Nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy

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Nausea after chemotherapy

After chemotherapy, most patients experience nausea - a constant or periodic painful sensation that is localized in the epigastric region and mouth area. At the same time, such symptoms are accompanied by weakness, sweating, "fainting", strong salivation, chills and pale skin. Sometimes nausea occurs as a reaction to certain smells, for example, the aroma of cooking food.

The cause of nausea after chemotherapy is the effect of drugs on the vomiting center located in the brain. Also, the causes of nausea include the release of toxins by the tumor, which can affect the above-mentioned vomiting center.

Specialists prescribe medications to relieve nausea symptoms after treatment. They will be discussed below in the section on vomiting after chemotherapy.

To avoid nausea, it is necessary to minimize the consumption of fatty, fried and spicy foods, as well as salty and sweet foods. Food should be consumed frequently and in small portions, five to six times a day.

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Treatment for nausea after chemotherapy

A good remedy for nausea after chemotherapy is drinking water. If you can't drink a whole glass, you need to drink water in small sips, but often.

If you experience constant nausea, it is good to include the following foods and drinks in your diet:

• clear broths from vegetables and chicken,
• boiled and baked skinless chicken,
• oatmeal, semolina porridge, rice flakes and white rice,
• boiled potatoes,
• noodles and pasta,
• crackers and dry biscuits,
• bananas,
• canned fruits, which include peaches and pears, as well as applesauce,
• natural yoghurts,
• jelly,
• cranberry and grape juices,
• fruit ice and sherbet,
• carbonated water.

Vomiting after chemotherapy

Vomiting after chemotherapy is an act of reflex nature, which leads to a sharp emptying of the contents of the stomach, and sometimes the intestines, in the opposite direction, through the mouth. Sometimes vomiting can also occur through the nose.

Vomiting after chemotherapy occurs as a result of the effect of drugs on the vomiting center located in the brain. Vomiting can also be observed as a consequence of the tumor producing toxins that affect the above-mentioned vomiting center.

The vomiting center is a zone in the brain that is responsible for the occurrence of nausea and vomiting. The cells of this center react to the presence of toxins, chemical drugs and other substances in the body. Such a reaction is expressed in the protective function of the vomiting center to the above-mentioned substances that are dangerous to human life. Therefore, a command is sent from the brain to the digestive system to get rid of such agents by starting the mechanism of ejection of these substances outward, if these agents are present in the stomach or intestines.

During the first day after the end of the chemotherapy course, patients experience symptoms of acute vomiting. After the end of the first day, patients who have undergone treatment experience symptoms of delayed vomiting.

Chemotherapy drugs have a certain property called emetogenicity, i.e. "nausea-inducing". This property is expressed in the ability of the drug to provoke nausea and vomiting. Chemotherapy drugs, according to the level of emetogenicity, are divided into drugs with low, medium and high levels.

Most often, vomiting after chemotherapy occurs in patients of the following groups:

1. In patients who have not received antiemetic treatment.
2. In female patients.
3. In young patients.
4. In patients who suffer from excessive alcohol consumption.

Treatment for vomiting after chemotherapy

There are several categories of medications that help relieve symptoms of nausea and vomiting. These medications have varying degrees of effectiveness.

1. Medicines of the phenothiazine group are prochlorperazine and ethylperazine.
2. Butyrphenone group drugs – haloperidol and droperidol.
3. Benzodiazepine drugs – lorazepam.
4. Medicines of the cannabinoid group - dronabinol and marinol.
5. The group of corticosteroids is dexamethasone and methylprednisolone.
6. Drugs of the metocloproamide group - Reglan.
7. The group of serotonin receptor antagonists is ondansetron, granisetron, kytril, tropisetron, novoban, palosetron.
8. The group of neurokinin receptor antagonists includes emend and aprepitant.

To help relieve the symptoms of nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy, follow these guidelines:

1. Before the start of a chemotherapy session, you should eat and drink little.
2. During the course of treatment, food is consumed in small portions, but often.
3. Highly salty and spicy foods are excluded from the patient’s diet.
4. Food should be at a moderate temperature - not hot.
5. Chilled food helps reduce nausea symptoms. You can eat cold meat, cottage cheese and fruit, as well as sour-tasting foods - frozen lemon slices, cranberries, plum slices.
6. Fried, fatty and sweet foods are excluded.
7. You need to eat food slowly, chewing thoroughly and in small quantities.
8. Relatives should be asked to prepare food for the patient, since the smells of cooking food can provoke a vomiting reaction.
9. Avoid places with strong odors, especially food being cooked, smoke from tobacco products, perfumes, and household chemicals.
10. The presence of foreign objects in the mouth provokes vomiting symptoms. Dentures should be removed during treatment.
11. The room in which the patient is located after chemotherapy should be well ventilated, with fresh and cool air.

Heartburn after chemotherapy

After undergoing chemotherapy sessions and the entire course of treatment, many patients experience symptoms of heartburn. Heartburn is a burning sensation or discomfort behind the breastbone, starting from the projection of the stomach and spreading up to the neck.

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Treatment for Heartburn After Chemotherapy

Antacid medications are good at helping to cope with heartburn: Maalox, Alka-Seltzer, Almagel, Phosphalugel, Vikalin, and so on.

Between chemotherapy courses, you need to take the drug Laseprolol for three weeks. Instead, you can use drugs - quiatel, ranitidine, omeprazole.

From folk remedies you need to use jelly, which can be drunk in large quantities. It is also good to drink oat broth, which can be taken two liters per day.

