I hadn’t been near my computer for a while, so this blog is badly in need of updating.
My recent scans were goodish news – my lung metastases have reduced from 4 to 2 and are inconsequential as far as size goes. My brain metastasis is really the only cause for concern and that is stable – no increase in size, but not the reduction that I would hope for.
I am still on Everolimus (5mg) and Lenvatinib (10mg) and the side effects are not too worrying – mainly tiredness and lack of energy. Not like when I was on a higher dose of Lenvatinib when I had no appetite and was nauseous much of the time.
I am still going to the gym and that is doing me good, but I haven’t been much in the last two weeks for a couple of reasons. One is that I have had a persistent minor chest infection – the sort of thing that one would normally shake off in a few days, but for the medication which compromises the immune system. I take things like Vitamin D to help boost my immune system, but it is still not what it was. The other reason my gym time has reduced is that I am not allowed to drive, and public transport means that I have quite a long walk from the bus stop to the gym. That walk was great when the weather was better – a nice walk mostly through a park, but it is somewhat less appealing when the weather is cold and wet as it has been recently.
I asked my oncology consultant about getting my driving licence back. I haven’t had any problem with fits or blackouts since my treatment over 3 years ago. He agrees that he is not really the person to judge on brain issues, so he has referred my request to the consultant who treated my brain tumour in Birmingham. I have yet to hear back.
I make no secret of the fact that I believe that holistic therapies can play a part in healing cancer alongside conventional therapies. I certainly do not feel inclined to abandon conventional therapy in spite of the sometimes awful side effects. The Everolimus and Lenvatinib that I am taking sometimes leaves me feeling a bit limp and washed-out, but the current dosage is not too bad most of the time. I just hope it is doing some good.
The one thing that most holistic practitioners recommend is carrot juice. Juicing is a bit of a bother, but at least you control the quality of what goes in. Two of our closest stores stock organic carrots (I try to buy organic where feasible and affordable). Aldi sell them in 0.75kg bags and M&S in 1kg bags. I usually juice a bag at a time and add a celery stick also some extra-virgin olive oil to the juice. The reason for the oil is that some supplements I take are fat soluble and I take them with the juice. One lot of juice usually lasts a day and a half to two days. I bought a relatively inexpensive Housnat juicer from Amazon and it has given sterling service. I didn’t want to spend too much because I didn’t know whether I would be able to persist with this. However, I find myself happily doing this every other day and I do really like the juice. It tastes delicious to my mind.
This is the juicer I bought some months ago and feel that it has paid for itself. It is quite easy to use – I cut the carrots into strips and feed them down the tube from which they get mashed and squeezed with the juice pouring down into the jug and the squeezed out bits being deposited into a container. I have heard of people putting some of these squeezed out bits on their porridge (which is also considered to be quite a healthy breakfast – I get organic oats from Aldi and make it with water because I avoid dairy and sweeten with a small amount of manuka honey).
It may seem a waste just using the juice from carrots, but that is where a lot of the goodness lies. There is no way that I could eat the required amount of raw carrots to get the same benefit.
The illustration above shows fruit and vegetables being juiced, but I prefer to make vegetable smoothies in a blender. I typically blend a stick or two of celery and a few inches of cucumber, both beneficial for cancer, with a bit of almond milk and I sometimes add an apple because I think it makes the end result a bit tastier,
I have very recently been loaned a copy of The China Study and am so impressed that I have ordered my own copy. In essence, this is a very detailed and scientific investigation into the effect of diet and nutrition on disease, not specifically cancer, though cancer features quite prominently in the investigation. It is very well written and easy to read
The reason that this book is called The China Study is that the bulk of the research on people and their diet and their diseases was conducted in China. The advantage of China is that the vast majority of the population is of the same ethnicity and that it is a vast country across which diet and lifestyles vary. That removes questions of whether different findings relate to ethnicity, as would be the case if comparing one country with another, and it still enables the study of different outcomes from different diets.
The book was first published in 2004, but I am reading the later version, updated in 2016 and as shown in the illustration above.
