Chemotherapy and dieting?
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rickiimarieee
Posts: 2,212 Member
So my question is for you guys who have cancer or had, or know someone who has had it, should I put on weight for chemotherapy? I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. My doctor isn’t the brightest (getting a new one) anyways I went months ago for enlarged lymph nodes and other symptoms. My doctor did a biopsy (cut them out) but it came back reactive which means something was causing it but that’s the only thing they did for a year, they didn’t do any further testing, nothing. A year later (about two months ago) the ones they removed, swelled up again different nodes but same place. Anyways she sent me in for a pet scan and it showed cancer all through my body. Moral of the story we could of caught it in earlier stages more than a year ago. Well anyways I lost weight over the months. Went from 158 to 124. I’m 5’3 and 124 pounds and she told me I was too small for chemotherapy and my body couldn’t handle it. So I would need to gain weight. It’s not the first crazy thing I’ve ever heard from her and kids go through chemo all of the time. It’s just I’ve worked so hard to lose this weight and it just adds on to the disappointing events that are going on. I was wondering if anyone had to gain or if it was okay to maintain my weight. I’ve been trying to gain but the more I eat the worse I feel, makes me very sick. Any advice?
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Replies
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rickiimarieee wrote: »So my question is for you guys who have cancer or had, or know someone who has had it, should I put on weight for chemotherapy? I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. My doctor isn’t the brightest (getting a new one) anyways I went months ago for enlarged lymph nodes and other symptoms. My doctor did a biopsy (cut them out) but it came back reactive which means something was causing it but that’s the only thing they did for a year, they didn’t do any further testing, nothing. A year later (about two months ago) the ones they removed, swelled up again different nodes but same place. Anyways she sent me in for a pet scan and it showed cancer all through my body. Moral of the story we could of caught it in earlier stages more than a year ago. Well anyways I lost weight over the months. Went from 158 to 124. I’m 5’3 and 124 pounds and she told me I was too small for chemotherapy and my body couldn’t handle it. So I would need to gain weight. It’s not the first crazy thing I’ve ever heard from her and kids go through chemo all of the time. It’s just I’ve worked so hard to lose this weight and it just adds on to the disappointing events that are going on. I was wondering if anyone had to gain or if it was okay to maintain my weight. I’ve been trying to gain but the more I eat the worse I feel, makes me very sick. Any advice?
If you want to gain weight for your battle, you should try to find calorie dense foods you tolerate ( foods where a small portion has many calories).
If nausea is an issue, try bits of candied ginger and "flat ginger". Ginger helps nausea and also stimulates appetite.
Homemade chicken noodle/rice soup is great. I am sorry you are going through this, but will encourage you to keep hopeful and fighting. I hope this helps. Hugs.
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I would do your best to put on some weight. You can worry about losing any excess later. If you end up doing a round of chemo, I have to believe the weight will come off anyway, which is probably one of the reasons your doctor is concerned.
Try eating calorie dense foods like peanut butter, nuts, etc. when you are having a tough time.
A lady I worked with was having chemo, and she was able to obtain medical marijuana, which she told me helped quite a bit with both nausea and her appetite.4 -
I agree, you need to put some weight on - chemo can make you really sick and unable to eat at times, so extra weight would be good to have. Don't worry about gaining. you are bound to lose some during treatment so eat as much as you can before it starts to make you sick.2
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If I were getting ready to fight something like this I would be eating as much calorically dense food as I could tolerate. <hug>7
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Just so we have this straight: You've been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, you're about to undergo chemotherapy, and you're worried about gaining weight and want to know if it's okay to go against your doctor's orders/recommendations?
Very sorry about your diagnosis and best wishes to you for a full recovery, but IMO you need to re-order your priorities right now.
It’s not priority to keep losing weight but food makes me sick I’m just wondering if it’d be good to just try to maintain. I’m at a healthy weight. It’s not that I wanna go against doctors orders but she has proven to be wrong and incompetent on many occasions, I have yet to get in with my other doctor (cancer centers of America) big hospital, long waiting period but I just wanted to know if anyone else has been told that or if it’s safe to maintain weight. I’m currently not going through chemo yet.0 -
If I were getting ready to fight something like this I would be eating as much calorically dense food as I could tolerate. <hug>
The thing is I can’t tolerate much. And with watching my calories it makes me less sick because I watch what I’m putting into my body. I currently am not watching my calories and have been so sick and nauseous this last two weeks that I can barely take care of my one year old without wanting to puke and pass out.2 -
musicfan68 wrote: »I agree, you need to put some weight on - chemo can make you really sick and unable to eat at times, so extra weight would be good to have. Don't worry about gaining. you are bound to lose some during treatment so eat as much as you can before it starts to make you sick.
I’m not worried about putting on weight. I mean it’s not ideal but the thing is not watching my calories has made me so sick because I’ve been trying to eat as much as I can0 -
I would do your best to put on some weight. You can worry about losing any excess later. If you end up doing a round of chemo, I have to believe the weight will come off anyway, which is probably one of the reasons your doctor is concerned.
