Caregiver Tips

Untreated nausea and vomiting can interfere significantly with your loved one's quality of life, making the person tired, stressed, and less able to cope with his or her condition. Anger, worry, or depression can set in, and your loved one may become uninterested in food. Dehydration also is a concern when not enough food and fluids are ingested.

Here are meal-preparation tips and other things you can do to help your loved one cope with nausea and vomiting.

• Serve smaller, more frequent meals.
• Encourage the person to sip drinks slowly and chew food well.
• Don't offer things to drink before meals.
• Reduce food aromas and other stimuli with strong odors.
• Serve cool, room temperature, or warm food if the smell of hot food triggers nausea.
• Keep the area well ventilated with a fan, an open window, etc.
• Avoid foods that are spicy, fatty, or highly salty.
• Make sure your loved one takes his or her antiemetics prior to meals so that the effect is present during and after meals.
• Offer foods that minimize nausea; also offer "comfort foods."
• Ask your loved one's oncology nurse, physician, or dietician whether nutritional supplements are recommended to provide sufficient calories and protein. If so, ask for samples. Try a variety to see which ones taste best to your loved one.
• Determine if a certain time of day is better for eating (such as breakfast). Offer more during that time of day.
• Make the most of the days when the person's appetite is good.
• Don't force food on your loved one when he or she is nauseated.
• Make sure the person eats a light meal or snack before your chemotherapy appointment so that he or she has something in the stomach. If you take your loved one to treatments and the treatments will take several hours, bring snacks with you. (The treatment center should have a refrigerator and a microwave for you to use, if needed.)
• Avoid giving your loved one highly acidic drinks, such as citrus juices and lemonade.
• When your loved one doesn't feel like eating the usual foods he or she likes, try apple or grape juice, weak tea, clear broth, dry toast, cooked cereal, or gelatin desserts.

If vomiting does occur, reinforce good oral care by rinsing the mouth out immediately afterwards and brushing the teeth.

If your care schedule doesn't allow you to get away to shop for groceries, consider asking friends for help with shopping or meal preparation.