Wednesday 11 May 2016
Weight loss
Though my husband's tumor is stable, at least as of last month's MRI, he continues to struggle with weight loss. He barely eats 750 calories a day. He's lost over 25 lbs, mostly muscle mass. I know that this is partly from the side-effects of chemo but some of this pre-dates chemo and must be tied directly with the tumor. His tumor is in the right frontal lobe. A neighbor who is an emergency nurse recommended Megestrol Acetate to increase appetite. It has been used for other cancers and HIV/AIDS patients. Does anyone here grapple with the same issue? The other thing that is compounding the problem is Provigil, which he takes to stay awake but is also an appetite suppressant.
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My Dad dropped over 50 pounds from the time we started radiation to now. We fought and fought with his oncologist to get a G-tube put into his stomach. Finally that Oncologist went on maternity leave and the backfill had no issue with it. Dad has gained 7 pounds already in just under a month. We tried pot, dexamethasone, to get him to eat but had no luck. He has strong aversions to food and even food smells - we all have to eat outside. If you can get a G tube I would do it. My mom is a retired GI nurse so she knew all about them, but I didn't know anything and it's been really easy to use. We also have an added benefit of putting his supplements and capsules directly into his stomach now. Saves us 40 or so pills to take.
ReplyDeleteBTW the G tube doesn't take away from eating or drinking. Dad still drinks ensures and takes a few bites of yogurt here and there. It was important to me that it didn't make eating completely 'medical', if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI had a resection in March followed by a greatly diminished appetite. Once I started eating sugary foods again my appetite took off and I gain 10 pounds of solid fat which I am going to try to get rid of starting today.
ReplyDeleteHow is the provigil working out for your husband? I absolutely can't concentrate but can't find a doctor willing to give me a prescription.
ReplyDeleteThe provigil has helped a lot. My husband would normally sleep 5-6 hour naps during the day, now only 2 hours and is usually up watching TV with me until 9:00/10:00 pm. Another place to buy provigil is Mexico. Good luck.
DeleteMy mom struggled for 3 weeks with loss of appetite and severely sweet taste in mouth after the surgery and became very weak. But then they started her on Megestrol twice a day and she has done quite well on that. She eats well now even though the taste is a bit of factor yet. We have put her on mild Ketogenic diet (hardly any sugar and low carb). We stopped Decadron.
ReplyDeleteGreg's neuro-onc won't prescribe Megestrol, she said too many side- effects. He's on 4mg of dec in morning and 2mg of dec at night along with 250mg of keppra twice of day for seizure maintenance. Cannabis is not helping with appetite.
DeleteHis neuro-onc was also concerned about blood clots with Megestrol.
DeleteMy wife dropped down to 74 pounds and nothing, including cannabis, could get her appetite up. However the doctor that devised the CUSP9 protocol recommended that she take 15-30mg of Remeron, which caused her appetite to skyrocket. She gained six pounds in a month.
ReplyDeleteI would absolutely try to get a script for that if possible. It also aids in sleep so take at night.