Content
The book covers more than the China Study – it is essentially a very interesting, and I find exciting, history of the development of research into the connection between diet and disease, primarily the authors’ own experience and experimentation, but also the work of others. The author, T. Colin Campbell was director of the China Study, which was a collaborative program with American, Chinese and British researchers.
As well as the observation of human diet and disease, there is also reference to animal studies which are more controlled, but not necessarily applicable to humans. The applicability to humans is confirmed by the population studies.
What is quite dramatic in the animal studies is the way cancer growth (my main concern!) is turned on and off by changes in diet. That of course cannot ethically be conducted on humans, but what the China study shows is that the diet differences between different Chinese communities correlate with disease or health in the same way as the animal studies.
The diseases other than Cancer that are studied are Heart Disease, Obesity, Diabetes, Autoimmune Diseases and a few others. My main concern is Kidney Cancer, because that is where mine originated. Unfortunately it does not get a mention because it is not as common as many others. Nevertheless, there is good reason to believe that the same dietary advice applies.
The authors are American and there are a lot of comparisons of the prevalence of disease in the United States and China. America comes off quite badly, but it isn’t just America – there are other countries with prevalent diet-related diseases. Some reasons are geographic, some cultural and some relating to affluence.
Why Don’t We Know About This?
That really was my first question. Here we have a well-researched study into diet and disease – both the management and avoidance of disease – and we are not hearing about it unless we are motivated to do our own research or get lucky in hearing about these things through the grapevine. In my own case, I was aware of some of the dietary findings, but not about this book and the science behind it.
To be fair, I did check the websites of Cancer Research UK, The British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK, and they do include some dietary advice. Certainly this advice is not too far removed from the findings of The China Study, but it does not go the whole way and does include things that the China study indicates are probably undesirable.
We do expect the medical profession to keep up to date with all the research that affects their specialism. As far as diet goes, I don’t know whether they are not aware of works like The China Study, whether they don’t accept it or whether they are reluctant to suggest anything outside the accepted treatments of whatever disease they are dealing with.
In my own case, when I first consulted an oncologist, I did tell him that I was considering the ketogenic diet, having read some research that indicated it might be beneficial. Instead of telling me that was a bad idea (which I subsequently discovered to be the case), I was only told that it was a hard diet to follow and that best was a balanced diet. A balanced diet wasn’t defined, but I presume they would accept what was on the Cancer Research UK website as meeting the necessary criteria.
Another factor of course is that the medical profession are probably not involved until we have a disease that needs medical attention. They are in the business of fixing problems rather that preventing them in the first place. The difficulty with something like cancer is that it is likely the result of years of environmental and dietary abuse of our bodies, and curing it is a lot harder than living a healthy lifestyle that prevents it. A doctor cannot say that this diet or that diet will make it go away, or even effectively supplement the accepted therapies for cancer. What they can do is prescribe surgery and/or radiation and/or chemo where there is an established track record of these therapies – with the knowledge that they are not effective in every case, that some cancers won’t go away and others will cone back.
Conclusion
I am not qualified to repeat the findings of The China Study with any sort of suggestion that it will make your condition any better. I can only suggest that you read it for yourself and make up your own mind whether this is for you. You should feel free too discuss it with your oncologist. For myself, I had already adopted a diet that is quite well-aligned with the recommendations of The China Study and my recent scan results were quite encouraging. At the same time as amending my diet, I have continued my prescribed therapy of Everolimus and Lenvatinib and will continue to do so.
Addendum
I have done a bit more investigation since writing this article. The results are in this later post on Kidney Cancer Diet. What I learned is that detailed statistical analysis indicates that the conclusions of The China Study are not as well supported as they claim. So although there is some evidence that the conclusions might be broadly correct, it is not proof that they are. My later post discusses some of the other cancer diets that organisations and doctors are recommending, including the recommendations of Kidney Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK. I think there are some good guidelines, but ultimately you have to find something that works for you. A mostly vegan diet seems to be working for me at the moment, but if scan results show it is not working, then I will modify it in line with any more research that I do.
