The Colon Club

Anyone on Irinotecan experienced bloating? After my mom's third infusion her belly increasingly feels filled up and looks enlarged. We were scared of possible ascites but our onc said it's very very unlikely. He said most people get diarrhea and some like my mom get bloating...

My first thought was ascites too. Is there anything they can give her for relief? Or will it go away on it's own?

Hope she feels better soon.

Lee

My mom feels a bit better after taking loperamide and emptying bowels, but then she also eats frequently to fight the nausea and keep energy level, so the bloating feeling does not go away for long.

X-ray on Monday showed that the pleural fluid is slowly draining. Our onc was confident that it means chemo is working systemically so ascites is very very unlikely to happen. He did not even bother to do a ultrasonic.

I just called the clinic today to see if the onc would prescribe some pills for relief or consider further scan... I hope it goes away on its own. The scare is overwhelming.

LMighty wrote:My mom feels a bit better after taking loperamide and emptying bowels, but then she also eats frequently to fight the nausea and keep energy level, so the bloating feeling does not go away for long.

I just had my 7th infusion of Irinotecan last week and my colon is miserable this week. It cramped up so much I needed to take a Norco. From my experience Irinotean can be rough and the bowels. Loperamide might be her best bet unless she gets constipated. I use Miralax for constipation.

mypinkheaven wrote:

LMighty wrote:My mom feels a bit better after taking loperamide and emptying bowels, but then she also eats frequently to fight the nausea and keep energy level, so the bloating feeling does not go away for long.

I just had my 7th infusion of Irinotecan last week and my colon is miserable this week. It cramped up so much I needed to take a Norco. From my experience Irinotean can be rough and the bowels. Loperamide might be her best bet unless she gets constipated. I use Miralax for constipation.

Sorry to hear that. I think my mom also got a mild constipation as there was minimal stool the first two days after infusion. No cramps though!

The loperamide was intended for diarrhea which never happened to my mom. Drug description says it also works for bloating so I suggested her to take it anyway.

I hope you feels better soon!