Cancer: Controlling nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy
What causes nausea and vomiting?
Researchers do not know exactly why some chemotherapy drugs cause nausea and vomiting. They believe there are several ways that this can happen. Some drugs may affect the parts of your spinal cord or nervous system that trigger nausea and vomiting. Some drugs may cause nausea and vomiting by irritating the lining of your digestive system.1 Sometimes, if you had nausea when you had chemotherapy before, your brain remembers this and expects nausea when you have chemotherapy again.
Chemotherapy drugs are ranked according to how often they cause nausea and vomiting. Some cause very little of those side effects. Also, some people are more likely than others to get sick. Your doctor will consider many things about you, your treatment, and your cancer to decide if you are likely to feel sick.
Chemotherapy is more likely to make you feel sick if you:2
- Are female.
- Are younger than 50.
- Have a history of motion sickness.
- Have had nausea or vomiting with previous cancer treatments.
- Have a large tumor.
Whether you have nausea and vomiting may also depend on:
- What types of chemotherapy drugs you get. Some of these drugs are more likely to cause nausea and vomiting than others.
- How large a dose you get. High doses are more likely to cause nausea and vomiting.
- When and how often you get chemotherapy. If the time between treatments is short, your body has less time to recover from the nausea and vomiting before you get your next dose.
- How the drugs are given. A drug that is given through your vein (IV) may cause nausea and vomiting sooner than a pill that is swallowed, because your body will absorb the IV drug faster.
- Individual differences. Not every person reacts the same to the same medicine.
- The antinausea medicine you are taking. If it isn't working for you, you may need to try a different one.
You may feel sick shortly after your chemotherapy treatment begins. Or you may not feel sick until a day or two later. You may not feel sick at all. As soon as you start to feel sick, tell your doctor.
Many people start feeling sick before a treatment session even begins. This is called anticipatory nausea and vomiting. Any little thing—the smell of an alcohol swab, the sight of a nurse's uniform, the sounds of the treatment room—may trigger nausea. This usually doesn't happen until after the third or fourth treatment session. Learning how to control anticipatory nausea and vomiting is important, because it can make nausea and vomiting more severe once the chemotherapy actually starts.
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| Author: | Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH | Last Updated: October 30, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Michael Seth Rabin, MD - Medical Oncology | |
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