FOLFIRINOX Side Effects

[diane]

Hello Everyone

At the beginning of the year my husband was diagnosed with Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer, 5.5cm tumour. He started 12 rounds of FOLFIRINOX Chemotherapy last Wednesday, 3rd February.

Since the chemo, he has suffered increasing stomach pain with excess wind, bloating and burping. These were the symptoms prior to diagnosis which, prior to chemo, had been controlled with Morphine and Paracetamol but they are now back with a vengeance. He usually manages a small breakfast but can eat little for the rest of the day. Partly due to the pain but also knowing as soon as he eats the pain will get worse.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so do you know of any possible solutions.

Thankyou

[Gaffer]

Hi Diane

Sorry to here of your husband’s diagnosis. I unfortunately are in the same boat as you, as my husband too has PC.

The one thing I would ask is if you husband has been prescribed Creon?

This is a lifeline to my husband and helped so much with helping him eat and with the digestion of food, he lost quite a lot of weight since diagnosis. It’s a bit tricky at first with the dosage but it’s best to take more rather than less. You take it with every meal and by far made a difference to my husband.

The other thing I would ask is if your husband is taking something like Lansoprazole? This helps with acid reflux. Possible some extra anti sick medication may help too if taken about half hour before food but you would need to ask the oncologist about this.

I would also suggest you getting in touch with the specialist nurses at PCUK. Their knowledge is invaluable and they could give you more information about Creon. There is a support session on this subject on 25 Feb and I think you would benefit for signing up for this.

The other thing I would suggest is fortifying food to get more calories in, adding marvel powder to soups, porridge etc, using whole milk, making home made milkshakes with double cream. Your husband may not fancy a meal but could maybe tolerate a milkshake. If possible too ask for a referral to a dietician.

I know how scary it all is but in our experience knowledge is power so get the leaflets from PCUK and please use the discussion forums and most importantly the knowledge of the fantastic specialist nurses. I do not know where we would be without them.

All the best.

[Skippy]

Hello I'm sorry to hear your sufferings. My bro has same gastric symptoms, we are giving him optimum mass gainer high calorie protein shakes (choc flavour in Almond milk) a glass per day.

In addition we obt from our Dr a daily steroid tablet. We offer short snacks of chopped melon and raspberries blueberries etc. Any small things that may tempt his appetite.

We can just make offerings in hope he may fancy something. Ie scrambled egg.

We found creon helped in the toilet area which is varied from 2 to 5 per meal 30 mins before consuming.

I hope in my contribution this may help you.