Chemotherapy and Appetite

Chemotehpay effects

Patients who are involved in treatment that includes chemotherapy often find that they don’t feel like eating food like they used to and that they experience some sort of weight loss. Unfortunately, most of the medicines used for chemotherapy, react with the body in a way that causes loss of appetite and weight loss. This is due to many factors, one of which is the medicines and or the cancer itself may affect the body’s metabolism.

Mild anorexia

This could lead to a mild form of anorexia. Sometimes the cancer and treatment required to fight it are severe and the anorexia could lead to cachexia. Cachexia is malnutrition that causes muscle loss. A way to treat this is to eat properly so the body has all it needs to battle the cancer and help fight other side effects of the medicines needed in treatment.

It is not uncommon to have a decreased appetite and the appetite usually returns once the chemotherapy is finished. There may be some weeks before the appetite returns to normal, and this is very normal. The severity of the appetite and weight loss differs with different cancers and chemotherapy treatments.

It is important to talk with your doctor about this. There are different ways they can treat you and different medicines they can administer to help with the problems of weight loss and appetite problems.

Chemotherapy can cause vomiting, weight loss, and appetite problems. But there are people who have gained weight during their chemotherapy treatments with the use of medicines that include steroids, forced rest, electrolyte imbalances, and fluid retention.

What to eat?

During cancer treatment and chemotherapy your weight will be monitored many times. You will also be given access to a nutritionist and it a dietitian to help you stay strong and maintain your weight. There are also several steps you can take to help you maintain your weight. These include:

Make your meals regular. Set a time to eat and eat.
Eat in between meals even if you don’t feel like it.
Eat several meals. Instead of three, eat five or six smaller meals.
Experiment with new foods and eat with your family or friends whenever you
can.
Use plastic forks if your food taste metallic and use glass pots for cooking.
Try to move and be active as much as you can to keep you muscles from
going into atrophy.
If you like candy or sweets, eat them whenever you can. Although they don’t
contain much in the way of nutrition, they do have calories and you will need all
of them you can get to keep your weight up.
Keep your fluids up. Drink lots of water. Also, there are waters out there with
protein in them to help you keep your protein levels up.
Milkshakes are a great way to get calories and protein.