Like Christine, my Alex had dramas with the speed of administration with canned "food". In an attempt to get it over and done with he would pump 4 or 5 syringefuls of "goop" into his PEG in about 2 minutes. This was the equivalent of a full meal and it came as no suprise when he complained of feeling sick and bloated AND suffered from reflux. It made him avoid the process which caused serious weight loss. We now use a pump and get 3 meals in overnight over about 8 hours. The "goop" we use is called Nutrison concentrated and here in Australia costs us about $600 a month as it is not on insurance. Alex has even speeded that up to 6 hours but that is sometimes too quick when he is feeling unwell from treatment.

The other piece of advice that ChristineB gave us at the beginning was to go with products recommended by the hospital (?prescribed). I made the mistake of trying body building supplements and liquid breakfast preparations which just did not have enough of anything in them. We learned the hard way and ended up with Alex in hospital weighing 48kg (105lbs). At 6'1" this was not pretty and frightened me more than the cancer.

We also learned that skinny and going through treatment is way worse than going through at a decent weight with good hydration. We finally got his weight up to 60kgs (135lbs) which is still not great but boy it made a difference to his ability to tolerate treatment. Alex is now the star patient.

You sound like you know all this and are working hard to keep your weight up which is great but so difficult if it is no fun for you let alone making you sick. Have you considered why it is the evening feeds? What are you doing or what is happening that is different to your other feeds? Maybe too late at night or you sit differently causing some sort of constriction? Do you lie on the lounge at night allowing undigested goop to travel north instead of south? An upright position might help or feed earlier in the evening? Or feed in smaller increments? Or discuss with your nutritionist the use of an overnight pump? Is there an evening medicine that you are taking that may have nausea or stomach upset as a side effect? Chantix? Nicotine patches? Pain killers? Or a medicine that you should be taking on an empty stomach or one that should be taken with food?

I would also reconsider the naturopath's advice. Not enough acid for digestion? Not possible (or relevant). Your stomach produces enough hydrochloric acid to degrease a small garage (attempt at humour here - I have no idea how much hydrochloric acid is required to degrease a garage :))! Also be careful with antacids that you buy yourself - they can interfere with the actions of other drugs you might be taking. My Alex was given something for reflux (and is NOT an antacid)which was prescribed by his oncologist which has been very effective.


Karen
Love of Life to Alex T4N2M0 SCC Tonsil, BOT, R lymph nodes
Dx March 2010 51yrs. Unresectable. HPV+ve
Tx Chemo x 3+1 cycles(cisplatin,docetaxel,5FU)- complete May 31
Chemoradiation (IMRTx35 + weekly cisplatin)
Finish Aug 27
Return to work 2 years on
3 years out Aug 27 2013 NED smile
Still underweight