Try eating calorie dense foods like peanut butter, nuts, etc. when you are having a tough time.
A lady I worked with was having chemo, and she was able to obtain medical marijuana, which she told me helped quite a bit with both nausea and her appetite.
In my state medical marijuana isn’t legal yet unfortunately2 -
rickiimarieee wrote: »So my question is for you guys who have cancer or had, or know someone who has had it, should I put on weight for chemotherapy? I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. My doctor isn’t the brightest (getting a new one) anyways I went months ago for enlarged lymph nodes and other symptoms. My doctor did a biopsy (cut them out) but it came back reactive which means something was causing it but that’s the only thing they did for a year, they didn’t do any further testing, nothing. A year later (about two months ago) the ones they removed, swelled up again different nodes but same place. Anyways she sent me in for a pet scan and it showed cancer all through my body. Moral of the story we could of caught it in earlier stages more than a year ago. Well anyways I lost weight over the months. Went from 158 to 124. I’m 5’3 and 124 pounds and she told me I was too small for chemotherapy and my body couldn’t handle it. So I would need to gain weight. It’s not the first crazy thing I’ve ever heard from her and kids go through chemo all of the time. It’s just I’ve worked so hard to lose this weight and it just adds on to the disappointing events that are going on. I was wondering if anyone had to gain or if it was okay to maintain my weight. I’ve been trying to gain but the more I eat the worse I feel, makes me very sick. Any advice?
If you want to gain weight for your battle, you should try to find calorie dense foods you tolerate ( foods where a small portion has many calories).
If nausea is an issue, try bits of candied ginger and "flat ginger". Ginger helps nausea and also stimulates appetite.
Homemade chicken noodle/rice soup is great. I am sorry you are going through this, but will encourage you to keep hopeful and fighting. I hope this helps. Hugs.
Where could I find ginger? It’s not around I’m the stores where I’m from1 -
If you can't find candied ginger, you could try ginger beer or ginger ale. Anecdotal, but I've always found ginger ale (especially Canada Dry) to help me with bouts of nausea. I've heard the same about ginger beer. I believe there's also an OTC nausea med that's made with ginger, I can't recall the name though.4 -
Not all chemotherapies are the same, and not all of them make you lose weight. You need to find out the specific therapy your medical oncologist is prescribing.
I didn’t see where you mentioned your BMI, but you want to stay in the normal range during and after treatment. People lose weight during treatment for several reasons including increased caloric needs related to cell repair from chemo/radiation, pain during eating from mucosities (sores that run your entire GI tract), change in taste, and nausea.
You really should join a support group specializing on your exact cancer. They will have a wealth of knowledge available to you.
One final word...be careful eating your favorite foods if you get sick during treatment. You could end up never wanting to eat that food again.2 -
rickiimarieee wrote: »rickiimarieee wrote: »So my question is for you guys who have cancer or had, or know someone who has had it, should I put on weight for chemotherapy? I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. My doctor isn’t the brightest (getting a new one) anyways I went months ago for enlarged lymph nodes and other symptoms. My doctor did a biopsy (cut them out) but it came back reactive which means something was causing it but that’s the only thing they did for a year, they didn’t do any further testing, nothing. A year later (about two months ago) the ones they removed, swelled up again different nodes but same place. Anyways she sent me in for a pet scan and it showed cancer all through my body. Moral of the story we could of caught it in earlier stages more than a year ago. Well anyways I lost weight over the months. Went from 158 to 124. I’m 5’3 and 124 pounds and she told me I was too small for chemotherapy and my body couldn’t handle it. So I would need to gain weight. It’s not the first crazy thing I’ve ever heard from her and kids go through chemo all of the time. It’s just I’ve worked so hard to lose this weight and it just adds on to the disappointing events that are going on. I was wondering if anyone had to gain or if it was okay to maintain my weight. I’ve been trying to gain but the more I eat the worse I feel, makes me very sick. Any advice?
If you want to gain weight for your battle, you should try to find calorie dense foods you tolerate ( foods where a small portion has many calories).
If nausea is an issue, try bits of candied ginger and "flat ginger". Ginger helps nausea and also stimulates appetite.
Homemade chicken noodle/rice soup is great. I am sorry you are going through this, but will encourage you to keep hopeful and fighting. I hope this helps. Hugs.
Where could I find ginger? It’s not around I’m the stores where I’m from
I have bought candied ginger from
Amazon.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q1RT1N8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1
If you buy candied ginger, make sure it's either in a resealable bag or that you put it in an airtight container, so it will stay soft.
