Headaches

[Shaeff]

Hi everyone,

We started 1st chemo treatment on Thursday consisting of Adriamycin and Cytoxin along with a bunch of anti nausea drugs. Things are going pretty good except for low grade headache. Does anyone have foods or other things (other than drugs) that can reduce the headaches. Since we are taking a lot of medications I would be afraid to throw another one into the mix without talking to the onc.

Carole has been drinking a lot of water and trying to get 90 gms of protein per day. Other than being tired and the headaches she is doing real well, no nausea yet.

Good luck to all and keep fighting,

Shaeff

[jjfromcanada]

Most oncs will only recommend Tylenol and I never liked to take anything else for any pain especially when I was having chemo. And I too had low grade headaches after chemo.

I have also had migraines and sinus headaches since I was a teenager.

I recommend either ice or heat packs. It depends on the type of headache which I use. I keep ice packs in our freezer and wrap them in towels (my husband calls them by blue bricks) or I have heat packs that can be quickly warmed in a microwave. With chemo I found the heat packs worked better. But just go by what feels best.

Also few drops of lavender oil on a tissue helps. Just take a sniff every so often. And a bath (I normally hate baths) with lavender oil is good. Rose oil is good too though expensive. Also peppermint and eucalyptus. Not together! Aromatherapy is very good for headaches and for help with nausea.

So go to bed in a cool dark room, with soft little blankets you can wrap or unwrap yourself in, then sniff some lavender and put the appropriate pack on your head and at the back of your neck. If I told you the visualization I use, you'd think me crazy!

[shaeff]

Thank you JJfromcanadafor your reply. We tried the heat pack and it seemed to help. We also found that drinking green ice tea also helped the headaches.
Again, thank you for the reply and good luck,

Shaeff

[suzan w]

Sounds like we are following about the same path!!!I just had my 2nd round of A/C 10 days ago and head off for Round#3 on Wed. I totally sympathize with the low-grade headache thing!!!!!!!! BINGO! I have talked to my onc. 3 times about this as I, too, have been plagued with this dull headache pain-since start of chemo. And, nothing seems to work to make it go away. My onc. says, "oh, just a tylenol should take care of it..."well, it is not working! I have been sick with another type of infection for the past week-if you have noticed my other post tonight!)but the headache is getting old.When I go for treatment Wed. I am going to ask the chemo-nurse about it, as we all know, sitting with our chemo nurses for hours every other week or so, we get to chatting....Good luck with your chemo!!! WHat is your DX? I had a bilateral mast. in June, invasive lobular, no spread, Her2+++, ER+,PR+

[Gina]

ok, my 2 cents worth,

When I was taking CAF, I got these same dull-headaches as well and was just talking about them with another cancer friend earlier this evening as we chatted about the "good ol' chemo days BEFORE HERCEPTIN" yeah RIGHT! smile. Anyway, if it is a dull ache that nothing can stop that is near your right (usually) temple but could be your left, 9 times out of 10 it is a physical indication of a low Red BLOOD cell count and about the only way to make the pain stop is to be sure your RBC stays over 4, something very hard to do while on CA and other chemos.

Fortunately there are at least three ways to treat the root cause:

One, you can take the "easy" road and ask your onc for the shot to raise your Red Blood counts;

Two, you can raise them yourself by drinking a glass of Welches concord grape juice every day and increasing your protein and red meat in take..liver or liver pate is especially effective, but if you are vegan, you can try apricots, raisins, grapes, and spinach.

Three, for fast temporary relief till the RBC's come back up you can get a GRANNIE SMITH apple, cut it in half and start smelling the apple for about 3 minutes as soon as you cut it...as crazy as it sounds..something about the fresh enzymes do the trick.

Oh, yes, also try going to sleep as soon as it starts so as to give your body time to make more RED Blood cells which I think I read somewhere are predominently produced only when the body is at rest...fyi, hope some of these tips help, Gina P.S. .let me know if they do or if you find other things that work so I can pass the info on to my folks here. Many thanks, GP