Exercising while doing chemotherapy

I did chemotherapy back when exercising during treatment was discouraged (and I wasn't very active then anyway).

Hoever, I did wrestle with the nausea. Maybe you've already figured this out, but I found chemo-induced nausea to be different from nausea (like from stomach bugs) that I'd experienced in the past, with respect to how best to minimize/manage it.

I found that starting to eat as soon as I could possibly tolerate it (as soon as things would stay down) was the best strategy, and that what I could tolerate without aggravating the nausea had to be prioritized over nutrition, at least right at first (i.e., in the worst part of each cycle). Obviously, nutrition is still important, but if you can keep down bland carb-y things but not protein, eat the potatoes or bread or rice, and save the chicken for when it'll stay down. Adequate calories, priority 1. Nutrition, 2.

As things moved on, my nausea was minimized if I had a little something in my stomach all the time, so I kept nibbling regularly. I carried crackers and lemon drop hard candy with me everywhere. (I'm not saying those things are special; they were just things that were easy to carry that I tolerated well.)

For the fatigue, realistically, I don't have a great recommendation. Your red blood cells are just not in a state to do what they'd normally do, among other issues. Hydration, nutrition when feasible, plenty of rest/sleep, minimized stress - but you already knew that.

I assume that you've already talked to your treatment team, including the cancer center dietitician if they have one. I hope that conversation has gone very throughly into side effects management, if those are interfering extra badly with your life. They have backup tricks in their toolbox sometimes, that they don't use unless needful (usually because of cost or secondary risks/side effects).

Because I had extra bad digestive side effects (couldn't keep water or oral anti-nausea meds down for 24 hours-ish, starting 5 hours after treatment), I got moved from common anti-nausea drugs to less common/more expensive ones from one cycle to the next, on one type of chemo I was doing. They also added extra sessions of IV hydration and more IV anti-nausea meds to my treatment regimen for the same reason. It helped a lot.

I assume you know about the drugs that build blood cells back up a bit more quickly (but also have pretty severe side effects themselves).

Unfortunately, as I'm sure you know, there's probably no way to move through this while maintaining your normal routine with full energy and effectiveness. Trying to do as much as you can, within the constraints of getting enough rest, is still a good thing to do, for psychological reasons as well as physical ones. But please do treat yourself with grace, recognizing/appreciating when you're doing as much as you can even if it's less than your fully-healthy self did, and realizing that you'll need certain types of self-nuturing (like more rest/sleep) than normal.

Let others who care about you nuture you, too, and do things for you. I know one likes to be tough and independent, but others' help can help you conserve your limited energy, and it helps them, too: Those who care the most often feel helpless in the face of what you're going through, and giving them helping tasks to do can be a gift to them in that scenario.

I always tell people chemo was my worst-ever hobby. It can be tough. My heart goes out to you, and please know that I'm over here sending strength, and hopes for the best possible outcome for you!

I'd consult with your doctor and not take advice of people like me on the internet. That said I do have one thought.

Almost all chemotherapy drugs work by killing replicating cells in your body while leaving non-replicating cells alone. In doing so it affects the cancer (which is consistantly replicating) more than most cells in your body...which are not. That said cells in your body that are replicating, like hair...stomach lining etc ends up getting killed as well which is largely why you end up with hair loss and nausea.

So...knowing this...exercise tends to cause damage to muscle tissue which is then repaired through cellular replication. I'd be concerned that during chemo exercise might cause muscle breakdown rather than strengthening as cells that enter replication to repair muscle damage would be killed by the chemo.

This is just speculation on my part though so check with your doctor.