Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

COUNTERACTING SIDE EFFECTS OF CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY: TREATMENT OF NAUSEA/VOMITING

Diet

• Try to eat small amounts of food often. Eat six small meals a day instead of three large ones. Take at least one bite of food each hour to keep food in your stomach. An empty or full stomach can cause discomfort.

• Avoid greasy, fatty or fried foods. Plain foods are better tolerated than spicy foods.

• Do not eat large amounts of food prior to treatment.

• Regular sips of cool, clear drinks are useful, especially if you don’t feel like eating solid food. Drink plenty of liquids, especially energy-dense vegetable juices, fruit juices, ice cubes and soups.

• Fresh salads are easy to digest.

• Barley water is also useful.

• Try blending your meals into liquid form, warming and eating like soups.

• Treat yourself to your favourite healthy foods. Small meals eaten frequently will prevent nausea and maintain energy levels.

Beneficial Foods

• Ginger is great for nausea. You can chew on ginger or use it in your soups or cooking.

• Mustard seeds in cooking have also been used to decrease nausea.

• Olives helps to dry the mouth and minimize excess liquid that adds to stomach queasiness.

• Crackers or dry toast in the morning is helpful if you can’t face a large meal.

• Eat fresh fruits such as papaya, pineapple, apples, grapefruit and watermelon if you feel queasy in the stomach.

• Try drinking water mixed with baking soda to ease nausea. This reportedly works by neutralizing stomach acids. Alternatively, try a glass of water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.

Vitamins and Nutrients

• Try supplements containing slippery elm, glutamine, glucosamine, fructo-oligosaccharides, acidophilus, citrus pectin, aloe vera and pysllium husk – take 1 teaspoon in water 3 to 4 times/day. These nutrients in combination provide quick relief from the dreaded nausea; they also help to protect and repair the gut lining and prevent diarrhoea and constipation.

Take 120 mg of zinc and 50 mg of vitamin B6 per day

Herbs

Ginger root (1 to 3 grams of the dried root per day) will decrease nausea. Cinnamon sticks and cardamom seeds (approximately 8 seeds) may alleviate nausea. Use a nut or coffee grinder, place mixture in a jar and use one teaspoon in boiling water.

Goldenseal root (1 or 2 capsules 3 to 4 times/day – do not take for more than one week) is believed to ease nausea.

• Swedish Bitters formula (contains gentian, calamus, angelica, turmeric and many more) – 1 teaspoon in 60 ml of water, sipped over 20 minutes.

• Cloves taken as an infusion or take 1 to 2 drops of essential oil on food or clove powder sprinkled onto food.

Herbal Teas

• Ginger tea made with fresh grated ginger (1 teaspoon in boiling water) is very helpful in easing nausea.

• Other useful herbs include peppermint tea, meadowsweet tea, grapefruit (the tea is made from fresh grapefruit peel), peach tea, chamomile tea, raspberry leaf tea (600 ml of boiled water poured over 2 rounded teaspoons of dried raspberry leaves or chamomile leaves. Steep, strain and drink throughout the day.)

Homeopathics

• Ipecac is effective (prescribed by a homeopath).

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