Already a member? Sign in
What - Inspire is a place where you can connect with people who share your health concerns and find information and advice in groups sponsored by organizations you know and trust.
Why - As a member you can use Inspire to let friends and family know how you're doing, contact others who share your health concerns, receive personalized updates and information about participating in surveys and clinical trials, and more.
How - Joining Inspire is completely free and usually takes less than a minute. Join now!
So.....I am about to start my first round of chemo- carbo/taxol. I have a rare type of ovarian cancer- still not sure of the stage. I think a IIIc. I have always struggled with my weight, and I was just curious what people have experienced with this chemo.
I feel strange worrying about my weight, but attitude is so important in terms of getting healthy. I'm looking for tips/advice on my diet. Any help would be much appreciated!
Exercise Cancer Heart failure Surgery Avastin Diabetes Ovarian cancer Taxotere Constipation Rashes Diarrhea Nausea and vomiting
It seems at every chemo appointment I gained a couple of pounds. It is annoying but to be expected I think with the steroids they give you. The funny thing is when I was diagnosed I thought , well maybe I'll at least lose some weight. That didn't happen. I never knew people gained weight on chemo till I did. Darn it!! I can't even lose weight with cancer! :(
I had stage IIIc ovarian cancer and had surgery 1st before chemo. Within 3 weeks of surgery I dropped 40 lbs. I was so thin and frail and still recovering from surgery when I started chemo. The nutritionist at the oncology office talked with me about the importance of raising calorie intake while having chemo. During treatment is not the time to be concerned about weight issues. Chemo is harsh and cruel to the body and you need all the nutrition you can get to help your body rebuild. I was encouraged to eat something every hour or so and that the ideal calorie intake while undergoing chemo is about 2500 calories a day. I forced myself to eat something even if it was just a bite of something and eventually got into the routine of eating every couple hours. It is also helpful for the nausea to not let your stomach get empty. Needless to say, chemo is over and I've gained back all 40 lbs plus a few and Im now hungry every two hours!!!! . I now am working on dropping some of this excess weight but Im ok with that. I am alive and healthy and grateful to be me again. Be kind to your body and feed it. Theres always time to work it off later.
katelynsmamaw......I love your post. I lost weight from surgery but started gaining during chemo. Who'd have thought????? But look at your picture, you look healthy and vibrant ....good for you
Yeah, I lost weight from surgery and no appetite afterwards. Once I started chemo, the pounds started coming back. I am still battling them.
The important thing is to eat healthily, not worrying so much about the weight, per se. Your body needs nourishment. Eat good quality protein, organic if your budget allows. Dark red juices are good. Avoid too much sugar if you can. That was my downfall during chemo. I had this little voice telling me "what if I don't survive? I am going to eat what I want now." Not a great philosophy!
I hate to exercise, and I won't pretend that I do any, but I do know I should. Walk when you can. That will help with weight gain and pump up those endorphins, too.
Concentrate on the healthy aspect, and the rest will follow. this is a good time of year, too with fresh veggies available now. One caveat. My chemo nurse said some folks on chemo should avoid fresh fruits and veggies of unknown origins. If your immune system is compromised, you could catch something like e-coli from veggies, for example. This is another example of not practicing what I preach!
I lost 52#'s on Chemo, which worried my Onc., but I counted it as a positive side effect!! I was overweight to begin with, so despite the side effects of chemo, I felt better because I lost the weight. I had diabetes before the chemo, but not anymore. My cholesterol dropped from 189 to 147, as did my triglycerides (shows how crummy my diet must have been before chemo). I was on the steroid loading dose before chemo and was sure I would gain, but didn't. I never battled too much nausea, just didn't have an appetite, foods I normally liked tasted funny, plus I was so frightened and worried about my diagnosis and prognosis, I just wasn't hungry. I am 6 months out from my last carbo/taxol treatment...just getting Avastin now, and have managed to maintain my weight loss. I loved the opportunity to buy some new clothes after my treatments ended...but still keep the old ones...just in case!!
Yeah, what Kalo said is what I would definitely say. My normal healthy weight is 114 (I've always been petite). After surgery I was down to 106 and felt and looked very thin and frail. I'm up to 117-118 right now and can definitely feel the extra, but I REFUSE to get seriously stressed about it because I just finished chemo a week and a half ago and my body desperately needs nourishing, healthy food to rebuild itself.
