Chemotherapy and radiotherapy
- Thread starter daisyduck
- Start Date
Bluetit1802
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- Type of diabetes
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- Diet only
I had both these in 2013 but wasn't diabetic at the time.
On chemo you have to have steroids for 3 or 4 days at the beginning of each cycle. These will raise your levels whilst taking them. It is also difficult to know what to eat because your taste buds change and every single thing tastes like putty at certain times during each cycle. You may also be advised to eat or drink certain things to help avoid side effects, foods that we, as diabetics need to avoid, such as cranberry juice, manuka honey, ice cream and bananas. You may also experience nausea, diarrhea and/or constipation so that may affect eating habits. Then add to that the stress to the body and how that affects your levels.
It won't be easy, but my advice is to concentrate on beating cancer rather than worrying about blood sugar levels and stressing about those in addition to everything else. One thing at a time. Once the chemo is over you can then turn your mind back to diabetes.
I wish you luck with your treatment and recovery xx
On chemo you have to have steroids for 3 or 4 days at the beginning of each cycle. These will raise your levels whilst taking them. It is also difficult to know what to eat because your taste buds change and every single thing tastes like putty at certain times during each cycle. You may also be advised to eat or drink certain things to help avoid side effects, foods that we, as diabetics need to avoid, such as cranberry juice, manuka honey, ice cream and bananas. You may also experience nausea, diarrhea and/or constipation so that may affect eating habits. Then add to that the stress to the body and how that affects your levels.
It won't be easy, but my advice is to concentrate on beating cancer rather than worrying about blood sugar levels and stressing about those in addition to everything else. One thing at a time. Once the chemo is over you can then turn your mind back to diabetes.
I wish you luck with your treatment and recovery xx
Last edited:
Keesha
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- 1,261
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
Hello daisyduck,
This was what my sister told me as she is now battling pancreatic cancer and it has almost been a year now. She started off with eight months of chemotherapy which took a toll on her body. It is exactly as what Bluetit1892 described, not very nice experience. Eight months of chemotheraphy was followed by one month of radiotherapy and the side effects was not as drastic even though it was an inconvenience because RT has to be done everyday without fail. She said the side effect was much easier to cope. Her advice was to seek radiotherapy first instead of chemo unless the oncologist advise otherwise. Good luck and God bless you.
This was what my sister told me as she is now battling pancreatic cancer and it has almost been a year now. She started off with eight months of chemotherapy which took a toll on her body. It is exactly as what Bluetit1892 described, not very nice experience. Eight months of chemotheraphy was followed by one month of radiotherapy and the side effects was not as drastic even though it was an inconvenience because RT has to be done everyday without fail. She said the side effect was much easier to cope. Her advice was to seek radiotherapy first instead of chemo unless the oncologist advise otherwise. Good luck and God bless you.
The experiences above look more directly relevant to your case, but I'll just mention this in case it's useful to you or anyone else finding this thread: my dad has type 2 diabetes and chronic myyelogenous leukemia- his chemo drugs dropped his BG level to the point he reported 3-5 hypos a day- not as bad as it sounds, it was all being managed as far as I understand; they changed his diabetes medication drastically, and he's doing quite well now.
Hope this is of some use to someone- if anyone wants more details I can find out. Apart from that, just want to echo the messages of support- beat the cancer first: best of luck to you!
Hope this is of some use to someone- if anyone wants more details I can find out. Apart from that, just want to echo the messages of support- beat the cancer first: best of luck to you!