A couple of days ago I had my scheduled appointment with the oncology consultant. I was both eager and anxious for this appointment because I was to get the results of my recent scans. The CT scan of my body does not worry me greatly, although my lungs have four small metastases. Left to themselves, they are too small and slow-growing to be of much concern to someone my age, and they are totally symptom-free. On the other hand, the tumour in my brain stem is a major concern, and I have an MRI scan of my head for that. It was the symptoms of loss of balance and difficulty pronouncing some words that led to its discovery. If it grows too big, it will affect the ability of my brain to control my body, with devastating consequences.
The good news is that the MRI head scan showed that the brain tumour has shrunk significantly, as has the surrounding oedema, since my last scan 4 months ago. Praise God! This was my first scan since going back onto the Everolimus and Lenvatinib therapy at a reduced dose of Lenvatinib, so good to know that the reduction hasn’t done any harm.
That is not to say that the good result has come easily. First off, I give thanks to my Christian brothers and sisters who have supported me and the medical staff with their prayers. I firmly believe that this helps in general and specifically in steering us towards the right treatment.
The drugs have unwanted side effects, the worst for me being low energy and tiredness. On top of this, I have made major changes to my diet and supplementation to both detoxify and to consume those things that fight cancer and avoid those that tend to promote cancer growth.
The biggest dietary change has been to completely exclude sugar, red meat and dairy. I thought of going completely vegan at one time, but have since learned that the occasional organic free range egg is fine, as is a little white chicken meat, some fish, and cheese from sheep or goat milk. But I certainly miss my bacon at our monthly men’s breakfasts at Christ Church, Brownsover, which were about the only times that I had a full English breakfast. I still attend these for the company and the invariably interesting discussion after.
Very topical, as Christmas approaches, is that my alternative treatment involves both Frankincense and Myrrh, as oil in a blend of oils that I apply around my head and neck because of their anti-cancer properties. What we apply to our skin is absorbed into the body, which is why we need to be so careful about what cosmetics we use, as well as any chemicals with which we come into contact. Frankincense and Myrrh get several mentions in the Bible, not only as gifts to the newly born Jesus, so that reinforces their value. I also take Frankincense internally in the form of Boswellia Serrata capsules.
God, through His creation, has provided us with many natural medicines that we can use. In fact this was all that people did use until the pharmaceutical industry took off and persuaded people that man-made medicine was the way to go. Certainly the industry has done good, as well as a lot of harm. I think we have a problem in that a lot of the old “folk” remedies have been forgotten, but fortunately they are being rediscovered. Cannabis, for example, is a wonderful medicine for many ailments, including cancer, but is sadly hardly available legally in the United Kingdom, apart from the non-narcotic component CBD, which is legal and also beneficial, but not to the extent that the whole plant is.
Clearly the thing to do now is to continue along the same lines of medication and diet, perhaps refining it as I learn more. But as they say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Probably the best advice I can give myself for now. But I would really like to be free of the medication, so that I can feel normal again. Perhaps the oncologist will agree to a break of a month or two when my brain tumour is smaller.
As a result of my brain tumour growing slightly, I haven’t forsaken conventional medicine at this stage. I am back on Everolimus and Lenvatinib. Neither have I given up on holistic healing. I am hoping that the combination of conventional and “unconventional” will reduce the tumour to the point where I am comfortable giving up the drugs.
There is plenty of evidence that cancer is caused by the myriad of toxins in the environment and that we absorb into out bodies. Our bodies are excellent at fighting against these toxins until they are overwhelmed and we get sick.
While I was off the medication, I started to modify my diet, transitioning from a fairly conventional diet to a wholefood vegetable-based diet. In principle, that is a vegan diet, but eschewing anything processed, like pretend meat, sausages and burgers.
However, a really important stage in healing is detox to get rid of the many toxins that are in our bodies and mitigate the effects of any new toxins we are exposed to. I am following Dr Dana Flavin’s protocol that is on her website: Long-term Detox -A Lifelong Detoxification Plan for Protection – Collmed. I just received my order for all the nutrients and supplements yesterday and started on the protocol last night. It seems like a lot of tablets and capsules, but each one with good science behind it.
