially worse. My dry heaving was every day after round 3, but it never was more than those few minutes early in the day. My oncologist used a bag of steroids via IV before giving me the chemo which stopped the majority of vomiting that might have otherwise occurred.

There are some pills that your doctor can prescribe that are a mild depressant that can also quell those feelings of nausea right away. I used them some days when the nausea was at its worst in the middle of the day and it settled it right down. As a nice extra effect, the pills also help with anxiety, and going through what we do with chemo and having CC, that was a really good side effect to have.

Hope that helps some.

Julie T.