I really began to feel the effects of chemo and radiation by the third week of treatment. Up to this point I had just been dealing with chronic fatigue and intermittent dry mouth. The opiate in the Vicodin I was taking to help get me through the radiation treatments during the week was also slowing down my GI tract, which helped to counteract diarrhea caused from chemo. However, when I stopped taking Vicodin on the weekend let’s just say I got pretty good at dancing the quick step. I modified my diet right away by abandoning the high fiber content and replacing it with a low fiber alternatives, e.g. bananas, applesauce, white rice, white bread, etc. I had been eating whole wheat bread for years and was amazed at how tasteless my sandwich was with Wonder white. It was light, white and just not right. While changing my diet helped to slow things down a bit I was battling yet another problem. The simple starches in the low fiber diet caused my blood sugar to skyrocket, which exacerbated the fatigue I had been feeling. It wasn’t long before I had to switch back to my higher fiber diet of beans, brown rice and whole wheat. Imodium was a big help especially on the weekends when I wasn’t taking Vicodin.
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