The Gentle TableSimply delicious low fibre meals
Cooking for chemotherapy diarrhoea

Chemotherapy diarrhoea

A short, sharp problem that follows the treatment cycle, and eating that is meant to end when the cycle does.

Several of the drugs used in bowel cancer treatment irritate the lining of the gut, and diarrhoea is one of the more common results. It usually follows the rhythm of the cycle, building in the days after treatment and easing before the next one. Losing that much fluid quickly is what makes it worth taking seriously, over and above how unpleasant it is.

What the guidance emphasises

Reducing the work the gut is being asked to do while it is inflamed. Lower fibre for the duration, small and frequent meals rather than large ones, and leaving out the things that speed transit or irritate directly, which in most of the guidance means caffeine, alcohol and very fatty food.

The pattern most often named is a plain starchy one, built on banana, rice, apple and toast. It is intended as a few days of eating, not a diet, and it is not adequate on its own for long.

Fluids matter as much as food. Diarrhoea and chemotherapy together can dehydrate a person quickly, and your team will usually have given you a threshold, a number of episodes in a day above which they want to hear from you.

What this book does

Recipes tagged for chemotherapy diarrhoea are gentle, low in residue and small, and they lean on the starches that firm things up. Where a dish is rich in cream or fat, it says so, because on these particular days that can be the wrong direction even though it is the right direction for the rest of this book.

Taste changes and nausea often arrive at the same time. Mild, warm and slightly salty tends to be more manageable than sweet, so the broths and the plain starch dishes are the place to start.

How long

Days, tied to the cycle rather than to a fixed period, and your oncology team decides both when to treat it with medicine and when it needs a break in treatment.

Diarrhoea that goes past the number of episodes your team gave you, blood in the stool, a fever, vomiting or severe pain are all reasons to ring your chemotherapy helpline straight away rather than to change what you cook.

Foods to know

Recipes for this situation

Sources

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