The Third Step Manage Your Treatment of Cancer Overcome Fatigue and Nausea

The Third Step Manage Your Treatment

• The cancer journey can be a winding road, a complex navigational task. Ultimately, you the patient are the one who needs to be in charge.
• Many aspects come into play, including all the medical appointments, medical tests, and, most importantly, your self-care.
• All of these matters are your responsibility to monitor and implement. But the effort is manageable. Let’s explore some simple but powerful ideas that will make treatment management easier.

Read And Learn More: Cancer Essential Things To Do A Road Map For All Cancer Patients Treatment Diagnosis

Believe in Your Treatment Program

• Excited belief is one of the great intangibles in a successful cancer treatment program. It is a natural extension of your conviction about your integrated treatment decisions.
• And it is your personal responsibility to believe in, and even be excited about, your treatment program.
• Rachael Katz and May Tyson both attended one of our Cancer Recovery seminars in Atlanta. Rachael is a Georgia homemaker who started a course of radiation following surgery for breast cancer. Her attitude toward treatment was, “I guess it’s something I have to do.”
• May received virtually the same diagnosis about a month after Rachael. May also had surgery and a follow-up course of chemotherapy.
• But her attitude was totally different from Rachael’s: “I saw those chemicals as a great healing agent, something coming into my body to make me well. I welcomed my chemotherapy with open arms!”

Today May is free of cancer. Rachael continues to struggle.

• Cancer survivors develop confidence and an excited belief in their treatment programs that other patients do not possess. I am convinced that a direct correlation exists between belief in one’s treatment and its effectiveness.
• My observations of the importance of belief in cancer treatment led me to respect the awesome power of the mind and the human spirit in the cancer journey. I want to see you mobilize those resources in your own program.
• Cassandra Pooley is a California wife, mother, and now retired elementary school teacher. After three years of remission, she had a recurrence of breast cancer including liver and bone metastasis. Her doctors gave her less than a year to live. “I knew I was at the crossroads,” said Cassandra.
• “And when I learned that survivors held an excited belief about their treatment, I knew I had to change my expectations and get excited.”
• You can observe excited and expectant belief in survivor after survivor. I fully realize my observations are only anecdotal evidence and cannot stand up to scientific scrutiny. But I do believe this hypothesis is true. Cancer survival is a matter of involving both the head and heart.
• I have seen beliefs and attitudes like May’s and Cassandra’s make the difference in hundreds of cases.’In me the correlation between belief in treatment and the effectiveness of treatment is very high.

Someday the scientific and medical communities will fully document the biological reality of this kind of optimism. In the meantime, I suggest you not enter the debate. Instead, learn from the survivors and develop an excited belief about your treatment.

An Essential Thing to Do

“Own” your treatment program. See it as a friend. Believe it is there to help you. Excited belief is what you seek.

Overcome Fatigue and Nausea

Extreme fatigue is reported by nearly 90 percent of cancer patients both during and after treatment. Worse, getting more sleep or rest often does not relieve the fatigue.

• In fact, cancer-related fatigue is one of the most profound and distressing survival issues patients face.
• This unique type of fatigue can have dozens of causes, and for patients who have completed cancer therapy, fatigue is among their foremost concerns, second only to fear of disease recurrence.
• What can be done? Moderate exercise is the number one treatment for fatigue. In patient after patient, exercise was found to mitigate fatigue and lead to more restful and predictable sleep. You’ll find more information on this important thing to do in section 26 of this book.
• In addition, the popular dietary supplement ginseng appears to relieve fatigue and boost energy levels in people with cancer. Researchers studied 282 people with breast, colon, and other types of cancer. They were randomly assigned to take 750 milligrams, 1,000 milligrams, or 2,000 milligrams of American ginseng or a placebo daily for eight weeks.
• About 25 percent of those on the two highest doses reported their fatigue was “moderately or much better,” compared with only 10 percent of those taking the lowest dose or the placebo. Also, energy levels were about twice as high in those taking the 1,000-milligram dose as those taking the placebo.
• People taking the two highest doses also reported generally feeling better, with improvements in mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. And they said they were more satisfied with their treatment.
• The researchers tested the Wisconsin species of American ginseng, which is different from Chinese ginseng and other forms of American ginseng sold in health food stores.
• The ginseng was powdered and given in capsule form. However, the question remains unanswered on interactions with some conventional medical treatments.
• Next is nausea. One of the realities for about half of the cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy is nausea.
• While there are other side effects, including hair loss, fatigue, and the decreased ability of the body to make red and white blood cells and platelets, nausea is typically the most uncomfortable.
• It may or may not include vomiting. Most people can significantly improve this experience, but it takes some experimentation.

