The Colon Club

Finished radiation and oral chemo pill Tuesday. I had to go in earlier on Monday for IV fluids due to a heart rate of 140. Knew it was because my body was in overdrive with a lot of fatigue and dehydration. Now it is Thursday and I feel blah once again with no energy whatsoever. I could barely get ready this morning to do anything. I know this is probably a silly question, but is my fatigue, nausea going to continue to increase or will it slowly dissipate since I am done. I do know side effects can last months, but just trying to figure out how to have a happy medium here. One minute I can eat, the next not. I have an ileostomy, so that doesnt help the nausea. I do have zofran and started taking that (I havent had nausea until this week). I am trying so hard to hydrate and drink protein drinks. Any suggestions, words of advice. Ugh. Thank you for your time

In my experience, the fatigue from the radiation continued after I was done. Radiation keeps working for a while after the treatments are complete. Hopefully the nausea will subside now that you are done with the chemo. Keep your medical team informed of all your side effects, there are things they can do to help you.

Thank you so much

It took about 1.5 to 2 weeks for the radiation/xeloda stuff to clear out for me.

My two weeks after completion were pretty bad. Energy levels bounced back slowly in the weeks that followed. Stay hydrated, take your multis and eat healthy as much as you can. It gets better.

Oh boy... I hope so. I occasionally have bouts with nausea, but nothing crazy. Im just a trying to understand all this. Takes EVERYTHING I have to do anything, even the basics. I am wondering if my WBC is extremely low and maybe need a shot of Neulasta. I would have these when I did my actual chemo infusions. I have an appt on Monday, so we will see. I am trying to eat mini meals, drink water etc. I will stay positive though.....it WILL get better. Thank yu so much for your words.

Pedialyte is also good for hydration and might make you feel better. My GP had me get on B12 afterward - found a liquid at CVS and that seemed to help a lot. This week found a product called Recticare - it's a lidocaine butt cream and I wish I had known about it back when I was doing the radiation and immediately afterward. Controlling diarrhea is also important - if that is a problem. The nurse told me, "Remember it took you five weeks to get this sick. It's going to take some time to straighten out." Hang in there!

Thank you so much for the reply. What you said makes a lot of sense, and I needed that. Have a good night.

After chemoradiation, you'll heal but recovery can take a month or more to feel significantly better. But your body is healing now that the punishment is over, even if you can't feel it. Nutrition and exercise as you can tolerate it will help a lot. Try cannabis to reduce nausea and improve appetite. Do not mix it with opiates though. Also, have your B12 and folic acid (homocysteine is usually tested for this) checked as the treatment can kill off cells in the small bowel that absorb these nutrients. You may need supplementation to counteract this.

There are other drugs besides cannabis to reduce nausea. I just didn't like the side effects of those. For my treatment I used about 7 drops of tincture of cannabis mixed with juice before bed. That's all I needed for relief, and only a few times did I take it during the day if symptoms were especially bad. That dose didn't produce a high. Check with your employer if your job requires drug testing.