Equally important is to avoid exposure to new toxins. This means reducing EMF exposure and checking out all the chemicals, cleaners and cosmetics we are exposed to, and chucking out those which are dangerous.
I had an appointment with the oncologist last week, at which I got the result of my scan of a couple of weeks ago. Good news and bad news.
Head MRI Scan Results
The good/bad news was that the size of my brain tumour had increased by 3mm to 17mm. As mentioned before, I had declined further medication at my last appointment, about 8 weeks before this one. so whereas an increase in the tumour is disappointing, it could have been a lot worse.
I think the reason that it was probably a bit better than it might otherwise have been was that I modified my diet to cut out high sugar foods and most red meat and eating more fruit (it is blackberry season after all) and vegetables and making vegetable smoothies. I have also been taking some supplements with known anti-cancer properties.
What I didn’t do was detox, which most holistic cancer practitioners say is essential, and I didn’t cut out all dairy, which is also much recommended. I do have this weakness for butter and cheese, which I had probably best put behind me.
Next Steps
I decided to go back on the medication – daily 5mg of Everolimus and 10mg Lenvatinib, down from 14mg. My reasoning was that if the tumour grows too big, I will be seriously impaired as it reduces the connection between my brain and the rest of my body. It was the effects on my balance and speech that led to the discovery of the tumour in the first place. I am hoping this return to medication will be temporary while I learn more about detox and diet and natural healing.
As noted in my last post of August 4, “Feeling Good”, I was having a really good time off the medication – less tired, more appetite, no nausea, no pain, more energy and able to enjoy exercising, mostly riding a bike or walking. So going back on the medication was not an easy decision and it remains to be seen whether the lower dose of Lenvatinib reduces the severity of the side effects.
The reason that I am looking at alternatives is that the choice with conventional therapy is between living with the side effects of medication or a shorter life feeling good. Either way, it will get a bit unpleasant at the end, either because the tumour grows unchecked or because the medication stops working. nobody is making any predictions how long it will take in either case.
So what I have started doing is seeking the help of a natural healing doctor who has a record of success in helping people overcome their cancer, in order to get the advice I need about detox and diet. I am glad that, as a Christian, I have a positive outlook and can meditate and pray, because the mental and spiritual aspects of healing are not to be underestimated. Watch this space.
I haven’t posted for a while but thought it worth noting that I have been off the meds for about a month and feeling quite good as a result. As I noted in my post of 8 July, I agreed with the oncologist that I would suspend my combined therapy of Everolimus and Lenvatinib because the nausea, lack of appetite and lack of energy were taking their toll on my quality of life.
As I result I am feeling a lot better. I am eating well, though haven’t yet put much weight back on – only a couple of kilos. And I have a bit more energy as a result of which I have been exercising a bit more. But I need to increase my exercise further. We have had rather grey damp weather recently which has hindered my preferred exercise of cycling. We have an indoor exercise bike but that is not much fun. It certainly doesn’t compare to being out in the fresh air enjoying God’s creation.
Enjoying life again
And I find myself getting back into things that I was too lethargic to enjoy. I have a keen interest in classic racing bicycles and have several in various states of completion and restoration. These bikes have been languishing untouched for many months, as has my website about these bikes. I am in the process of redesigning the website which had got rather outdated and not good on mobile devices. And I am back to restoring and rebuilding some really good classic racing bikes, I am eager to ride them and photograph them for the website.
Next Steps
The fact that I have been off the Everolimus and Lenvatinib doesn’t mean that I have been ignoring the cancer. I haven’t done a full detox but I have made sure that I minimise my exposure to toxic materials. It is not generally recognised that whatever you put on your skin is to some degree absorbed by the body. I have even heard it said that you shouldn’t put on you skin anything that you wouldn’t eat. And even that eating these things is safer because your digestive system will eliminate some of it, whereas what is absorbed through the skin goes directly into your tissues and blood. So it is prudent to limit use of cosmetics and things like anti-perspirants.
