How To Fight Chemotherapy Induced Nausea During Breast Cancer Treatment

As with any therapy, chemotherapy has potent side-effects, none the least of which is nausea. This can lead to weight loss, fatigue and other unpleasant side-effects. Fortunately there are many steps women can take to help combat the nausea they experience resulting from chemotherapy treatments.

Fight Chemotherapy Nausea
When women first began chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, many become a victim of nausea so extreme it leaves them bedridden for days. Vomiting and constant nausea were expected side effects of therapy. For many, this was one of many reasons chemotherapy seemed an unattractive treatment alternative.

Fortunately, researchers have been looking at new ways to combat nausea associated with chemotherapy treatments. According to researchers working for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, patients can now take higher doses of chemotherapy and experience fewer side effects, including nausea and vomiting. How is this possible?

Changing Treatment Approaches For Chemotherapy Patients
Many doctors are changing their approach to chemotherapy treatment. While many doctors often treat side effects AFTER they begin, now doctors are realizing patients benefit more when treatment is administered before side effects begin.

What does this mean for chemotherapy patients? This means doctors are starting to treat nausea before chemotherapy treatments begin. Much like treatment for pain, it is far easier to get pain under control before it becomes severe than it is to control it once it is overwhelming.

The same holds true for many women combating constant nausea and vomiting. While it is impossible to prevent patients from experiences all nausea or vomiting associated with treatment, doctors now feel for many patients they can reduce symptoms by as much as eighty percent in some cases.

What this means for patients is they are better able to cope with day-to-day activities and lead a more normal life while undergoing treatment for their disease. While most patients report they still feel nauseous much of the time, many are reporting vast improvement in their symptoms.

Other Chemotherapy Side Effects
Nausea is among the most common side effects of chemotherapy treatment. Fortunately advances in therapy have reduced the number of patients reporting daily nausea attacks. Typically, patients undergoing therapy will experience an acute period of nausea accompanied with vomiting within hours of receiving the first chemotherapy treatment.

Some patients may not respond this way until a day after treatment. And others, despite doctor's best attempts at controlling nausea and vomiting, experience times when they simply become nauseous or vomit seemingly at random.

It is important patients with severe vomiting associated with chemotherapy treatment report this side effect to their doctor immediately. Some patients will need supplemental treatments including electrolyte therapy to help restore vital nutrients lost when vomiting occurs.

It helps to be aware of these symptoms before beginning treatment, so you can prepare yourself psychologically and mentally for chemotherapy sessions. Some patients find it helps to attend a support group session or talk with family members before receiving treatment, because side effects are often the worst during the first few days following treatment.

Support may prove especially helpful for women with a form of nausea doctors label "anticipatory nausea" or vomiting. This is nausea and/or vomiting occurring just before treatment. Usually this results from a learned response, the knowledge that chemotherapy will make you sick.

Certain forms of cognitive behavioral therapy and other psychological approaches may be helpful for women experiencing this type of side effect. The body acts instinctively to protect itself from anything that might make it feel unwell, including chemotherapy, even though chemotherapy may eventually kill off any remaining breast cancer cells.