Mainly from three aspects: mindset, diet, exercise.
Mindset
Not only does the disease make the body weaker, but more importantly, the side effects of chemotherapy can be very painful, with nausea and vomiting being the most common and unpleasant.
Nausea and vomiting usually occur a few hours after chemotherapy and do not last long. Severe nausea and vomiting that lasts for several days is uncommon. It is important to inform the doctor or nurse when a patient is unusually nauseous, vomits for more than a day, or is so nauseous that he or she cannot even swallow liquids.
Changes in diet and antiemetic medication can reduce both symptoms.
Diet
Diet should come with this treatment. Active eating is an important point. Rich nutrition can promote the body to go through the surgery smoothly, promote the healing of incision and recover health soon.
Breast cancer patients’ taste and appetite may be reduced during radiotherapy and chemotherapy and for some time afterwards. At this time, the patient’s diet should be nutritious, with some efforts on color, aroma and taste, and based on the principle of eating light and easily digestible food.
At this time, only a certain degree of pain is temporarily brought, and it is necessary to consciously overcome these side effects with optimism and tenacity, and insist on eating moderate amounts of easily digestible and highly nutritious food to ensure that the body can accept and complete various treatment plans on time.
In addition, it is also important to eat in moderation and not in excess. Over nutrition as well as obesity have adverse effects on the occurrence and development of breast cancer. Therefore, during the long-term life after treatment, you should adhere to the principle of eating in moderation but not in excess, while ensuring nutritional needs. It is very important to eat regularly and quantitatively, not to overeat or overeat partially, and to choose food in a planned way for nutrition and calories. It is beneficial to choose foods that are beneficial to the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. This one will focus on.
Rice and noodles should not be too refined, and it is appropriate to eat more coarse grains, corn and other mixed grains, and a high fiber diet is beneficial for breast cancer patients. After chemotherapy, you can consider cooking oatmeal, eating tofu and corn, etc. if you have lost appetite.
Eat a low-fat diet, often lean meat, eggs and yogurt, and less salt-cured, smoked, fire-roasted and baked caramelized foods. For most cancer patients, avoiding eating is a universal problem. In particular, there are some false statements such as “no chicken”, “no egg” and “no crab”, which often make patients and their family members fearful and unsure of what to do.
Eat more fruits rich in carotenoids. Papaya and orange fruits and vegetables such as oranges, grapefruit, bananas, pears, mangoes, lemons and pomegranates are rich in the antioxidant carotenoids. The vitamins help boost immunity and enhance anti-inflammatory effects.
Regularly eat foods containing cancer cell inhibitors such as cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, capers, mushrooms, etc. In addition cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli and chard are rich in sulfur glycosides, which are important anti-cancer substances, in addition to polyphenols and multivitamins that help prevent cancer.
Dried fruits can also be used as daily snacks, such as sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and walnuts, which are rich in vitamins and trace elements, fiber, protein and unsaturated fatty acids.
Seafood contains iodine, which can lower estrogen levels in the body. Speaking of estrogen levels, many times, mastitis is due to high long-term estrogen levels thus slowly evolving into cancer.
Exercise
If you are not undergoing surgery, it is still easy to consider Tai Chi, walking, square dancing and some other exercises of weak intensity. Because planned and systematic limb function exercises can promote blood and lymphatic flow back to the limbs, reduce limb swelling and restore normal function earlier.
If you are having surgery, you have to take your time.
It is not necessary to carry out functional training of the upper limb on the day after surgery before the removal of stitches.
On the second to third day after surgery, repeated training of making a fist and releasing the hand, 10 to 20 times each time, 4 to 6 times a day to train the function of each small joint of the fingers.
On the 4th to 5th day after surgery, rotate the wrist joint, 10 to 20 times each time, 5 to 6 times a day. You can also train the elbow joint by flexing and extending the elbow with the help of the healthy hand, and lightly try the forward extension, backward lift, abduction and adduction of the shoulder joint.
On the 6th to 7th day after surgery, help the upper limb on the operated side to lift forward until it is level with the head, 3 to 5 times each time, 3 to 4 times a day, and stop when there is slight pain.
On the eighth to tenth day after surgery, first help the upper limb on the operated side to lift and abduct until it gradually exceeds the head, and then let the upper limb on the operated side alone to lift, posteriorly extend, abduct and adduct. Each time 3 to 5 times, 3 to 4 times a day.
10-14 days after surgery, let the shoulder on the operated side be abducted until the palm of the hand can be higher than the top of the head and gradually feel the contralateral ear. Do this 3 to 5 times a day, 4 to 5 times each time.
Rotational movements of the shoulder joint can be done on the 14th to 20th postoperative day, with the amplitude of rotation gradually increasing. If the above movements are completed within 1 month after surgery, the shoulder joint movement will return to normal.
After the removal of the stitches, the removal of the stitches usually begins 14 days after surgery and is completed after 7 days. After the removal of the stitches, adhere to the following exercise methods – stand with your waist extended, make a fist with both hands and flex your elbows, opposite your left and right hands, stretch upwards together, then make a fist and retract, do this 10 to 20 times. Then left hand up, right hand down, repeated training, each time 10 to 20 times, 2 to 3 times a day.
Climb the wall facing the wall, stand on separate feet, bend both elbows, hold the wall with both palms at about the height of both shoulders, then move upward through the flexion and extension of the fingers until both upper arms are fully extended. Do this 3 to 4 times a day, 2 to 3 times each time.
Rotate the rope facing the room door, tie the rope to the door handle, the patient grasps the end of the rope with his hand, the healthy hand is placed on the waist, the upper limb on the operation side is abducted 90 degrees, parallel to the ground, rotate the rope as widely as possible, the speed is gradually accelerated. 2 to 3 times a day, 20 to 30 turns each time.
Stick exercise take 1 meter long wooden stick, hands about 65 cm apart to hold the stick, arms straight lift the stick over the head, then bend the elbow, put the stick behind the head, then straighten, repeated training. 2 to 3 times a day, 15 to 20 times each time.
Sliding bar to take the rope used to turn the rope, throw over the curtain rod or door frame, people stand under it, each hand holding one end of the rope, straighten the arm, left and right arm up and down alternately sliding, repeated exercise, is conducive to restoring the mobility and muscle strength of the joints of the upper limbs.
Postoperative exercise must be early, such as 3 months after the start, the joint is likely to have adhesions, stiffness and fixed, it is difficult to fully restore normal. The prerequisite for the above training is good wound healing. If there is more blood and fluid accumulation under the skin, poor adhesion of the skin piece or extensive skin necrosis, the rehabilitation training should be delayed.