The other part of my approach has been my diet. Cutting out foods that are high in sugar is a must, and something that I had been a bit careless about in the past. Also cutting down on meat and on processed food and increasing the consumption of healthy, and often raw, vegetables. I bought a blender and make smoothies with celery and other cancer-fighting vegetables.
I have also been reading up on the supplements recommended by doctors who specialise in the holistic treatment of cancer and am taking a number of those to supplement my diet.
Next Scans
I am due my next scans in a couple of weeks and hoping and praying that the results will be good enough that I can avoid going back on the medication. The big test of course is the size of my brain stem tumour. Two scans ago it showed a good reduction. Last scan it showed no change. I don’t know whether to interpret that as the meds becoming less effective, or whether to interpret that as the meds doing a good job stopping the tumour from growing. The next scans will show the effects of going off the meds and living a healthier life (though I recognise there is still more that I can do in that regard).
I have been on a combined therapy of Everolimus and Lenvatinib for metastatic kidney cancer in my lungs and brain since November 2022, so about 7 months. In that time my appetite has been badly affected and I have frequently felt nauseous. As a result of which my weight has reduced from 80kg to 68kg, which is quite a shocking reduction, seeing as how I wasn’t overweight to start with for someone of my height and build.
Added to my woes, I am just starting to feel better after 3 whole weeks of feeling really bad. It started with flu-like symptoms of headaches and aches and pains, then I developed a swollen and sore throat, badly affecting my voice, and then developed a mucus cough which I am at last getting over. A compromised immune system is one of the effects of the drugs and I assume that is why I have felt so bad for so long, with the sort of thing one expects to shake off within a week.
I had my regular meeting with the oncologist 2 days ago, on Thursday 6 July, and told him that I wanted to go off the medication for a bit so that I could get to feel normal again and hopefully repair my immune system. He agreed, but cautioned me that if I go off them too long, he will be unable to resume the same treatment, and he would have to start me on another drug.
At the same time, I have been looking at alternative therapies that might be kinder on the body and let me live a more normal life. I was learning particularly that some doctors are having impressive results treating cancer naturally as opposed to the traditional treatment of “cut, poison and burn” as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are popularly known. I have had all those, though the chemo is via a daily oral drug rather than being hooked up to a machine periodically.
Natural therapies make so much sense with three main components:
MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, SPIRITUAL wellbeing. These are widely recognised as having a major impact on our healing and health. I know in my own case I have had a bad time with anger, unhappiness and toxic relationships. Many people have experienced these or had other mental or emotional trauma. I manged to put much of it behind me when I became a Christian – being forgiven makes it so much easier to forgive. God forgives us but people may not be so forgiving, in which case all one can do is apologise and see whether there is any way to make amends. Sadly, if people are not forgiving and are angry and resentful, it only hurts them and ultimately hurts their health, as it undoubtedly did mine.
DETOXIFY. We are surrounded by toxins. They make us ill. They stop us from getting well. We need to detoxify our lives as far as possible and this means getting harmful chemicals out of our lives – things like cleaners, cosmetics, weedkillers, insecticides and so the list goes on. we should look at the ingredients of everything we use. Some things are hard to change – such as the impurity of our tap water. Although there are stringent requirements for the amount of various impurities in parts per million, there are so many impurities that added together, they form a substantial amount. So not only do we have to minimise ingesting new toxins, but we have to detoxify to get rid of the ones that remain in our bodies. This is something that I am researching how best to do and will update with my experience.
DIET. The consensus seems to be in favour of a mostly vegetable diet. Some advocate Vegan, some Vegetarian and others cutting down drastically on meat. There are differing opinions too on eggs and dairy. Where there is unanimity is on drastically cutting down on sugar and processed foods and refined grains, with an emphasis on buying organic where possible, which can unfortunately be expensive. Many doctors recommend various natural foods and food supplements with known anti-cancer properties
I am still in the process of researching and learning. Two websites that I like are the following. The people who started them are very generous with the information that they make freely available and both have plentiful experience successfully treating patients. They are:
What I particularly like about Dr Conners’ website is that it starts with a quotation from the Holy Bible, which is very apt and which well describes his philosophy.
