Palliative care focuses on relieving or preventing symptoms (like pain) rather than treating disease. Namely, Palliative care specialists focus on satisfying and treating the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs to maximize the quality of life. They have special training in treating pain and other symptoms, such as fatigue, anxiety and depression. Palliative care is especially important for those living with metastatic breast cancer. So those are some of advanced breast cancer symptoms and how to deal with them.
1- Loss of appetite
Loss of appetite is a common problem for people with metastatic breast cancer. It can be caused by treatment or the cancer itself. Stress, depression, nausea, constipation and changes in your sense of taste or smell can also affect appetite.
Tips to deal with loss of appetite:
• Eat small meals and snacks every few hours throughout the day.
• Try not to snack too close to meal times to avoid feeling too full before meals.
• Limit fluids at meals to avoid feeling too full, but drink plenty of fluids at other times during the day.
• Increase the calorie content of meals and snacks with healthy choices by adding oils, avocado, nuts, pesto and natural peanut or almond butter.
2- Nausea: Nausea is a common side effect of breast cancer treatment.
Tips to deal with nausea:
• Eat 4-6 small meals (instead of larger meals) each day.
• Try gingering tea, ginger or adding fresh ginger when you are cooking.
• Drink lemonade or lemon water.
• Eat bland, easy-to-digest foods that don’t have an odor.
• Avoid foods that are spicy, fried, very greasy or very sweet.
• Open the windows when possible to keep fresh air flowing. Use an overhead fan to decrease cooking odors.
• Take walks (when you can) to get fresh air.
3- Diarrhea
Some chemotherapy and targeted therapy drugs can cause diarrhea. Bowel movements may become more frequent and/or looser and you may also have cramping and gas.
Tips to deal with diarrhea:
• Include foods and drinks that have potassium such as bananas, potatoes, apricots and some sports drinks (you may lose potassium when you have diarrhea) in your diet.
• Drink 8-10 large glasses of clear liquids a day (broth and sports drinks with electrolytes are good choices).
• Avoid milk and other dairy products.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Avoid foods that are spicy, fried, very greasy or very sweet.
• Sit in a tub of warm water to ease discomfort in the anal area.
• Keep the anal area clean and apply a water-repellent ointment or petroleum jelly to the area.
4- Fatigue
Fatigue is common with metastatic breast cancer and can greatly impact quality of life. For some people, fatigue is caused by anemia (a drop in red blood cells). Fatigued people feel tired and lack energy all of the time. Sometimes, even getting enough rest doesn’t help. So getting some physical activity may help reduce fatigue. Even doing exercises while sitting down may help. If you feel overly tired or have trouble sleeping talk with your provider. Together, you can find the best ways to manage fatigue.
5- Anemia (low red blood cell count)
Chemotherapy destroys red blood cells in the body. This can cause anemia, which can cause fatigue. Sometimes, anemia can be treated by increasing iron or folate in the diet. Severe anemia can be treated with a blood transfusion.
