Hydration

Please feel free to read, share your thoughts, your stories and connect with others!
li001sp
Posts: 54
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:02 pm

Hydration

Postby li001sp » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:29 am

I need help. I have a hard time staying hydrated. I'm on round 8 of chemo and it dehydrates me. I go for hydration every week but it seems to only last about 4 days and then I'm winded and out of breath again. Can anyone help me to stay hydrated? I'm drinking tons of water but I'm wondering if there is anything else I can do.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much

Lisa
Female 46, Rectal cancer Stage IIB 8/11
Temp illio 9/11
Rad/Xeloda finished 10/11
Rectal resection, hyst 12/11, 1 of 23 nodes, Stage IIIB
Port in 1/12
Chemo 1/12 to 6/12
Port out & Illio Reversal 10/12
11/13 Illestomy again
12/13 - 5/14 Chemo again

KWT
Posts: 3214
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:22 pm

Re: Hyrdation

Postby KWT » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:34 am

I use the nuuns tabs they were recommended by brownbagger and seem pretty good, also you can try coconut water.

Lee
Posts: 6207
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:09 pm

Re: Hyrdation

Postby Lee » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:38 am

Maybe something like gatoraide might help.

Lee
rectal cancer - April 2004
46 yrs old at diagnoses
stage III C - 6/13 lymph positive
radiation - 6 weeks
surgery - August 2004/hernia repair 2014
permanent colostomy
chemo - FOLFOX
NED - 16 years and counting!

Cb75
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Hyrdation

Postby Cb75 » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:46 am

Try foods with lots of water in them....fruit, cucumbers, etc. I ate A LOT of pickles for some reason.....they tasted like the most amazing thing in the world when i was on folfox....

cb
39y female Stage IV
diagnosed April 2012
sigmoid resect May 2012
liver resect Aug 2012
Folfox Oct 2012
lungs Sep 2013
R and L laser lung resection Nov 2013/Feb 2014
FOLFIRI and Avastin Apr 2014 ongoing...

Bat-Mom
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2014 8:01 pm
Location: FL was RI

Re: Hydration

Postby Bat-Mom » Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:45 pm

Hi. My nurse says she has some patients come in 3 times a week for hydration IV. I asked for a bag of fluids when disconnecting 5fu. That would be two days after oxaliplatin I think it helps and as treatments go on I will ask for additional help following week. I found that for five or six days I just couldn't drink too much as room temp is still too cold on throat.
54 y/o
10-2013 colonoscopy
11-2013 colon resect
12-2013 stage 3b results are in 4 of 11 LN
12-2013 - 5-2014 folfox
9-2014 cea 1.7 12-2014 CT clear cea 1.7 3-2015 cea 1.6
6-2015 new doc new lab. Cea now 3.9???

Stevet
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:35 pm

Re: Hydration

Postby Stevet » Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:04 pm

I have a hydration prob as well. I run IV fluids w potassium and mag from 8p to 8a (2 ltr) then In the hot months I'll add straight saline as needed. I'm always drinking Gatorade also. No soda no coffee

robinkaye
Posts: 374
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:03 am

Re: Hydration

Postby robinkaye » Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:15 am

After surgery the visiting nurse ordered hydration supplies for home. She would come hook him up then we realized that was silly as its so easy to do so I started giving him hydration almost everyday which he needed.
When he started chemo they left his port accessed when disconnecting the pump. Everyday for a week he would get a liter of fluid then I'd take him in to have the port deaccessed. I learned to remove the needle but the onc insisted they do it and it wasn't a big deal...worth it to be allowed to keep the port accessed for a week after chemo and the hydration on a daily basis made all the difference. A medical supply company delivered a pole, IV bags, saline and heparin flushes.
Husband has RC Stage IIIC
Chemorad 9/28-11/07
2 rounds FOLFOX to get rid of iliac LN
LAR Surgery 1/17 ileostomy
presacral abscess 2/1 - 3/27
FOLFOX began 4/5 - 6/15
another presacral abscess 6/30-8/10
Reversal 9/11
10/15 fistula with drain

User avatar
lemonzinger
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:12 am
Location: San Francisco, California

Re: Hydration

Postby lemonzinger » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:55 am

I second coconut water. It has a lot of natural potassium which helps with hydration, and less sugar than Gatorade-type sports drinks.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/featu ... onut-water

That said, I am struggling at times with hydration myself.