I will provide updates as I go along and have some experience and results to share.
It is now just over a week since I have been taking steroids (daily 2mg Dexamethasone) and they seem to be working. I have had more energy and less nausea, though Thursday morning just gone I did wake and threw up, but felt fine after. None of the persistent nauseous feeling that I have had previously. It was more like having eaten something disagreeable and then feeling fine once one was rid of it. I was only prescribed 2 weeks of steroids and it will be interesting to see how I get on when they finish. It will be another 2 weeks after they finish before I see the oncologist again.
This is all a bit earthy, so don’t bother reading it unless you are suffering similarly, or know someone who is.
The first half of last week was pretty bad for the side effects of my Everolimus and Lenvatinib medication. Sunday was not too bad. I just felt a bit queasy and had no appetite. Monday was rather the same and things turned down on Tuesday afternoon. Sadly I had to miss Christ Church, Brownsover, men’s Film and Chippy evening that day through not being able to keep anything down. This nausea and lack of appetite lasted through Thursday. Although I was very bad again Thursday evening, things did look up a bit after that.
Thursday morning I had a face to face appointment with Dr Ik Shin Chin, a doctor who had recently joined Dr Yakhub Khan’s oncology team. I did have a telephone appointment with her 5 weeks prior, but this was our first actual meeting. I was weighed prior to the appointment, showing that I had lost another 4kg, over half a stone in old units, that I really don’t want to lose. Total lost so far 14kg or over 2 stone. Not good.
We discussed the two side effects that were giving me the most trouble. One was the nausea, vomiting and attendant loss of appetite; the other was the tiredness and lack of energy. She decided to prescribe a short trial of steroids (daily 2mg of Dexamethasone). Also a more powerful laxative than over the counter types in case I needed to take Ondansetron again.
Getting Better
Friday morning I took a final Ondansetron and started on the steroids – one tablet with breakfast. I actually felt better that day, though I can’t say which medication was responsible. Saturday I rather surprised myself. Lyn was planning to drop round to her daughter, who lives quite close, to help with the construction of a raised bed in their garden. I decided to go along too, not planning to do anything other than sit in the sun and give advice. It turned out I did quite a lot – just no lifting of the heavy timbers, which I left to the younger folk. I had to take a few more rest periods than in pre-medication days, but altogether quite promising.
And yesterday I felt fine after a good breakfast of toast, fruit and my diet of tablets, and then walking the half mile to church and then back after the service. Praise God.
I haven’t updated my health status for a while, for the simple reason that there is not much to report. I had a telephone appointment with the oncologist a few weeks ago. There wasn’t much to say on my part. I continue to feel very tired much of the time from lack of sleep and weakness caused by the medication. And I continue to feel nauseous from time to time with everything coming up about every week or 10 days. The Ondansetron quickly gets me over that, fortunately.
I have blood tests before every appointment to make sure that everything is in order and that I am tolerating the medication (Everolimus and Lenvatinib). The last blood test results were all good, so that I am continuing the medication at the same dose. I have a face to face appointment next week, but won’t know much more until after my next scans in about a month. From the point of view of quality of life it would be nice to reduce the medication, but I wouldn’t want to do that until after my next scans, the last ones being so positive.
I had my regular appointment with the University Hospital oncology team this morning. These are approximately monthly and this month it was by telephone with a new registrar Dr.Chin, whom I have yet to meet. I have a blood test just before these appointments and the purpose of the appointment is to review how I am feeling, to review any side effects of the medication, to review the blood test results and to prescribe the next month’s medication. So I discussed all this with Dr.Chin and, since everything is proceeding normally, she will be prescribing the same doses of Everolimus and Lenvatinib as before. The only really annoying side effects are low energy, poor sleep and nausea. No change there. We are at last getting slightly better weather with some nice sunshine, but I’m really looking forward to when it is warm enough to sit outside and catch some rays to boost my Vitamin D levels, which are so important for one’s immune system.
As stated elsewhere, I am on a combined cancer therapy of daily 5mg Everolimus and 14mg Lenvatinib. The major side effect that I have already commented on is nausea. Last time, I quickly resolved it by taking Ondansetron. Just make sure you have a supply of laxatives if you do the same.
