What did you drink on FOLFOX??

[seamonkey]

Just finished up with cycle 7 of FOLFOX and I'm developing a bad habit of not drinking any fluids on the 3 days after the pump comes off. Got seriously dehydrated on Saturday. Problems I'm trying to cope with are I haven't found anything I can tolerate taste wise for the days after infusion (everything tastes like metal) and anything I drink causes a choking sensation even at room temperature. It usually passes by Sunday and I load up on fluids then. So i'm reaching out to all of you to please share anything that worked for you to get more liquid in my system on those post infusion days. Thanks in advance as always.

[willtowin]

i had a water machine, ozarka machine w/ hot and cold and i mixed hot w/ cold water for a very warm water, and forced myself. Also, bought individual juice boxes and drank those when i could tolerate the room temp and didn't need hotter. Otherwise, it was a lot of hot tea, coco, and instant coffee even. I figured anything as long as it was liquid was good for me. I did have to get fluids once, don't hesitate to do that...it helps tremendously.

Good luck...try the hot water w/ lemon and honey...kinda yummy...

[John S]

Hydration is very important to wash through accumulated oxi. Neuropathy from oxi can and does spring up after folfox rounds are completed or late in them. I wish I had paid more attention to staying hydrated, as I ended up with some nasty neuropathy in hands and feet. Try warm tea, some salt in the water, and athletic drinks or smart water with electrolites. just drink as much you can.

[GreenLakeGirl]

I had/have quite the sweet tooth, so fruity teas (pomegranate tea and cinnamon tea ranked highly) were good for me. I also got an electrolyte powder from my local sporting goods store and mixed it with warm water. I became a coffee drinker for the six months of chemo (heavily laced with milk and sugar), just because it was something different to drink. Warm or hot Friendship Tea (aka Russian Tea)—a homemade powdered tea/Tang concoction—might be good too.

[Ivona]

I am a terrible drinker....and chemo sure did not help. I agree with you...all the favorite liquids just tasted like crap. I tried all the juices and ginger ale...and blecch. The only thing I was able to tolerate was fizzy water (ie: club soda or mineral water) with lime or lemon juice. I found that the tartness of the lemon/lime helped getting the water down.

[RayGirl]

I'm still early in the game, but I found I actually like hot cranberry juice and lemonade made with hot water is tolerable too. All the teas I usually like taste horrible to me!

[wendy21]

I never wnted to drink anything from infusion until about 3 or 4 days later -- but my DH forced me to drink room temp. tea -- any flavor. I also drank a lot of cranberry juice (room temp) and room temp 7-up. Couldn't stand water of anykind -- but did like the bottled green tea with lemon -- I think it was mostly the lemon.

[EdFromCT]

Like Ivona, I drank a lot of lightly flavored carbonated water, especially the lemon/lime and cherry varieties. For some reason I also particularly liked the Whole Foods brand of black cherry soda, which is more of a conventional soft drink with lots of sugar. But mostly, I just forced myself to drink lots of warm water.

I'm not actually sure how much short-term hydration affects neuropathy, but I do know that it's supposed to have a significant effect on the likelihood of kidney problems. If the chemo drugs spend more time than necessary in the kidneys, where they normally aren't needed, they can damage the nephrons and reduce kidney function. So even if it doesn't taste good, keep drinking those fluids!

-Ed

[helen098]

please try and drink even if you don't want to
don't end up in the hospital like i did

my favorites on chemo were (all at room temp of course)

whole milk
OJ
V8
Vitamin water (lemonaid and light purple)
vanilla ensure

[Gaelen]

I can drink tea (with a lot of lemon or lime) hot, cold (not on oxi) or at room temp or any temps in between. Same for water. So I did drink a lot of those things. I also made homemade protein shakes, which I could drink at room temp, and sipped one all day long on infusion days. If you make them citric (lemon, orange, etc.) or with mint, it helps with the metal taste. Second the recommendation for v8, too.

[fldoghouse]

I'm with Raygirl - heat up some lemonade or limeade mixed with cranberry juice and I'm good to go. I normally have a sweet tooth but for 14 days after my oxi infusion - sweet is yuckola! The more tart the better. And I drink the plain hot water from the coffee maker at work. Helps with the 72 degree temp the office is set at!! Darn menopausal women - even now that I'm one of them

[SkiFletch]

I drank ginger tea, hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and warm juicy juice boxes. I would fill a bowl with warm water, drop the juicy juice in the bowl, wait 5-10 mins, then drink. Those were my "staples" and worked pretty well for me. Although now, drinking juicy juice reminds me of chemo so I don't do it... Have a couple cases of it leftover which I just look at with disdain

[hopeful]

Drinking plenty of water is really, really important. I had to resort to nagging my husband when he was doing chemo, but it paid off in the way he felt. He had many fewer problems with both constipation and diarrhea when he was drinking enough. He also didn't feel lightheaded and seemed to have more energy. I kept bottled water in every room. He mostly drank plain water but drank green and other decaf teas in the morning and after about the 8th treatment discovered a couple of non-alcoholic beers. (St. Paulie Girl, O'Doulls Amber were the best) He needed the calories to put on about 10 pounds that he lost around the time of his surgery, so the extra calories in the beer helped.

My husband didn't drink a lot of fluids before all of this and had to get used to the idea of carrying around a water bottle or other drink all the time. But I can't stress how important it is to stay well hydrated when going through chemo. He seemed to feel better as the treatments went on as he adjusted his fluid intake. Well, except for the neuropathy and fatigue.

[joeyooser]

Warm gatorade.... mmmmm

[SkiFletch]

Warm gatorade.... mmmmm

Forgot that one. I'm now two gatorade flavors down... Orange from scopes, and purple from chemo.