Breast cancer continues to be one of the most frequent tumors in women.. Its current incidence rate, according to GEICAM, is 132 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This type of cancer is most often diagnosed between the ages of 45 and 65. Chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatments to combat it, but with it nausea appears.
This is one of the fears that women have when starting chemotherapy to be able to deal with this disease, because it not only causes them discomfort and fatigue. The GEICAM ensures that, if they are not prevented and lead to vomiting, can “result in serious metabolic disturbances, nutritional decline and anorexia, impaired mental and physical status, discontinuation of antineoplastic treatment, and impaired functional capacity”.
Why does nausea appear with chemotherapy?
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From CancerCare They explain that the reason for this unpleasant symptom with chemotherapy is “several chemicals, including those called serotonin and substance P, are released, triggering nausea and vomiting.” However, this is not to say that all patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer will experience nausea.
Sometimes, anxiety or fear that this side effect will make an appearance is the real cause of its appearance. Well, on some occasions, the doctor can supply a preventive drug to avoid them. Therefore, when nausea occurs, even in these cases, it is called “anticipatory nausea” and is sometimes even related to the smell of the hospital itself, according to the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC).
Ways to treat nausea from chemotherapy
From the AECC they report that administering an antiemetic drug before chemotherapy can help reduce nausea that it can cause. Likewise, we must try to calm the anxiety and expectations about the appearance of nausea that do not have to appear in all cases. There are women undergoing treatment for their breast cancer who do not experience them.
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In addition, they explain from the Association that despite receiving the appropriate drugs so that nausea does not appear, or does so very slightly, avoid unpleasant odors. Likewise, it is also important to distribute the food in small quantities throughout the day so as not to have that feeling of heaviness in the stomach that can lead to nausea and vomiting.
Other advice they give us is not eat anything for at least 2 hours before receiving chemotherapy treatment. However, chewing food well and resting after each meal is essential to reduce nausea. All this, accompanied by relaxation techniques, can be very useful to eliminate that feeling of vomiting after receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer.
The psychological component of nausea from chemotherapy
Although chemotherapy treatments are very strong and it is common for patients to experience nausea during them, preventive drugs help a lot to prevent nausea from appearing. Therefore, it is possible that if they still do it, and in a serious way, there is a psychological component that should be treated with a psychologist specializing in cancer treatment.
If nausea ends up causing vomiting, the situation becomes more complex. Breast cancer patients may not be well nourished because the body is unable to assimilate nutrients from food or may become severely dehydrated. Thus, You have to change the preventive drug whenever necessary and treat anxiety if this is the problem.
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