I have lost my appetite. What can I do?

It is very common to lose your appetite, because of the cancer, the treatment, or all of it put together. However, it is important that you try to eat. Patients need extra calories above and beyond what they would usually eat to maintain their weight while battling cancer.

Proper Nutrition During Mesothelioma

Patient Nutrition Tips

Most patients do better eating small frequent meals than the traditional three meals a day. You should eat foods that are rich in calories and protein. You can buy protein powder which you can add to many foods to increase the calories. Adding butter and oil also increases the calories. In fact, a lot of the things you may have been told not to eat because of cholesterol or coronary heart disease, you may need to eat now.

You can drink Ensure in between meals. While you do want to drink enough fluids, you do not want to fill yourself up and lose your appetite by drinking too much.

There may be specific things that bother you. If you are having nausea from your chemotherapy, be sure and get medication to treat it. If you have sores in your mouth, tell your doctor. He or she may be able to give you something to numb some of the sores and make eating easier.

If foods seem too spicy, ask whoever is cooking to leave out the spices. It is better to have someone else cook so you won’t be too tired to eat. If there are only certain things you feel like eating, eat a lot of those foods. If you are not sure, you can see a dietician to go over your specific dietary needs.

There is a medicine that can increase your appetite. If you are really unable to eat much, you need to discuss this with your doctor. For more information: