My son (age 33)just had his 14th radiation treatment this morning and on the way home we had to pull over to the side of the road so he could hang his head out the door and vomit several times. All he had this morning before the radiation was chocolate milk, water and gatorade. He just got a prescription for Hydrocodone to manage the throat/neck pain and took the most recent one last evening 6 m with some asta.(btw the darn 's don't always come u on this comuter . . using my son's latop) Called the doctor - talked to the sec/nurse who said to call her back if threw u any more - and so far since 9:15am and it's now 12noon no more episodes. I was trying to find out exactly what he ate last nite so I could tall the doctor but it was making him sick just to think about food. I looked in his refr and saw some speghetti with red sauce on it and I know he's been staying away from anythng acidic but maybe that was it. Has anyone had this tye of reaction? Could it be a reaction to the radiation or the Hydrocodone (he has not had a problem reviously to Hydrocodone) or both or maybe the pasta? I'm still waiting for doctor to call back. It's Friday so I guess it's good he has a coule of days to recover. THanks for any help or ideas you can give me!

Anne,

I was nauseated through out my treatment. It started at the 2 week pt as well. I did have chemo too, but the radiation sickness made me nauseated too. After that the thick mucous made me vomit. I didn't do too good a job managing my nausea early on, but once I got a Rx for Zofran ODT(dissolves under the tongue)and used it everyday things got better. Sometimes I would take it orally, but most of the time I took it through my PEG.

Thank you so much, Tim. It's so good to know there is something that may help. I'll tell my son about the Zofran and we have a sheet the doctor gave us at the beginning of radiation explaining about the mucous and I'll remind him of this. He's sleeping now and hasn't vomited anymore since the ride home. Thanks again - I don't know what I would do without you and all the good people at this site.

Anne-marie,
you didn't mention whether he was having chemo or not - that could definitely cause nausea issues. Without chemo though, it seems a little early for radiation sickness. Many of us were sick a lot, especially towards the end and post Tx. It comes with the territory. I honestly can't imagine that chocolate milk and gatorade would combine well. The mucositus can cause nausea but without chemo that won't be as severe. You can easily have nausea just from anxiety alone. The Vicodin may play a role as well. I would avoid anything acidic at this point. Ask the doctor about antiacids.

Anne-Marie,

There are many things that can cause your son's nausea, including, but not limited to: Chemo, radiation, pain pills, his mind, dehydration, constipation, malnutrition, mucositus, motion sickness, dizziness, even some nausea meds list nausea as a contraindication !

Believe me, the deck is stacked against us on the nausea front. I speak from unfortunate experiences. LOL

Nausea was so out of control for me that I think my mind was as much responsible as anything else in the latter stages of my Tx.

To Anne-Marie from "the nurse from Hell" Someone needs to keep track of everything that goes into his stomach and comes out the other end at all times [yuk] so the info can be relayed to a nurse or Doc [as the case may be]. Who is keeping track of what your son is eating, drinking,pain meds., etc? This is really important information when or if you need to address a certain problem or reaction. Get a charting system going and stick to it religiously. It is so helpful to everyone concerned. Amy

Thanks so much for the input! My son has not had any more episodes of vomiting since the one on last Friday and yesterday and today he was definitely better, emotionally, too. He is not on Chemo, just radiation 14 completed of 35. He takes amifostine shots to counterract the radiation and some anti-nausea meds, too. He is not too keen on my keeping records of his meds, foods and it is so hard to be the "Mom from Hell". At one point about a week ago, I lost it! And the tears came when I told him he had to care about his own recovery and keep records. And then I felt so badly and so guilty because he is also dealing with depression and it's been rough on him. It is definitly a roller-coaster ride and right now it's up. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Dear "Mom from Hell" :rolleyes: Please quit pandering to his depression and throw your guilt in the trash. Having been at this for almost 2 years of constant medical challanges, I am here to tell you that GOOD day to day charting of vitals[blood pressure, temp, meds, bowel movements,food and liquid intake etc.] will make everyone's life easier if you son gets an infection or gets into trouble otherwise. His Docs need this info. to help him through a "situation". You are right-it is a roller-coaster ride, but I can assure you that the better informed you are, the easier it will be to get quick help if you need it. The Amisfostine is hard for lots of people to tolerate, and radiation tx. is no picnic. Since he has so many more ato go, you need to lay the law down about recording daily and explain to him that it is part of his treatment. When John got his back up with me, early in the treatment, I just said "Fine, we will hire a Home Health Care Nurse to come in and tend to you" if you don't want me to do it. Then I drew a picture of a gorilla in a Nurse's cap and a Job Wanted sign over her head. I haven't had too much resistance since. In fact- he now keeps a very good chart himself. Stay tough, and I know that is hard. Amy

Anne-Marie,

Don't listen to your son about how to do YOUR JOB. I would even lie to my wife to try to get her to leave me alone and, at first, I pulled the wool over her eyes BUT it made it worse on me. I soon learned that she needed to do her job and it was a very important job.