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rickiimarieee wrote: »rickiimarieee wrote: »So my question is for you guys who have cancer or had, or know someone who has had it, should I put on weight for chemotherapy? I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. My doctor isn’t the brightest (getting a new one) anyways I went months ago for enlarged lymph nodes and other symptoms. My doctor did a biopsy (cut them out) but it came back reactive which means something was causing it but that’s the only thing they did for a year, they didn’t do any further testing, nothing. A year later (about two months ago) the ones they removed, swelled up again different nodes but same place. Anyways she sent me in for a pet scan and it showed cancer all through my body. Moral of the story we could of caught it in earlier stages more than a year ago. Well anyways I lost weight over the months. Went from 158 to 124. I’m 5’3 and 124 pounds and she told me I was too small for chemotherapy and my body couldn’t handle it. So I would need to gain weight. It’s not the first crazy thing I’ve ever heard from her and kids go through chemo all of the time. It’s just I’ve worked so hard to lose this weight and it just adds on to the disappointing events that are going on. I was wondering if anyone had to gain or if it was okay to maintain my weight. I’ve been trying to gain but the more I eat the worse I feel, makes me very sick. Any advice?
If you want to gain weight for your battle, you should try to find calorie dense foods you tolerate ( foods where a small portion has many calories).
If nausea is an issue, try bits of candied ginger and "flat ginger". Ginger helps nausea and also stimulates appetite.
Homemade chicken noodle/rice soup is great. I am sorry you are going through this, but will encourage you to keep hopeful and fighting. I hope this helps. Hugs.
Where could I find ginger? It’s not around I’m the stores where I’m from
Health food sections in grocery stores, and health food stores. Costco sometimes also.
Trader Joe's stores. Etc. Good stuff. My old hound loves candied ginger also
. You can also buy ginger capsules.
There was a study that showed ginger can help as well as anti nausea meds, with out the side effects. Ginger ale is great if made with actual ginger. (Some folks find they tolerate the ginger ale soda better when it is flat, but I like it cold and fizzy myself.1 -
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When I underwent abvd chemo (for hodgkin lymphoma), I was told not to change dietary habits but if you're on the lighter side, they probably want you to be above a certain weight due to the expectation that you will have a reduced appetite. It might vary based on the treatment, and not everyone is affected the same. For example, I didn't really get nausea in the days following a treatment unless I ate something extremely spicy on the day of/day after treatment. I had anti-nausea medication, but didn't need to take it. Even with that said, I didn't have as much of an appetite in the days immediately following chemo.2
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I understand your concern after fighting to lose weight being told to gain must be infuriating on top of the diagnosis. My sister had stage three hodgkins disease and underwent chemo. It was a rough road with lots of nausea and vomiting. At this point maybe you should go ahead and allow yourself to gain a few pounds. I'm assuming they would be happy with 10 pounds? You could also get a second opinion. She was not told to gain weight but perhaps she was heavier than you.
I am so sorry for your situation. At this point you're fighting for your life and a few extra pounds aren't going to make alot of difference for the next little while. You have the rest of your life to lose those 10 pounds. Good luck my friend.5 -
I'm so sorry you're going through this.
Maintaining/gaining a bit of weight will definitely help. My first thought would be adding smoothies and protein shakes. For smoothies, you could try a blend of full-fat Greek yogurt, leafy greens like spinach or kale, a banana, and any other fruit you enjoy (berries are tasty). For protein shakes, maybe a scoop of chocolate protein powder, a couple tablespoons of full-fat peanut butter, a banana, and milk.
If you can tolerate those well enough, they will add a good calorie boost to your diet, not to mention a good amount of protein.
Good luck.0 -
I've had cancer; I've had chemotherapy. I'd advise following your doctor's orders, unless and until your new doctor directs you differently.
Personally, I'd look at it this way: It's not going to be possible for you to gain massive amounts of weight before chemo. Going into that period a few pounds heavier can't hurt you, and might possibly help you.
((Hugs)).9 -
My mom just went through lymphoma and the treatment. First - you may be sick or you might not. She did well with the chemo that she had and never actually threw up. One of the things that she noticed is that if she took the anti-nausea medication right when she started feeling a little off she could get through it without being sick. She didn't lose a lot of weight or anything while doing chemo. I'd talk to your oncologist about nausea medication and other things they can give you. Also - figure out what tastes good and eat it. Some stuff didn't taste the same for her. She ended up eating ramin noodles which is hilarious (I'd never seen her buy them in all my years at home). Also - she would eat lemon deserts because the flavor was better than chocolate or other rich foods. Drink a ton of water. It will help.
I'm so sorry that you are going through this! Best of luck!!1 -
My father has lung cancer (this week, incidentally, marks 2 years since he was diagnosed). He went through 2 different rounds of chemo. One of the rounds of chemo made him very thin and frail, but my mom has done a fantastic job of fattening him up again. He's holding steady now on immunotherapy.
Regardless of you thinking that your doctor is terrible, gaining a little bit of weight is a good idea as you will have a little extra fat stores in case you do end up losing your appetite or find it difficult to eat. It doesn't have to be a complete binge that makes you feel sick, either. Just add a few extra hundred calories every day will do it--just add a small bowl of ice cream or something else that you enjoy eating.
Good luck!1
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