Drinking low-fat ten percent milk cream also helps – during an attack of heartburn, take one or two sips. Attacks are also well relieved by two or three spoons of fresh potato juice. A long course of treatment with potato juice consists of drinking a quarter of a glass of the drink three to four times a day fifteen to twenty minutes before meals. In this case, treatment should be done for two to three weeks.

Traditional medicine also suggests using buckwheat to eliminate heartburn. Buckwheat is fried in a dry frying pan until it turns dark brown, then ground into powder. Take one to two grams three to four times a day.

Long-term manifestations of heartburn are well relieved by powder of calamus rhizomes. One third of a teaspoon of powder is washed down with half a glass of water. Take three times a day for one month.

Flaxseed infusion also helps with heartburn. It is prepared as follows: two tablespoons of seeds are poured with half a glass of boiling water. After which the infusion is left in a thermos for two hours and filtered. The drink should be taken warm. Take half a glass three times a day (including before going to bed).

It is good to use decoctions and infusions of medicinal herbs:

1. Take twenty grams of plantain leaves, twenty grams of St. John's wort, twenty grams of marsh cudweed, mix everything thoroughly. Pour one tablespoon of the mixture with a glass of boiling water, leave for half an hour. Take half a glass three to four times a day.
2. Take twenty grams of yarrow, twenty grams of St. John's wort, and twenty grams of marsh cudweed. Three tablespoons of the mixture are poured with one glass of boiling water and left to cool. After which the infusion is filtered and taken half a glass four to five times a day.
3. Take plantain leaves, crushed marshmallow root, oregano, St. John's wort, and caraway seeds in equal quantities. One tablespoon of the mixture is poured into one glass of water and brought to a boil over low heat, then boiled for fifteen minutes. The decoction is taken two tablespoons four times a day fifteen minutes before meals. It is used for decreased gastric secretion.
4. Take ten grams of crushed licorice root and six grams of crushed orange peel. Pour the mixture into two glasses of water and evaporate until half of the liquid disappears over low heat. Then cool to a warm temperature, and add sixty grams of honey to the drink. Take the decoction three times a day ten to fifteen minutes before eating. Drink the drink for a month. The decoction is useful for increased stomach acidity.

Hiccups after chemotherapy

Hiccups after chemotherapy are an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm muscle. Usually, hiccups last for several minutes and can be easily eliminated. But it happens that hiccups do not stop for two or three hours, and here we can already say that the patient is bothered by chronic hiccups (or protracted). In some cases, hiccups do not stop for a month or more, then this phenomenon is called an incessant attack.

Thirty percent of patients experience persistent hiccups after chemotherapy. Men complain of this symptom more often than women. Hiccups after chemotherapy can last so long that it prevents the patient from eating and talking.

One of the causes of chronic hiccups after chemotherapy is damage to the nerve fibers of the peripheral nervous system. Hiccups can be caused by electrical impulses that travel along the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain stem to the abdominal cavity. The functions of this nerve include control of heart activity, gastric juice levels, bowel function, throat muscles, and other body functions.

Sometimes the cause of chronic hiccups is considered to be constant irritation of the thoracoabdominal nerve, which controls the contractile function of the diaphragm, as well as the respiratory rhythm.

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Bitterness in the mouth after chemotherapy

Some patients experience a bitter taste in the mouth after a course of chemotherapy. These sensations indicate a malfunction of the liver, which has been damaged by the toxic effects of the drugs. In addition to bitterness, the patient will also experience pain in the right hypochondrium.

In case of liver damage, specialists prescribe appropriate treatment, which was discussed in the section on the condition of the liver after chemotherapy.

Bitterness in the mouth after chemotherapy also indicates a malfunction of the gallbladder. Such taste sensations in the mouth are associated with the release of bile into the esophagus. In this case, it is necessary to establish the condition of the bile ducts by conducting an examination. After which the specialist can prescribe the use of choleretic drugs.

Bitterness in the mouth is often associated with the occurrence of inflammatory processes in the digestive organs. To summarize all possible cases of bitterness in the mouth, we will provide a list of diseases in which this phenomenon can be observed:

• Dyskinesia of the biliary tract.
• Cholecystitis is an inflammation of the gallbladder.
• Pancreatitis is an inflammatory process in the pancreas.
• Gastritis is an inflammatory and degenerative process that occurs in the mucous membrane of the stomach.
• Liver failure.

It should be remembered that these diseases can arise (or worsen) after the introduction of chemotherapy drugs into the patient’s body, which have a strong toxic and destructive effect on internal organs.

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Treatment of bitterness in the mouth after chemotherapy

If there are problems with digestion or liver function, when there is bitterness in the mouth, you can try to normalize the patient's condition with the help of traditional medicine:

• You need to grind flaxseed and boil jelly from it. After that, take a glass of the drink in the morning and evening.
• Take ten grams of calendula and brew it in a glass of boiling water, let it sit for half an hour, strain it and drink it. You need to drink four of these glasses a day.
• You can grate horseradish and make a mixture of one part horseradish and ten parts milk. After that, the whole mass is slightly warmed up, then removed from the heat, left to infuse for fifteen minutes and filtered. The healing drink is taken one sip five or six times a day for three days.
• Chamomile has a good anti-inflammatory effect. Take one tablespoon of dried flowers and brew in a glass of boiling water. Then let the drink steep for an hour and drink half a glass three to four times a day twenty minutes before meals warm.