7. Chemo & Nausea
Do you have motion sickness? If you have, you know the queasy feeling that comes up the throat whenever you are in a stifling humid car/bus. The difference between motion sickness nausea and chemo nausea? Chemo nausea can last for days and it affects a lot of chemo patients.
Out of the long list of side effects you can get from chemo, nausea seems like one of the more innocuous ones. You just feel a little queasy but there’s nothing to vomit out because you probably haven’t eaten much. So, it is not that bad, RIGHT?
You feel the nausea hitting the moment you wake up in the morning, for a week after your infusion. You try to move a little slower but the nausea hits you. If you don’t take the anti-nausea medication, the nausea stays with you for a long time, even days. When nausea hits, you feel lethargic. You don’t have an appetite, you feel like crap AND, you lose any interest in eating.
When you stop eating, your body is not recovering from the infusion and the chemo meds. There is a very short period of time between one infusion cycle to the next, when your body needs to recover to sustain the next cycle (and that is if you are lucky, like me).
Tip: Get the strongest, most effective ant-nausea medication you can afford.
2nd rug tufting. Great activity if you need a distraction for 3-4 hours.
Unfortunately, it is not cheap. What I can get through private healthcare versus public healthcare is vastly different (I suspect). I have heard of many chemo patients who are very affected by chemo nausea and the anti-nausea medication given to me doesn’t seem to have helped.
I would like to believe that my body is stronger / can deal with chemo side effects better, etc. but I don’t think that is true. The reality is that I can afford expensive medication, and I choose to take them.
Anti-Nausea Medication that Works for Me:
Akynzeo - Super strong anti-nausea medication, taken once each cycle, during infusion. S$233 per pill.
Kytril - another anti-nausea medication that I take for 6 days after each infusion. This is $65 per pill or $390 per cycle.
Are there cheaper, generic options? Sure. Do they work? I don’t know.
The cost adds up and even with insurance, I still have to pay out-of-pocket. For a side effect as basic and as critical as nausea, there should be options for everyone to get access to medication that works for them.