Cancer Support and Caregivers Who Are Trail Blazers!

[Heavenleahangel]

Just stopping in to give everyone an update on my progress. I have been sick to my stomach and feeling really "bloated" all week. I know now why they say chemo causes fatigue but I dont understand how they expect you to exercise to beat the fatigue. The people who tell you that obviously have never went through this stuff. I just cant muster the energy to walk up my stairs, let alone exercise. Mine is partly from the dehydration, Im sure.
I have tried to shield Jacob from as much of this as I can, but he is so smart and so clingy to me, I cant hide my condition. It really makes me sad...
Thanks again everyone for the private and yahoo messages wishing me well. It really brightens my day when I log in and see that someone cares.

[JustJo]

Originally Posted by Heavenleahangel

Just stopping in to give everyone an update on my progress. I have been sick to my stomach and feeling really "bloated" all week. I know now why they say chemo causes fatigue but I dont understand how they expect you to exercise to beat the fatigue. The people who tell you that obviously have never went through this stuff. I just cant muster the energy to walk up my stairs, let alone exercise. Mine is partly from the dehydration, Im sure.
I have tried to shield Jacob from as much of this as I can, but he is so smart and so clingy to me, I cant hide my condition. It really makes me sad...
Thanks again everyone for the private and yahoo messages wishing me well. It really brightens my day when I log in and see that someone cares.

Hi Heavenlea,

Sorry you're feeling so bad. My mom struggles with dehydration and it was a major issue. We found that adding Pedialyte did her a world of good. Right now we use the unflavored variety and mix it half and half with juice a couple times a day. It's worth a try.

[Heavenleahangel]

Originally Posted by JustJo

Hi Heavenlea,

Sorry you're feeling so bad. My mom struggles with dehydration and it was a major issue. We found that adding Pedialyte did her a world of good. Right now we use the unflavored variety and mix it half and half with juice a couple times a day. It's worth a try.

Thanks for the suggestion. I naively started guzzling Chrystal Lite, but the dr told me any kind of beverages that have "lite" in the name will just run right through me and NOT to drink them. Who knew, right? I have started eating ice chips, too. It's all water..lol, and popsickles. I hope your Mom feels better soon! You are very special for caring for her. Wish I could say the same about my family.

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Heavenleahangel

Just stopping in to give everyone an update on my progress. I have been sick to my stomach and feeling really "bloated" all week. I know now why they say chemo causes fatigue but I dont understand how they expect you to exercise to beat the fatigue. The people who tell you that obviously have never went through this stuff. I just cant muster the energy to walk up my stairs, let alone exercise. Mine is partly from the dehydration, Im sure.
I have tried to shield Jacob from as much of this as I can, but he is so smart and so clingy to me, I cant hide my condition. It really makes me sad...
Thanks again everyone for the private and yahoo messages wishing me well. It really brightens my day when I log in and see that someone cares.

Heavenleaangel,

There have been a number of studies done that have shown that even the smallest amount of exercise helps with fatigue during chemo. Even just taking a 5-10 minute, slow walk will make a difference. Built up from there.

Ok, so I didn't follow that advice consistently myself during chemo, but I thought I would let you know what I have read in more than one place.

Don't forget that Gatorade is great for dehydration. It has the electrolytes to get you back into balance (you lose this when you are dehydrated). If you start to lose weight and have a hard time not getting it under control, choose the Pedialyte, for certain. Or do Gatorade for dehydration and protein shakes for calories/health.

Also, drinking a lot of water is important after chemo. It flushes the chemo out of your system. You will feel less shitty the sooner you get that stuff out.

[julieisafemme]

Pedialyte pops are good too. Especially if the chemotherapy is causing mouth sores. My Mom is also rinsing with baking soda twice a day and that has helped the mouth sores this time around.

[clay]

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

Pedialyte pops are good too. Especially if the chemotherapy is causing mouth sores. My Mom is also rinsing with baking soda twice a day and that has helped the mouth sores this time around.

hey Julieisa...Walgreen's carries a whole product line of BioTene products geared to help with these issues...dry mouth anyway.....and you can get a prescription for a therapeutic mouthwash from your oncologist...jus' sayin'

[julieisafemme]

Originally Posted by claybaby

hey Julieisa...Walgreen's carries a whole product line of BioTene products geared to help with these issues...dry mouth anyway.....and you can get a prescription for a therapeutic mouthwash from your oncologist...jus' sayin'

Yes my Mom has the prescription but she has not filled it yet. Magic Mouthwash I think it is called. She likes popsicles so that works for her. I don't know about the BioTene. I will have to get that for her. She has a bridge that she takes out at night and that was really irritating her mouth. She left it in at night and that helped but that also annoyed her! So now she is back to taking it out again. Thanks for the info Clay and I hope you are feeling well.

[clay]

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

Yes my Mom has the prescription but she has not filled it yet. Magic Mouthwash I think it is called. She likes popsicles so that works for her. I don't know about the BioTene. I will have to get that for her. She has a bridge that she takes out at night and that was really irritating her mouth. She left it in at night and that helped but that also annoyed her! So now she is back to taking it out again. Thanks for the info Clay and I hope you are feeling well.

You are so very welcome, Julieis...and yes, it IS called Magic Mouthwash...I am fine....thanks for asking...give mom a hug...have a great weekend...Clay

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

Yes my Mom has the prescription but she has not filled it yet. Magic Mouthwash I think it is called. She likes popsicles so that works for her. I don't know about the BioTene. I will have to get that for her. She has a bridge that she takes out at night and that was really irritating her mouth. She left it in at night and that helped but that also annoyed her! So now she is back to taking it out again. Thanks for the info Clay and I hope you are feeling well.

Julie, just to let you know "Magic Mouthwash" comes in cherry and regular. The pharmacist actually mixes up the product right there. My pharmacist said cherry is the automatic choice, so she had to specifically order the plain for me. I did not want the cherry b/c the way I used the mouth wash was to take a mouthful of it and "hold it" over the sore in my mouth until it was numbed a few minutes before I ate. It only somewhat worked, but it was a way I could eat. I didn't want the cherry flavor b/c it effected the taste of my food. The product really only worked for about 10 minutes.

My chemo was one week on, one week off. The week off was when I had the mouth sores, so I hardly ate. The week on, I didn't have mouth sores, so I ate a lot, in order to bring my weight back up. I did this for 6 months. I actually had to miss work sometimes b/c it would be extremely painful to even talk (I meet with people all day = a lot of talking!).

I was told the baking soda rinse would not help after the mouth sores appeared, but was supposed to keep them from occurring (?). I am glad it helps your mom though, Julie.

Magic mouthwash is supposed to soothe, but unfortunately, not eradicate the mouth sores. My oncologist told me there was nothing else out there and then I saw in "cure" magazine an advertised new product. I suggested to my oncologist that they request free samples from the company, and they did. By the time they got it in, I had finished my last chemo and the mouth sores had gone away. Subsequently, I couldn't be their "guinea pig" for the product as they had hoped. lol I'm sorry that I don't remember the name of the product and it was too new to get up on google. It may be there now (this would have been 9 months ago).

Ok, so I just remembered they gave me a sample of a different product that was also new out. It burned my mouth. They saw the ingredients included alcohol, so they literally tossed it into the trash (alcohol was the reason for the burning, so it is pretty stupid they put it in there).

It is so funny how memories continue to come back here and there about my time in the hospital and memories about chemo. It is weird, as you would think I would remember it all by now.

For all of you caregivers and for people currently fighting cancer, look into getting Cure magazine (tommi put a link in this thread a ways back). It is an interesting and useful read and is free to the two above named groups.

Take care, everyone!