Diet and rehabilitation exercises for lung cancer

  Many lung cancer patients will have various problems in the process of disease treatment. In fact, when the condition worsens, it is most likely due to improper care, which we should avoid. As for the dietary care and daily activities of lung cancer patients, we need to pay more attention to them.  Many people may not be very clear about the dietary care for lung cancer patients. First of all, we have to realize that lung cancer is very harmful and will cause a lot of wear and tear to the patient’s body, so the patient’s body is weak and needs more rest. Therefore, patients’ bodies are weaker and need more rest. During radiation treatment, dry mouth, dry throat, cough and less phlegm, burning pain in the skin will occur, and worse still, the patient’s lungs will be injured, so patients should eat more yin and blood nourishing foods in the past, mainly fresh vegetables and fruits.  Tumor patients generally require a light diet, and lung cancer patients are no exception. As long as the food is light, fresh, nutritious and easy to digest, no or less spicy and stimulating food, no smoking and alcohol are allowed.  Diet for lung cancer patients after surgery: After surgery, lung cancer patients will suffer from shortness of breath, chest tightness, night sweats, etc. Diet should be mainly for nourishing blood, such as yam, lotus root, jujube, egg, lean meat, cabbage, cinnamon, pine nuts, apple, etc.  Diet for lung cancer patients during radiotherapy: foods that nourish Yin and nourish blood should be chosen, mainly fresh vegetables and juicy fruits, such as: almond, water chestnut, white pear, persimmon, loquat, wolfberry, sweet orange, Luo Han Guo, banana, walnut, silver fungus, lily, tomato, spinach, honey, donkey skin paste, jellyfish, silver fish, etc.  Diet adjustment during chemotherapy for lung cancer patients: when lung cancer patients receive chemotherapy, they will have symptoms such as weakness, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and even bone marrow suppression, white blood cell reduction, etc. They can eat more spine soup, rib soup, carp soup, cilantro carp soup, bird’s nest, shiitake mushroom, fungus, jujube, sunflower seeds, joint-coated peanut, donkey skin paste, dishes made of pig skin, eggs, milk, etc.  Lung cancer patients can eat more alkaline foods to improve their acidic constitution and replenish the organic nutrients necessary for human body, which can restore their immunity while starving cancer cells.  Weakly acidic foods include: white rice, groundnuts, beer, wine, fried tofu, seaweed, clams, octopus, mud fish.  Weakly alkaline foods include: red beans, radish, apple, collard greens, onion, tofu, etc. Medium alkaline foods are: dried radish, soybean, carrot, tomato, banana, orange, fenugreek, strawberry, egg white, dried plum, lemon, spinach, etc.  Strongly alkaline foods include: chamagoo, grapes, tea, etc.  Daily care for lung cancer patients after surgery is the most important. If postoperative care is not done well, it will not only affect the health recovery of patients, but also may lead to metastasis and spread of cancer cells and make patients’ disease recur. Therefore, we must take good care of patients in order to achieve the recovery effect.  Post-operative care for lung cancer patients Firstly, pay attention to sputum discharge. After lung cancer surgery, patients should actively carry out respiratory rehabilitation exercises to prevent pulmonary atelectasis and respiratory system infection. Patients should be allowed to actively cough and take deep breaths. Family members should assist patients in coughing and sputum excretion every day.  Second, muscle rehabilitation. Because of the large incision of lung cancer surgery and many severed muscles, muscle adhesions and ankylosis can easily occur after surgery, therefore, the recovery of muscle function is also an important part in the rehabilitation care. On the second day after surgery, family members should assist patients to do activities such as shoulder and arm bending, supination and inversion on the operated side every 4 hours, and keep observing the sitting and walking postures of patients, and correct the sloping shoulder and upper body scoliosis in time to avoid the occurrence of scoliosis. On the third postoperative day, patients were encouraged and urged to use the arm on the operated side to carry tea cups, eat and comb their hair, and the hand on the operated side crossed the top of the head to touch the ear on the opposite side several times a day. The family can tie a rope on the bed end rail and let the patient practice sitting up, lying down and getting out of bed by himself by pulling the rope with the arm of the operated side to enhance the muscle tone of the shoulder, arm and back muscles of the operated side.  Third, the earlier the rehabilitation exercise, the better. Rehabilitation exercises should be started in the first postoperative period, that is, after the patient is awake from general anesthesia. At this time, family members should immediately assist patients to lift their hips and move their limbs, massage the upper limbs of the operated side, and put their hands under the patient’s back and rub the back muscles to improve blood circulation and restore muscle tone. After the drainage tube is removed, the patient can be assisted to get out of bed and walk indoors for 3-5 minutes every 4 hours in the early stage, and in the later stage, the patient can be allowed to get out of bed on his own.  Diet modification, rehabilitation exercise, muscle rehabilitation and attention to sputum removal are all important elements in caring for lung cancer patients.