I thought it might be helpful to list some of the other side effects, so that you know what to expect. It would also be useful to know if you have a different experience. Please leave a comment if you do. Generally, I am tolerating the drugs quite well and the side effects are not having too much of an effect on my life.
Tiredness and Weakness
Both drugs come with the common side effect of feeling tired or weak. Lenvatinib comes with the common side effect of trouble sleeping. I am having all these to some extent. Sleeping is variable. I have some very good nights, but some bad ones too where I am just lying in bed for hours not sleeping. Overall, I am not drastically sleep-deprived, but would like a bit more sleep. I am trying to combat these effects with more exercise. But exercise is a bit of a challenge when you are feeling tired and weak.
Itching
Again, both drugs have the common side effect of itching skin and that affects me. I do not notice it too badly during the day, but it is sometimes really annoying at night.
Red Hands and Feet
Both list redness of the hands and feet as being quite common side effects, It affects my feet more than my hands and doesn’t trouble me. My feet are not unduly sore or anything like that.
Changed Taste
I am finding that a lot of things taste different from before. Not for the better, either. Oranges taste bitter. Good red wine tastes worse that the cheapest red wine you can buy. I didn’t drink that much anyway, but it is a pity not to be able to enjoy it. Also texture matters more. I stopped liking steamed potatoes, but am fine with mashed or fried.
Mouth Sores
I am getting occasional mouth sores, which are a listed side effect of Everolimus. They are not really worrying so far, but would be if they got much worse. I have just started using Bonjela on them and that helps.
That is about all that is affecting me that I notice. There are potential effects on the kidney and liver, which would be detectable by blood test. I have blood tests every month and am told that the results are satisfactory soo far. I will report it if anything changes
Yesterday I woke up feeling a bit iffy, but had a light breakfast of tea and toast. About midday I ate a crumpet. About mid-afternoon, I was starting to feel quite nauseous and took an 8mg Ondansetron tablet. This is the same anti-sickness substance that I was given in the IV drip at the time of my last episode. In spite of that I was sick during the evening, and took another tablet after that. That seemed to do the trick. My stomach settled down and I wasn’t at all troubled during the night. I took another tablet this morning and will take another a bit later just to make sure. I was prescribed two a day when necessary.
This is a fairly common side effect of Everolimus and Lenvatinib. At least in my case it isn’t continuous and I hope other sufferers find the same. It may be a coincidence that this episode and the last both started on a Monday. Or perhaps it is in some way a consequence of “Sunday dinner” and a different eating pattern on Sundays. I am making sure to keep a note of what I eat and when to see if there is a correlation and therefore a way to avoid nausea.
Please leave a comment if you have experienced anything similar on Everolimus, Lenvatinib or other drugs, and what works for you.
I am currently on these two cancer drugs designed to prevent tumour growth and to prevent the formation of the new blood vessels they need. Unfortunately they come with side effects and one potential side effect is feeling sick. That hit me big time back in mid-December 2022, when I felt really sick, was sick and couldn’t keep anything down. That ended up with me being dehydrated and going to hospital where I was kept in and put on a drip with fluids and anti-sickness medication. Then I was OK until last Monday. Fine at breakfast and lunch. Then later in the day started feeling queasy, couldn’t eat an evening meal and was subsequently sick. I thought I might feel better the next day, but didn’t. I didn’t want to eat anything and only sipped water in a vain attempt to stay hydrated. Was sick during the day and 3 times that night. Next morning I called the Macmillan Nurse at University Hospital, Coventry and she arranged for me to go in to the oncology nurses’ clinic shortly after mid-day. I duly went and, as I find usual there, was given first class treatment, by really pleasant and efficient nurses. They did the usual checks and put me on a drip, again to hydrate me and inject anti-sickness medication. The medication went in first and then several hours of hydration. While that was going on, I started to feel much better and they kindly ordered me some food – my first in over 48 hours. I left about 5:30 feeling like a human being again and many thanks for the wonderful care I received.