A nutritionist at my cancer center advised me that half my liquids should be water, and half should be beverages with electrolytes (e.g., sodium and potassium -- so, coconut water, Gatorade, chicken broth...). She also suggested drinking the fluids with meals. I think if you just guzzle a bunch of water, it can pass straight through you without being absorbed well.
Rectal, dx 9/2013 (age 38)
Stage 3b T3N1M0
5 wks radiation w/ 5FU
LAR & temp ileo 1/2014 - 0 of 20 nodes
8 cycles FOLFOX - finished 6/2014
Ileo reversal 8/2014
slightly enlarged lymph nodes in original tumor area - stable since 2015
NED - clear scans 3/2018, 6/2019
NED - Clear colonoscopy 10/2019

pog451
Posts: 799
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:11 am
Facebook Username: andrew.morgan

Re: Hydration

Postby pog451 » Wed Apr 09, 2014 5:13 pm

I can't imagine it myself (and I'm not sure I can get it easily in Europe) but I've heard people swear by pickle juice (I've seen it online as Popsicles too)

Otherwise search online for rehydration solution, which is used in Africa etc for dysentery and particularly for treating kids - you can get OTC mixes but its just water, salt and sugar in specific relations and you can mx it yourself. Tastes foul but works. Be careful to follow the recipe exactly.

The issue is that after a certain stage of dehydration your mineral balance gets out of whack and just drinking water may even make things worse.

Otherwise, Isotonic sports drinks ( if you drink beer, some alcohol free beers are isotonic too :-D ) but keep an eye on th minerals
09.11 Dx @ 46, uT3uN1M0 G2
11.11 radio+Xeloda
01.12 LAR
03.12 Xeloda
09.12 Liver mets, 2 LN
09.12 Folfox+Avastin
02.13 Resection
04.13 Folfox & Avastin
11.13 Local recurrence
02-07.14 FOLFIRINOX
08.14 Re-rediation
Left us 28.05.2015

dianne052506
Posts: 1651
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:57 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Hydration

Postby dianne052506 » Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:02 pm

The first time I dealt with serious dehydration, the onc mentioned Gatorade, and that's when I told him my opinion of it: tastes like sweat with added flavoring. He mentioned the same thing as above, that, after a point, just water doesn't help because you are flushing out needed electrolytes. I bought bags of pretzels and started eating them when I drank my water. Seemed to help a lot.
dge
May 06 Stage IV CC: liver,ovarian mets
Oct 07 inoperable lung mets
Feb 08 - Apr'12 chemo
allergic to oxaliplatin, irinotecan
Aug '12-Feb'14 Genentech PD-L1/Avastin trial
Mar '14 -radiation to largest lung nodule
still recovering; looking at trials again

mymom
Posts: 1299
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:07 pm
Location: Connecticut

Re: Hydration

Postby mymom » Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:52 pm

Coconut water...not milk
Stage 4 CC DX 5/11
colon/livr rsct 5/11(1 met)
Folfox July-11/11
NED to 5/12
New Primry BC-4/12,Stage 1
2 livermet 5/2012
Liver rsct,HAI 6/12,Folfiri
NED to 10/13,1 liver met,ablation, Folfiri
NED to 12/14, another spot
3/15 NED
Ablation 1 liver met 10/15
1/16-current NED
6/22- small spot liver again, ablation oct 2023

Cj51
Posts: 893
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 5:58 pm
Location: Midwest

Re: Hydration

Postby Cj51 » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:54 pm

I drank Smart Water, it's not high in electrolytes but it seemed to help more than plain water I wish I'd known about coconut water back then, because I love the flavor (try different brands, some taste better than others). It works well for dehydration. I also tried a shot of pickle juice every once in awhile, which I think tastes a darn sight better than Gatorade and yes, it actually did work pretty well. (Thanks, Brownbagger, for that tip!). As others have pointed out, you need to alternate plain water with the electrolyte drinks, because too much of either one can cause an imbalance. If you truly can't keep up with hydration on your own, then by all means, ask for help from the medical staff. Dehydration is so miserable, it's worth the hassle of going in for an IV, IMO.

Best of luck to you,
Cj
DX Stage IIIb RC, T3N1M0, April 2010, 51
6 wks Xelox/rad 6/10
resection, temp illeostomy 8/10 Complete response!
12 rounds FOLFOX for clean up 9/10, Allergic to Oxi, started Xeloda only 12/10
Ileo takedown 9/28/11
4/2020 NED


Return to “Colon Talk - Colon cancer (colorectal cancer) support forum”



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 62 guests