What foods did you manage to eat while on chemotherapy?

[Weirdconditionaltense]

What food did you enjoy, or at least manage to eat while on chemo?

I'm on day 4 after my first session of chemo. The nausea was quite bad this morning and comes and goes but no food appeals. Have now started the new anti-sickness pills so hoping they will keep the nausea at bay but no food or drinks really appeal. Tea doesn't taste right, nor coffee, nor squash. Just water left I suppose

Can you please share with me what you did manage or eat please?

I liked salty things. I used to suck twiglets. Disgusting but the only thing I could cope with at times.

I could only stomach room-temperature water to drink. Foodwise was very beige. Meals consisted of oven chips, chicken, steamed veg. I completely went off anything sweet. You just get through it as best you can. And if you want McDonald's chips every night, do it! ❤️

Hi!
I also struggled a lot with nausea after the first session, but it settled down a lot once I was put on a better anti nausea med after session 2.
I couldn't face tea or coffee for the first three sessions, but I could manage flavoured soya milks.
And Instant Whip.
The nausea really does get easier as the sessions go on.
The first chemo is always the worse, re nausea, as you usually start with just the basic anti sickness meds, but these can be upgraded if they don't work.
Basically, just eat and drink whatever you can tolerate for the first week or so, whenever you fancy it.
I hope treatment is kind to you.

Jaffa cakes kept me alive for the first few days after treatment. It's does get easier after a few days as long as you don't get any sores in your mouth and then it's soups and things. Best of luck with your treatment

Thanks everyone who is answering. It's early days so any advice is really welcome

@BCSurvivor thanks it's great to hear the nausea is known to be bad at the start. Usually I have a tummy of steel so I really wouldn't have predicted this. If the new anti -sickness pills aren't enough I'll have to speak to someone about it,

@GustavaKlimt . thanks I might get my husband on the trail for twiglets. Cheers

Really strong flavours. Things like salt and vinegar crisps. Not recommended if you are suffering with mouth ulcers, though.
Bovril was another good one for me.

Hope it's not too horrible for you OP

What type of chemo is it, OP? My first few were paclitaxel and I was quite nauseous on that. They gave me heavy duty anti-sickness pills which helped a lot. The second type of chemo, I didn't feel nauseous at all but I did get a lot of neuropathy and fatigue. It's a tough old time but you will get through it ❤️

Ice cold lemonade and iced buns for me

I actually find the nausea gets worse with each session. I didnt have too much for the first two, and I ate everything in sight and put on 10kg! The 3rd lasted about 12 days but was mild, the 4th was intense but lasted 5/6 days. I’m actually thinking that its not nausea for me per se, but the fact that everything tastes wrong, and any food I think about eating just gets a massive NO from my gut. Even water tasted awful this time.I’ve lost 2kg this round and just want clean, whole foods, nothing processed and get full quickly.
I think its highly individual, and you need to just go with what works for you.
when I really can’t face food in the post treatment days the only thing I’ve found that I can consistantly have is cream crackers and ice pops…but I can’t bear the thought if them now.
I’m aware none of this is particularly useful, but we’re all different.
wishing you lots of luck with the rest of your treatments.

Yes to the ice cold lemonade or coke, I'm not a fizzy drinks lover and don't touch them now but they were the one thing that got rid of the horrible taste in my mouth.

thanks for your good wishes.

I'm having docetaxel and carboplatin plus phesgo injections. I'm not at all used to nausea but hopefully i'll get on some good meds for it. Just took a metocloprimide and will have one later this evening. I'm hopeful they'll do the trick but we'll see

I didn't eat much at all for 6 months, but I did have particularly strong chemo and I had lymphoma which affects appetite too. I tried several different types of milkshakes prescribed by a dietician but the chemo made me dairy intolerant so I ended up on Altrajuice. It's prescription only, contains lots of nutrients etc but tastes just like fruit juice - very light and easy to drink compared to shakes.

Fingers crossed you won't get to the point of needing them, but if you lose a lot of weight ask your nurse to refer you to a dietician and discuss options. Mine was lovely, she would send me some next day delivery then phone to see how I'd got on with them.

Otherwise, PPs have given good advice. Ask for more anti-nausea drugs if necessary, try salty food and ice lollies, and eat wherever you fancy no matter how unhealthy or non-nutritious, something is better than nothing.

