Anorexia, nausea, and vomiting are the most common adverse reactions in breast cancer patients receiving antineoplastic therapy and are among the more common symptoms in patients with advanced disease.
These symptoms may adversely affect patients in many ways, physically and psychologically, leading to depression, communication problems, and reduced quality of life. If these symptoms occur, what should be done to manage them?
Consult your doctor to identify the cause
The first step is to ask your doctor to identify the specific cause of these symptoms. There are many possible causes, including the following.
- Caused by breast cancer itself, such as liver metastases, brain metastases with intracranial hypertension, massive ascites, bowel obstruction, etc.
- Complications of breast cancer, such as poor digestion, metabolic abnormalities (renal failure, ketoacidosis, hypercalcemia, adrenal failure, hyponatremia, etc.), constipation, infection, etc.
- These symptoms can be caused by breast cancer treatment, antitumor chemotherapy, radiation therapy, analgesic drugs (such as opioids), and anti-infective drugs.
- Inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Spiritual and psychological factors.
After the cause of the symptoms is identified, the physician will respond with a variety of modalities, including medication, psychotherapy, and daily care, as appropriate.
Take medication for the cause
For the cause of the specific symptom, the doctor will treat it with medication. The main conditions are as follows.
- For intracranial hypertension, treatment with radiation therapy, hormones, and dehydration.
- For those with large amounts of ascites, diuretic therapy, albumin supplementation to correct hypoproteinemia, and in severe cases, drainage of ascites may be required to relieve symptoms.
- In those with intestinal obstruction, fasting, fluid replacement, and supportive therapy are required.
- In those with dyspepsia, medications to enhance gastric motility may be used.
- In those with uremia, discomfort may be relieved by intravenous rehydration.
- In patients with hypercalcemia, the physician may consider fluids or bisphosphonates.
- People with gastric ulcers and gastritis are usually given proton pump inhibitors and H2 receptor antagonists.
- For constipation, laxatives may be used, and enemas may be administered.
- For those who develop an infection, the physician will provide aggressive anti-inflammatory therapy.
- For vomiting due to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, doctors may use 5-TH receptor antagonists and NK-1 receptor antagonists, and hormone prophylaxis.
- For psychological causes of nausea and vomiting, anti-anxiety and depression treatment may be given. Sedation may also be administered.
- Family members should encourage breast cancer patients to actively cooperate with doctors in treatment, overcome tension and relax.
- Patients themselves should try to socialize more with friends, talk to their families, try to do some housework and listen to soothing music to relax their body and mind.
- Do and think about things that make you feel good.
- Patients, family members and doctors should try to communicate and collaborate, try to understand the causes of anorexia, nausea and vomiting, establish confidence in life and actively cooperate with treatment.
- You can eat less and more meals, eat easy-to-digest food, and those who cannot eat need to keep their mouth clean and receive oral care.
- If nausea and vomiting symptoms affect the effectiveness of the medication, it is important to communicate with the doctor in a timely manner. If you are unable to take oral morphine you can switch to analgesic patches or anal pain medication, and if oral NSAIDs cause gastrointestinal reactions, you can consult the doctor to reduce the dosage or switch the medication.
Psychotherapy
Aggressive psychotherapy can also help improve symptoms such as anorexia, nausea, and vomiting in breast cancer patients.
A positive and optimistic state of mind not only helps to reduce the symptoms of anorexia, nausea and vomiting, but also has beneficial effects on the treatment of tumors.
Daily care
In daily care, you can refer to the following principles.
Anorexia, nausea, and vomiting can seriously affect quality of life and may also affect confidence in fighting the disease. Breast cancer patients and their families should cooperate in all aspects, follow reasonable countermeasures to reduce the damage caused by the tumor itself and the treatment, relieve the fear and improve the quality of life from that.