Please read the house rules and keep this community safe for yourself and others.
Sickness and nausea
My father Iaw in now home recovering , we are aware that it is a long road for him to recover , the question I have is does anyone remember how long the sickness and nausea lasted ? Is there anything you can eat or drink that makes it a bit better ?
Comments
Thats great that your father in law is back at home and recovering but it is a long slow process.
The sickness and nausea for me was at it's worst for 3-4 weeks after my transplant, but it did take 2-3 months to go properly and for me to be able to keep meals down for any length of time. I struggled to eat properly for a long time and couldn't keep meals in me for long sometimes. I found myself surviving on soft things like weetabix or porrdige for breakfast, soups and spaghetti hoops for other meals, supplemented by nutritional shakes and yoghurts.
I suffered from a fungal infection in my mouth not long after discharge which gave me sores in my mouth and on my tongue, making eating very difficult and painful for a few weeks. I pray that your father in law escapes that discomfort as it made me feel really low after the elation of coming home.
I found that it was case of finding things that tasted ok despite the temporary taste changes, and that my body could tolerate. Your father in law will probably find that things don't taste the same as they did, but his taste will return to normal eventually.
He needs to try and make sure he does keep eating something though, even if he can't keep it down long. I know the nausea and sickness is upleasant but I always assumed that even if something was inside me for a short period I might gain a small amount of nutrition from it!
He should try to exercise if possible too. I spent most of my time in bed feeling sorry for myself and suffered for it later. Even if he gets himself up occasionally and has a small walk around the room, it will hopefully keep his muscles from deteriorating too dramatically. I wish I'd made more effort to get even a little bit of exercise as it took a long time to regain the muscle on my legs to make jsut climbing the stairs comfortable. He will get tired easily though so he needs to take it easy and perhaps only when others are around. I went through a phase of collapsing through fatigue so he needs to be careful
Remember everyone is different so he needs to take things at his own pace and make sure he is comfortable. For your part you need to be supportive and encouraging, but try not to nag as from the patients perspective I found it quite annoying when my wife nagged me to get up and about and to eat properly. A gentle push will probably be recieved better.
Keep up the good work and progressing with his recovery and try to stay positive even if there are little setbacks along the way. Focus on the end goal which is to return to good health and as normal a life as he can. For me 3 years after all my treatment began, I am back to normal life and your father in law will get there too.
All the best,
Steve
I'd forgotten about feeling cold. Again I think this is normal and something that I went through too. I never seemed to be able to keep warm, even when the heating was turned up. I used to wrap myself up in a throw and snuggle up on the sofa.
Like most things it's something else that will go away eventually but takes time. It's not easy at this time of year either as the temperatures drop.
It's good that he's trying to eat and drink and I hope that you find the information you are getting from us here is helpful and encouraging him.
All the best,
Steve