Hi everyone, ..

After radiation treatments my mom usually always throws up ..shes taking medications to minimize nausea and so on ..but she still does .. ..doctors have changed the meds a second time and still there has been no change ..

anybody have a solution to minimize vomiting?

thank you,

H

H: Buzz' radiation oncologist prescribed Compazine (sp?) which kept n&v at bay during his 28 IMRT sessions.

Lois & Buzz in NC

H-
I threw up a lot and compazine didn't work, but Zofran(generic name ondansetron) did. It is much stronger.
Is she throwing up literally right after the radiation? For me the smell of the machine and the stuff in my mouth made me feel sick. If that's the case, she could try putting an icy cold cloth on her forehead, or sipping icewater, smelling something minty, etc. If she's going to a place where they do chemotherapy too they most likely have an ice machine somewhere in the building, or there's always the cafeteria.
All of those "comfort measure" types of things can help.
Also, if she is dehydrated at all, that can cause nausea too.
Good luck
Melissa

Hi Hon- UGH so awful. The radiation made me sick because of all of the mucuous I had - I would swallow that and i made me so sick to my stomach. Do you think that might be the problem? The ani nausea stuff didn't help me either. Mucinex and just plain old cold medicine dried me up a bit and really helped. Also accupuncture really helped lots.

Hope your mom feels better- must be tough on ya xo miss kate

When I had radiation the nurses presented me with a bucket to keep in my car. I had to drive about 20 miles over bumpy roads and would have to pull over or throw up in the driveway. Often I never made it out of the center. Once I stopped the drug (thankfully forgot the name, but it's in my signature) that was to protect my saliva glands, it got better. I was on 4 anti-nausea meds, but I think not drinking enough while on that drug was the problem. I still continued to feel sick as soon as I entered the cancer center. It had a hospital smell that made me want to gag. Putting a dab of peppermint oil on my wrist to smell seemed to help. I also would vomit when I drank specific drinks that I consumed a lot of early in my treatment. Now when I go to the cancer center, I take a deep breath as a reminder of how far I have come. I also can drink those drinks that triggered nausea. The good news is, only 1/3 of my saliva was lost and I can manage fine without it.

Acupressure seemed to help my son a little bit. There is an explanation of it here:
http://adam.about.com/encyclopedia/Nausea-acupressure.htm

My son's "graduation gift" from the RO nurses at his last TX was a throw up bucket and I wish he had gotten it at the start. You can stick some smiley faces on it and put paper towels in the bottom. (easier to clean up). Don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner . . I guess I was afraid he would look at the bucket and it would trigger the nausea. I used to have towels and tissues in the car and lots of water and gatorade for him.

Hi Herson, I don't think there was a corner of the radiation medicine facility where I didn't vomit during treatment. It's hard. Nothing worked for me--not even Zofran although it helped. There were multiple factors related to it. Fist, the chemo. Second, the phlegm getting caught in my throat, and third (and the biggest factor) I was taking amifostine to try to save some of my salivary function. is your mom taking that? That alone made me incredibly violently ill on most days.

I love the suggestion of a bucket with smiley faces. A friend of mine who is a graphic artist made me little plastic barf bags that were decoratd with words like "UhOh" and "Barfing the Cancer Away". They seemed too good to use though--I still have some of the unused ones!

Try to remind your mom that this too shall pass. And do work to get her medicatiojn that helps.

Nelie

My nausea was tied in to the weekly chemo regimen.... after exactly 5 days it started for one morning. I was very (very) lucky and never actually puked in the mask, although it was close until I figured that I only need to take something on day 5. Also, this did not happen with carboplatin...
Note: I did not have amifostine.

Best

Markus

I guess I was just lucky too. I never vomited during treatment although I frequently worried about it (choking on my own vomit while in the mask ;-). I had a 60 mile rt and never vomited in the car either - and San Francisco is noted for it's poorly maintained streets.

I think that the anti-anxiety meds helped a lot. Often times I slept through treatment, especially after the mask loosened up (or I shrunk).

I did vomit a LOT however, especially in mid-late and post Tx and especially in conjunction with the ct. I also had nausea problems linked to the stringy mucous and also constipation. It was just always at home, thank God.

The dogs sensed what was about to happen and always cleared a path for me to the bathroom. It's amazing how quickly they learn stuff.

When I went through radiation. The last few weeks I either threw up before, during or after. But once I did I was ok. So I would just hope to throw up before so I could just get it done with. Sometimes I could just calm my self down and be ok. I was always my fear of throwing up with the mask on.