Here are some suggestions:

• Ask your oncologist for antinausea medication. Compazine, Tigan, and Zofran are commonly prescribed. Try taking them thirty to sixty minutes before treatments.
• Use relaxation exercises.
• Eat smaller meals more often. Try six daily meals.
• Emphasize low-fat foods, especially fresh fruits.
• Limit liquids taken with meals. Drink no liquids in the hour before meals and the hour following meals.
• But be sure to take in enough liquids at other times. If you choose chemotherapy, your oncologist will tell you to drink more liquids to ensure good urine flow and minimize problems with the liver, kidneys, and bladder.
• Clear, cool liquids arc recommended. Iced green tea, ginger ale, clear broths, ice pops, or apple juice ice cubes are worth trying. Take all liquids slowly.
• Eat dry food such as crackers, toast, or popcorn—especially at the start of the day or at the first sign of nausea. Sorry, no butter on the popcorn.
• Do not lie down for two hours after eating. You can rest sitting up. Or if you simply must stretch out, prop a couple of pillows under your head to gain elevation.
• Sometimes loose clothing or fresh air will help in nausea control.
• Ask your pharmacist about Travel-Eze or Seaband antinausea wrist bands.
• Drink ginger root tea steeped with peppermint.
• Goldenseal root may be helpful.
• Try hypnosis. Several small clinical trials have shown significant reductions in nausea and vomiting versus no hypnotherapy.

An Essential Thing to Do

Experiment. Clearly, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to fatigue and nausea. You’ll need to try the suggested ideas. They have proven successful for many other cancer patients. They may be just the answer you have been searching for.

Make the Most of Your Appointments

Free and open communication between you and your healthcare team is one of the most important aspects of your cancer recovery journey.

• You need to stay informed. You want feedback. But seldom is this information volunteered. You’ll have to ask for it.
• Wise patients bring a list of questions to virtually every medical appointment. If you have continuing or new symptoms, ask about them.
• If you are experiencing side effects, ask about them. Ask for further information about issues raised from your reading or from talking to other patients.
• “My radiation technician started to tease me about all my questions,” said a retired Minneapolis professor who was being treated for prostate cancer.
• “I’d walk in the room and she’d say, ‘What’s on your list today, Dr. Nelson?’ But I was determined to participate fully, to be an active patient. So I didn’t let her remarks bother me in the least.”
• Speak with total honesty to your doctor and the entire healthcare team. They are not mind readers. Tell them your problems and ask for their opinions. Bring a family member with you if you
  have trouble being assertive.
• He or she can be your advocate. Many people are intimidated by their doctors. If you are one of these people, recognize it and act immediately to remove that needless hurdle. If you are having trouble understanding and absorbing medical information, bring a tape recorder. Then you’ll be able to review explanations and instructions at your convenience.
• In case this hasn’t been emphasized enough by now, please understand that your ability to ask questions is one of your most significant points of power. When in doubt, write down your questions and then read them from your list.

One other insider’s tip: If you truly want to make the most of your medical appointments, get in the habit of expressing your sincere gratitude to your medical team.

• One of a group of doctors at a large healthcare system in Pittsburgh lamented to me, “We try so earnestly to help a patient. I wish once in a while they would simply say thank you.”
• I clearly remember giving an appreciative hug to my oncologist. From that day forward I was treated like royalty in that office. Start showing your appreciation to these very important people in your life. Remember, they’re people who respond to you just as you respond to them.

An Essential Thing to Do

In your Wellness and Recovery Journal, record both your medical questions and the answers you are given. Keep this information handy.

• Bring it to your appointments. If you rely on your memory or record your questions on bits of paper scattered here and there, you’ll never obtain timely and accurate information.
• Write a thank-you note to at least one person on your medical team following your next visit.

Monitor Your Progress

• As you continue your treatment program, you’ll be given tests to determine how well it’s working. Ask about the tests prior to agreeing to them.
• Then insist that the doctor share the results in the form of copies of your test reports.
• It’s uplifting to know that you are making progress. But even a report that is less encouraging can have a positive side.
• It should lead you to consider other forms of treatment. Many exist. If all standard therapies have been exhausted, ask about investigative treatments. Or look more seriously at the complementary and alternative choices.
• It is your responsibility to monitor your treatment program. Don’t wait. Ask.

An Essential Thing to Do

Ask your doctor how and when he or she will check the progress of your treatment. Write this information in your Wellness and Recovery Journal. Then be certain tests occur as scheduled.