Hi All,

From the start of my treatment I was told by a few nurses that with all the anti-nauasea medications availible today, there is really no reason anyone has to suffer from nausea. In my case nausea has been my biggest problem and continues to be the main factor keeping me from returning to a normal life. From the start, my MO has prescribed numerous nausea meds to try and control this and nothing seemed to work. He even prescribe OLANZAPINE (generic for Zyprexa) which is a anti psychotic drug that has one side effect of calming nausea. (I'm am not psychotic) He said try it, it might help. Even that doesnt seem to work. My question is, should I ask my MO to continue to try to find a medication that works? I think I've tried about five or so, and I dont know how many are availible, but if I could find something to help with this nausea, I would be a giant step forward in my recovery. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Mike

Do they have an idea what's causing the nausea, instead of just treating the symptoms? Is there something that triggers the nausea like smell, eating, time of day, medications, stress? Mine was due to several reasons..opiod medications, like oxycodene, made me vomit, but when I switched to a Fetynal patch it reduced. Switching pain meds or by tube instead of oral route may help. Taking medications with food helped me, not on an empty stomach, and not too much water at once. Not lying down immediately after drinking or eating. When rising from a prone position, doing it slow, and sitting for a few minutes before standing helped. Spacing my tube feedings, and smaller helped, but keep up on the nutrition intake, and keeping on a feeding schedule. Constipation, which can be from opiods, can cause vomiiting. Vomitying can cause malnutrition, takes lots of energy, so maybe see a nutritionist, and pain management. Hope this helps.

Nausea can be tricky to get a handle on. Once you become nauseous, its next to impossible to get ahead of it. I learned to take my nausea meds on schedule weather I felt like I was sick or not. Compazine gave me restless lag syndrome and made me a nervous wreck, pacing the floor so be careful with that one. Zofran worked for me. Maybe its a question about dosage not being strong enough. There are many drugs out there. Some work on the brain shutting down receptors that sense stomach discomfort while others work on the stomach acid, etc and treat the cause of irritation. I would definitely ask the doc for different meds to help get this in line. Nausea can lead to malnutrition and dehydration. Remember everything that comes out must be put back.

Hi Mike. Nausea seemed to be my husband's biggest problem during and after treatment. After trying different combinations of meds he eventually got it under control. He was on both Zofran and Compazine during treatments and continuing through the 1st month after treatments ended. Good luck and feel better.

Ditto on the first question - what is causing it. Sometimes it's the saliva etc... find out what is triggering it first then deal with treating it.

Are you constipated?
taking meds on an empty stomach?
On too many meds (maybe one is causing this issue - VERY COMMON)
Is it taste?
Is it smell?

they can do the hit or miss techniques in determining what to use but that can take forever and make matters worse.

try and narrow down the times and what is causing it.

hugs

I wish I could say whats causing it. If I had to narrow it down to one thing I would say it is from the yellowish stringy saliva. I actually stopped taking the nausea meds because it seemed that they were actually making me tired and dizzy themselves. And when I looked these drugs up, thats what some of the side effects are. So I tried to stay away from them for a while, especially since it seemed that whenever the saliva was present, I was nausious. Maybe my question should be, how do I get rid of the saliva? This is very frustrating

Mike, I'm really sorry to read what you're going through. I had the same problem, unrelenting, for 3 solid months after treatment. And I didn't have chemo.

For me it was only Compazine that helped. I would expect that you've tried it along with Zofran and the various others.

I never really got a handle on the saliva issue myself and just toughed it out - at about your age and likewise by myself. Know that's not much comfort but I want you to know it can be done. I'm hoping that since you're coming up on three months post-treatment that the symptoms will begin to subside for you too.

I'm sure other people will have better suggestions; sleeping with a slightly elevated head and chest is about the best I can offer!

Hang in there, buddy.

When I read of the side affects of all these drugs I ask myself why I would want to take them all. I think I'm going to opt for not taking anything at all, at least this way if I'm sick I'll know what its not from.

Ask your doc for a suction machine. It can be easily rented for a short time from a medical supply company. Keep rinsing your mouth with 16 oz warm water, 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp salt. Use a water pik on the lowest setting to help break up the stringy mucous and get it out of your mouth. Some members have found relief with seltzer water, it didnt work for me but maybe it will for you.

The thick ropey saliva only sticks around for a couple weeks then it turns into dry mouth which is actually a bothersome relief.

Good luck!!!

Thanks Christine,

Today was actually a good day. After sleeping almost all day yesterday, I woke up feeling much better. I was able to eat some food by mouth and drink ensure by mouth. When I first tried to eat it was such a shock that the taste was nauseating. Today, as I ate I just kept telling myself that this is the new taste of things. All in all, I didn't get sick from eating it. The biggest step forward is that I was able to drink the ensure. If I can do that on a regular basis, I dont see why I would need the PEG tube, but that's anouther subject. As far as the mouth rinse goes, right now I'm using a Rx Product called NuetraSal. Maybe you've heard of it. I'm wondering if I need to use the baking soda and salt on top of that or if thats enough by itself. Anyway, I hope there are more days like today.