I was in hospital a lot and used to manage toast in the mornings, sometimes a jacket potato for lunch and often a yogurt (until I realised dairy was causing me problems)

The only thing I could bear to drink after the initial steroids wore off was cold milk - everything else tastes revolting. So I also ate milk based ice lollies to soothe my mouth when it was sore.

In terms of anti sickness meds, this is what I learned: I was prescribed Aprepitant before every chemo, it is very strong and really helped me. Not sure if it's only prescribed for certain types of chemo.

Metaclopramide can sometimes cause diarrhoea/faster digestion and ondanestron can cause constipation/slow down digestion. I used to be prescribed both and had to keep the quantities in check to try & balance things. Be guided by your Dr/nurse/pharmacist and follow their advice. I just found it useful having this knowledge in the back of my mind!

I was also prescribed cyclizine later on, that could make me a bit spacey but worked well. There were also other options that were mentioned that I didn't end up needing.

Again I hope you won't need any of this, but just be aware there are lots of options you can discuss/ask for if you need them.

I eat whatever sounds good at the time. If it’s cookies for breakfast that’s it. If it’s spaghetti I’ll have that. My dh will make it at 0700 (he’s an absolute saint). I have been on 3 cycles (rounds? Whatever 🤷🏻‍♀️) and had dose twenty three of Paxil yesterday. My weight was 56 kg so was told to watch it. Blessings to you.

I had a few different meds. There was one you dissolved between your lip and gum. Weird but it worked. I found if I took the meds at regular intervals and before I started feeling nauseous, it helped hugely. It's also useful to try not to let your stomach get empty as that makes the nausea worse.

Never forget, you're a warrior 💪🏻 You're taking something into your body that's killing not only the cancer cells, but loads of healthy ones too. You're super strong for getting through it ❤️

Not me but a friend. She had to have blue cheese melted over everything, as she couldn’t taste anything very well. Apparently the strong cheesy salty flavour helped a lot!

I used to work in an ice cream shop and there was a woman who came in every evening for three scoops of ice cream while she was on chemo.

Fresh pineapple and frozen grapes were my go to snack. I also craved eggs - poached, or omelettes.

I was in hospital for my chemo (Lymphoma) and the staff brought warm toast round at night. I grew to love that toast .

I couldn’t eat cheese, or ice cream or anything fatty. Couldn’t tolerate coffee, but black tea was fine.

I found it hard to find things that I could actually taste and remained really underweight for a long time ( have since made up for that 😳)

Sorry Op, it can be shit, but I did find that the first cycle was the worst - they hit me really hard first go around, and of course, my body wasn’t used to it.

@Weirdconditionaltense It varies for each patient and each Chemo drug has different side effects.

For me, cold things gave me pins 'n' needles in my mouth and throat.
My taste changed as others have said above.
I liked the Quaker instant 'make in two minutes' porridge packets.

My favourite drinks were warm Banana milk shake, original Coke warmed in the microwave and Fanta Lemon warmed in the microwave.

My Oncologist stressed that even when I was semi comatose feeling very, very tired I must keep eating, even snacks, biscuits or chocolate because my body needed the calories to gain strength for the Chemotherapy - my quick mind jumped into action, "Can I have a prescription for chocolate and biscuits then?" - I got a grade 3 consultant stare.

My advice keep trying various things until you find something you like.

I hope things go smoothly for you - best wishes.

Ditto the lemonade. Also jam doughnuts and salt and vinegar crisps!!

Thanks that's such a lovely kind post. I'm going to keep reminding myself of this . X

I couldn't stomach tea or anything other than water apart from lemon barley water - also helps with making it sting less when you go for a wee.

I also ate a lot of tinned ravioli. Just felt like a proper meal at times when I couldn't stomach anything else, and easy to chew so didn't hurt my mouth ulcers too much.

My oncologist told me not to worry too much about it - just eat whatever I could, make sure I had calories going in.

Good luck with the rest of your treatment, it will soon be a distant memory!

I was very lucky apart from a few occasions I didn't feel nauseous. However foods tasted different. I wanted strong flavours. Curries, chilli etc
Please ask your oncologist for better anti nausea drugs

Not a patient but a HCP: have known lots of people to enjoy porridge and ready brek.
Even if it’s for every meal, it’s something.