There’s the nausea, the oral thrush, the mouth sores.
This is a big one - chemotherapy and other treatments can change the body’s response to food in many ways. To find out some of the best suggested “hacks” to combat side effects, read on:Įating during treatment. We asked and you responded via Facebook, Twitter, email, through interviews and more. In some cases, there may be medical options regarding ways to help manage side effects so it’s always good to check with your provider, but we wanted to hear patients’ – and their loved ones’ and care providers’ – favorite workarounds. Many people with cancer, such as Kakutani, have had to come up with their own tried-and-true ways to combat cancer treatments’ common and difficult side effects like “chemo mouth,” nausea, fatigue, neuropathy and more. “It was kind of comforting, like a little kid food,” she said. Sawdust.”Īfter trying out different foods that hurt too much to eat or didn’t appeal to her temporarily scrambled taste buds (even ice cream was intolerable), Kakutani found she could stomach cereal or graham crackers soaked in milk until they were soft and mushy. “I love food so this was definitely the hardest part of treatment for me,” Kakutani said. Kakutani, a primary care doctor in Winters, California, developed oral thrush, which made her mouth so sensitive that she had a hard time eating anything with texture, and the things she could eat tasted totally different. She was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer two years ago and her doctors started her on a chemo regimen with some brutal side effects. Carla Kakutani was in the thick of her first go-round of chemotherapy, it was a struggle to figure out her daily meals. Diversity, Equity and Reduction of Health Disparities.Immunotherapy, Data Science, and the Steam Plant.Institutional Partners & Collaborations.Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division.