Does chemotherapy make you lose your appetite?

Question

Does chemotherapy make you lose your appetite?

Answer 1

chemotherapy can make you very nauseous, which in turn can make you lose your appetite.  During each round of chemo I couldn't eat very much at all for a few days and days after that there were only a handful of things I could stomach.

Answer 2

I know chemo makes you extremely nauseated-therefore you may lose your appatite

Answer 3

Yes it can. Different days different appetite. Certain foods bother you. I love seafood.  But while on chemo I could not stand the smell !  

Answer 4

It can do - some people feel too nauseous to eat, although modern anti-sickness drugs ensure that most people don't vomit.

But for many more people the steroids that are given with chemotherapy stimulate appetite. I had a huge appetite for much of the time during chemotherapy and put on over 20 lbs. There wasn't enough mashed potato in the world...

Almost everyone I have talked to through cancer support networks had the same experience - increased appetite and weight gain during chemo

Answer 5

Of course, it wipes you out totally.  Makes you feel tired, nauseous, irritable, sick, weak, displaced, etc.  It's a powerful drug that kills all the cells in your body.  

Answer 6

I think it does. Not sure.

Poor lass in my year had to have chemotherapy, and she lost her appetite, but im sure they inject you or give you high calory meals or shakes to build you up.

Because you do loose weight from chemo

Answer 7

Yes. There are times when you feel too sick to eat, and can't eat a thing or even smell a thing without throwing up. There are other times where you don't feel like eating at all.

Answer 8

Yes it does very much so. My mother when she was going through treatments went from 250lbs to 150lbs

Answer 9

It depends on the kind of chemotherapy.  There are many different kinds of chemotherapy drugs and regimens, and just as not all of them cause hair loss, not all of them cause nausea and/or vomiting.  Appetite loss can be caused by the drugs, stress, or even the cancer itself.

However, weight gain is not at all uncommon in cancer patients undergoing certain kinds of chemo that are treated with steroids.  Also, there are a variety of anti-nausea drugs that do a very good job and help prevent people from losing weight and their appetites.

My weight stayed the same through chemotherapy and I had it for eight months time.  There were days I didn't feel like eating, but most of the time I ate normally.