After a few months when my body is stronger, I'll start walking more intensely and then I'm going to start yoga and try to tone up. But NOT before my body is ready...
I think the most important thing you can do is listen to your body and give it what it needs-food, rest, exercise....
I would focus on eating anytime you want and as much as you're hungry for, just try to eat decent, healthy food.... I would especially recommend yogurt and fresh vegetables. One thing I love is bananas with peanut butter on them, or celery with peanut butter-it's fresh and healthy but really fills you up for a while.
I am stage 3c also and had the same chemo as you. After surgery, I weighed 99 lbs. The tumor was 15 lbs. and the organs removed were 1 lb. I was put on megastrol early on in order to gain weight. The chemo did nothing to affect my weight. There are many different diets for cancer. I was always small and thin as I have a high metabolism. I lose easily and am now trying to gain a few lbs. But I never heard that this chemo puts weight on you. Interesting.
Hi,
I was the same as you and always struggled with my weight. I lost about 30 lbs while on chemo and it felt great. But within a few months of finishing my chemo, my taste buds and appetite came back and I gained it all back - everything just tasted soooo good again. I'm more careful now when I lose some weight now on chemo - it seems to come back on so easily. When I was on chemo for he first time, my sister-in-law asked if it was causing me to lose weight and at that point it hadn't yet and she said she thought maybe it won't because if it did we would have already heard from Hollywood that chemo was a great spa weight loss regime - LOL!!!
I have carbo/taxol/avastin every 3 weeks & just finished my 5th tretament. I have gained 25 pounds! Ouch! I have surgery in 6 weeks and feel like I should be going on a starvation diet to try to get some if off, but I know that I need to feed my body now, so the weight shouldn't be an important issue to me. I have had no nausea which is a blessing. I still lean towards comfort foods and am trying to change how I eat so I am prepared for my post-treatment way of life. Still - gaining weight for me really sucks! :( I've struggled with weight my whole life and had finally started winning the battle - it just wasn't a battle I was emotionally prepared to fight while fighting cancer, so I am trying to just accept it.
I have struggled with weight since my mid-thirties. Last summer, I was on Carbo/taxotere. I have currently begun a new diet, suggested by the nutritionist/MD at the Cancer Institute in New Brunswick, N.J. It is called a "Plant-Based" diet which emphasizes fruits , vegetables and beans. The way of the American diet, is that meat is the primary component of each meal and vegetables are side dishes. This diet reverses that way of thinking. In addition, you can eat whole grain pasta and some whole grain bread and cereal. I cannot attach it here, but, you get the idea. Eating in this manner, cutting out sweets and exercising for at least 1/2 hour daily has resulted in the loss of a few pounds over the last month. I am 58, so, its a slow go!
I forgot to underline what has been said before. While you are on chemo is not the time to withhold food. Handling chemo is hard enough. Try to walk when you have the energy and wait until chemo is over to change your diet! I am currently on break from treatment and about to go back and try Doxil, so I am not actively on treatment now.
I understand the weght issue. It seems like every new chemo they try I gain weight. It continues even when I watch what I eat and I constantly exercise. I also lost too much weight after surgery; but now I can't cope with the weight gain. I feel very petty complaining about the weight all the time; but I hate it. I know many people have worse problems;but for me it is an extra side effect that makes me feel bad about myself. I feel like I need a sign around my neck that says I look fat because I am on chemo. Sorry to go on. Remember chemo does not effect people the same.
What is it that causes the weight gain- I heard steroids?? Is that part of the chemo, or is that something they give to prevent side effects. I know I sound petty discussing weight loss while I should be discussing something more specific to the cancer- but I want to be as happy as I can be- and feeling good about myself helps! I'm 175 now- 25-30lbs more will NOT make me positive, so I need to think about it....this is something that I can control, so maybe that's why am so adamant about it. Thanks for your posts :)
I was told that the steroids helped cause the weight gain. I am currently 180. I never in my whole life thought that I would weigh so much. The steroids are given to you to prevent allergic reactions. It is really important because Carbo can be really dangerous if you develop an allergy to it. The way I understand it is..everybody will eventually develop an allergy to it after they have received a certain (undetermined) amount of it. I went through two rounds with Carbo and on my last treatment I started to develope rashes all over my arms, they gave me benydril and i literally watched the rashes vanish. Rashes are not the worst reaction. You can have a cartiac reaction that puts you in heart failure, that's why it's important to have the steroids. Gaining weight really sucks for my self esteam, but I try to eat well and exercise and not beat myself up about it. I need all my energy to fight cancer! Good luck...you can fight and be strong. You have a puppy to keep you grounded! (I love dogs!)