Anne Marie,

David is right,there were many days that my wife had to force/remind me to eat, drink, and take my meds. I wouldn't have made it through all my treatments with out her. I would of got too sick and they would have stopped the treatment.

Looking back I'm very thankful she did what she did.

Amy -
Perhaps the gorilla in a nurse's cap should be the cover picture for the chapter on caregivers in the Oral Cancer book Tom and Charlotte are preparing? JaneP

Oh, how I really needed these new posts! We went to his radiation today and the doctor said he only has to have 30 treatments total and since today was #15, he is half way thru the Tx! My son did not seem to be as overjoyed as I was about this. He was really tired, feeling down but I'll be back at his house this afternoon after he naps, and am going to put on my best "Mom from Hell" hat. I love the idea of a gorilla in a nurse's cap! Thanks, everybody!

Anne-Marie,

When I first read your post about nausea, I didn're realize your son was taking Amifostine. It's amazing he has gotten halfway through his treatments with as little vomiting as he has given that he's taking Amifostine. It made me vomit almost every single day I took it. Just be sure to give him lots of fluids so he doesn't get dehydrated. It also helps flush the amifostine out afterwards.

As for being the "mom from hell", he's lucky he's got you. All I had was my husband who didn't work all that hard to encourage me to keep records, or keep down calories,it was me alone that kept up with that pretty much!

Nelie

Nelie -
It really helped to know about your experience with Amifostine. After todays shot plus radiation, plus an appointment with psychologist for mental evaluation as part of his appication for disability benefits, we came home (his house) and he vomited again, but it was just once and I stayed until it seemed there would be no more and he was able to fall asleep. He's also more willing to keep records, especially after I told him what I learned here and I printed out comments from the "getting through it project" on record keeping. I am so grateful to everyone.

The "Mom from Hell" now has a "twinkling halo cap"--good for you Anne-Marie!! Amy

Dear Anne Marie, As CG to my 41 year old daughter with SCC lateral tongue (surgery 10/16, mod rad neck dissection, 1 positive lymph) and had her 10th IMRT treatment today I can completely empathize. She has Amaphostine before ea tx and gets horribly nauseated, in fact she's still throwing up at 6pm tonight. She's on Kytril, Ativan, Marinol & she still vomits in the car on the way home plus throughout the day. They're going to change her to Anzemet (from Kytril) on Monday along with the other 2 meds plus one of those seasick patches that you put behind the ear when you go on a cruise. If this last cocktail doesn't work the med oncologist is considering discontinuing the amaphostine altogether due to the strain on her overall health. As others on this board had noted amaphostine is REALLY hard to deal with because of the severe nausea and only a selected few make it through the entire regimine. My daughter is now entering the mouth pain stage (all her taste is gone) and she can barely swallow so this miserable vomiting and nausea all day long is a drug side effect she may no longer be able to tolerate. By the way, my daughter also has thrown a few tissy fits at me, but I chalk it up to how awful she's feeling & try not to take it personally (it's hard!). And I keep meticulous notes as to what goes in and what comes out - the doctors thank me for it! Hang in there = I'm right there with you! Bonnie "Worried Mom"

Oh Bonnie - I do hope that your daughter's new "cocktail" gives her some relief. When my son first started the IMRT he was on compazine for nausea to which he had a reaction which made his tongue go into spasms and he was taken to the emergency room. THey gave him two shots of benadryl and they said he could take benadryl for that type of reaction. Now, he's on trymethobenzamide for nausea. I'll certainly keep in mind the other meds you mentioned in case he has to switch and the seasick patch is something I had not thought of. My son also has the mouth pain and lost his sense of taste and the things he can eat change all the time. I've learned to only buy small quantities of what he asks for because chances are, he won't want it the next day. I'll be thinking about you and hoping your daughter gets some relief. Thanks so much for your input. It really helps.

Hi Anne-Marie:
I was on Amofostine throughout my treatment (7 weeks) as well. They started the Amofostine in week 2, I was going through chemo at the same time and handled it all until I hit week 6.
I think the things that helped the most with keeping that dreaded nausea at bay was the Zofran and staying well hydrated.(completely agree with Stoj & Nelie) Even when the nausea started, it was only a couple times immediately following treatment and then I could doze off, feeling better, (well, at least no nausea) when I would get up.
David & Stoj made me laugh about the "little white lies" to my wife about my intake. She would lay into me good about eating and taking fluids into the tube. Make him keep those records but remember, "the scales don't lie".
BE THAT MOM FROM HELL/GORILLA....LOL

Thanks, Steve - We are going to ask about the Zofran when he goes back on Monday to resume the Rad treatments and Amosfostine. Doctors gave him a break for the Thanksgiving weekend and yesterday he was feeling better. He's been eating ok too, so I am encouraged, but I'm getting psyched up for whatever happens next week and confident that we'll be able to handle whatever comes our way. Having this OCF site to come to has really made a difference.