I never had any weight gain with chemo. I lost a lot of weight after my surgery Dec. 2000, didn't gain it back during chemo and basically stayed the same all these years. My first recurrence (Fall 07) and this current one is the same - no weight gain more than 5 pounds on and off.
I can see how it is easy to gain weight and there is nothing wrong with being concerned about how you look and feel. I know I make sure I'm always dressed well and with jewelry and makeup. With nausea you have to eat what you can tolerate, and sometimes it's better to eat several times a day rather than the traditional 3 meals. Just try to eat healthy foods and watch the fat/calorie content.
As for steroids - they are necessary to ease the side effects of the chemo. I never had any weight gain with them, but it could just be me. I've always gotten them in the pre-chemo drips, and once I also had to take them in pill form at the same time. I did get some fluid retention while on Taxotere - but that went away after the chemo ended.
I'm sure you'll figure this out. You can also talk to your doctor and the cancer center nutritionist for some diet help. I wish you the best.
I took the steroids the night before and the morning of chemo. Not quite sure if it was the steroids, the anit-nausea infusion, or the chemo drugs, but something would cause me to gain about 5 to 8 pounds of water weight right after chemo. The second night I would pee it all out and drop back down. And then I would get rather constipated from the chemo. It seemed if I could drink a lot of water and get the digestion system moving, I could keep my weight pretty constant.
I had two friends, who had undergone chemo before, both tell me to walk every day, even if it's around the block and your neighbors need to put chairs out on the sidewalk for you! I took their advice and don't think I missed more than one day all of chemo. It helped with the water weight, it helped with the taste of food, it helped with muscle aches, it definitely helped with the constipation.
For me, sweet foods just didn't taste good during chemo, so I ate a lot of vegies just because they tasted better. I also tried to put the emphasis on fruits and vegetables when I could, but the days after chemo, I agree that you have to just keep fueling your body and not worrying so much about the weight loss. There will be time when you are done with chemo.
I'm with everyone. The weight. Ugh. This is the second time around for me and you'd think I'd be able to deal with it. I lost weight prior to the chemo both times - the tumor(s) sucking the life out of me, being in the hospital, and post-op.
The steroids gave me the hungry horrors. I never had a moment of nausea during chemo so giving into those urges was easy as pie. Pie? Did someone say pie? Well, I am slightly nauseated on a fairly regular basis now that I'm on the AZD2281 clinical trail but not during chemo. Getting it off is a big chore. I hate this. I'm just not comfortable and my joints are killing me!
Teresa
interesting about the steroids...could be wrong but I don't think I ever had them. I had a drip of benedryl and was fine with that. I had a hard time following any particular food plan. I had no taste buds(since surgery and all through chemo) and had a couple days each time of a metalic taste in my mouth so I ate whatever sounded good at the moment..pasta...salad.... whatever it took. I completely lost my love of Cola . Tasted horrible.
A lot of people have responded but here's one more experience. I've had weight problems most of my adult life. I lost about 25 pounds after surgery. I looked pretty frail. During chemo I ate whatever I wanted to, which meant, among other things, a lot of ice cream! I've gained back about half the weight I lost. I agree with everyone who said chemo is not the time to worry about your weight...sometimes you don't feel like eating at all and other times some foods just aren't appetizing. You just have to eat what you can, when you can. Now that it's been seven weeks I'm starting to feel a little fat again and starting to think about what I want to do about it. One thing to watch out for: after I lost all the wait people complimented me on looking so thin. I didn't like it. I'd always make some crack about the cancer diet not being the way to go.
Bev
I lost weight during chemo. I had a lot of nausea and vomiting even with all the anti nausea meds followed by diarrhea.
My main goal was to stay hydrated so I had alot of soups, fruit popsicle and foods easy on the stomach
Add to the discussion