Living As A Stomach Cancer Survivor
For some people with stomach cancer , treatment can remove or destroy the cancer. The end of treatment can be both stressful and exciting. You may be relieved to finish treatment, but its hard not to worry about cancer coming back. This is very common if youve had cancer.
For other people, the cancer might never go away completely. Some people may get chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or other treatments to try to keep the cancer in check for as long as possible and to prevent or limit any problems it might cause. Learning to live with cancer that does not go away can be difficult and very stressful.
Life after stomach cancer means returning to some familiar things and making some new choices.
Limit Beverages During Meals
“Beverages should be sipped during a meal with the goal to drink most liquids between meals, not during. This will prevent patients from getting too full, leaving more room for nutritious foods,” Guterman says.
She also adds that protein shakes or milkshakes can be sipped throughout the day to both stay hydrated and meet nutritional needs.
Cancer May Spread From Where It Began To Other Parts Of The Body
When cancer spreads to another part of the body, it is called metastasis. Cancer cells break away from where they began and travel through the lymph system or blood.
- Lymph system. The cancer gets into the lymph system, travels through the lymph vessels, and forms a tumor in another part of the body.
- Blood. The cancer gets into the blood, travels through the blood vessels, and forms a tumor in another part of the body.
The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if gastric cancer spreads to the liver, the cancer cells in the liver are actually gastric cancer cells. The disease is metastatic gastric cancer, not liver cancer.
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Diet Nutrition Body Weight Physical Activity And Alcohol Use
Being overweight or obese increases the risk of some types of stomach cancer, so getting to and staying at a healthy weight might lower your risk.
Getting regular physical activity might also help lower your risk of stomach cancer.
Aside from possible effects on stomach cancer risk, staying at a healthy weight and being active may also lower your risk of several other cancers and health problems.
A diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables probably also lowers stomach cancer risk. Citrus fruits may be especially helpful, but be aware that grapefruit and grapefruit juice can change the blood levels of certain drugs you take. Talk to your health care team about this before adding grapefruit to your diet.
The American Cancer Society recommends that people follow a healthy eating pattern, which includes a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and avoids or limits red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and highly processed foods.
Alcohol use probably increases the risk of stomach cancer, so avoiding or limiting alcohol might lower your risk.
For more on diet, body weight, physical activity, and alcohol use, see the American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention.
Studies that have looked at other dietary factors, such as taking dietary supplements or drinking tea have not led to firm conclusions when it comes to lowering stomach cancer risk. Further research is needed in these areas.
What Causes Stomach Cancer
There are various risk factors associated with stomach cancer. If you are associated with any of these risk factors, you should control them, in order to prevent stomach cancer.
Treatments
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What Is The Diet For Stomach Cancer
Multiple medical studies have shown that regular nutrition with fruits and vegetables has a beneficial effect on cellular metabolic processes and prevents cancerous cell degeneration. Vegetable food helps to strengthen immunity and stop the inflammatory processes in the body.
When compiling a menu for patients with cancer in the stomach take into account the age of the patient, his physiology and psychology, as well as the extent of the tumor process.
Compliance with food recommendations is mandatory in the preparatory period before the main treatment activities and during chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other therapeutic procedures. A well-chosen dietary diet scheme will accelerate the improvement of the general condition and reduce side effects from exposure to radiation and chemicals.
When preparing a diet menu, the following recommendations should be considered:
- It is necessary to reduce the consumption of fat
- eat a little, but often
- eat as much plant food as possible, drink fruit and vegetable freshly squeezed juices
- remove sweets, muffins and sugar from the menu
- to limit the consumption of starch-containing products
- limit the amount of salt to 5 g per day
- completely abandon alcoholic and low alcohol drinks, as well as black coffee
- go to green tea, tomato juice , vegetable broths.
The diet for stomach cancer should include products that slow the growth of a cancerous tumor, and also provide for the rejection of products that this growth activates.
What Are The Different Stages Of Stomach Cancer
The stages of stomach cancer are divided based on metastasis. Corresponding to the symptoms and rate of metastasis, the different stages of blood cancer are determined.
- Stage 0 : In this stage abnormal cells are found in the mucosa layer of the stomach. Mucosa is the innermost layer of the stomach.
- Stage 1 : In the stage 1 cancer cells would be formed in the mucosa layer and may be formed in the submucosa layer. Submucosa layer is the layer next to the mucosa layer.
- Stage 2 : In the stage 2 cancer cells spread to sub mucosa layer and may spread up to muscular cells and nearby lymph nodes.
- Stage 3 : In stage 3 cancer spreads to more lymph nodes and muscle layers. In stage 3 cancer also spreads to the nearby organs like adrenal gland, abdomen wall, small intestine, pancreas and spleen.
- Stage 4 : It is the most advanced stage of cancer. In this stage cancer spread to distant body parts like lungs, lever and distant lymph nodes.
Now that you have enough information about Stomach Cancer, how can you prevent it? You should know the symptoms beforehand so that you can take immediate action accordingly. So, now lets understand the symptoms of Stomach Cancer.
Symptoms
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If The Cancer Comes Back
If the cancer does recur at some point, your treatment options will depend on where the cancer is located, what treatments youve had before, and your health. For more information on how recurrent cancer is treated, see Treatment Choices Based on the Extent of Stomach Cancer.
For more general information on recurrence, you may also want to see Understanding Recurrence.
Treating H Pylori Infection
It’s not yet clear if people whose stomach linings are chronically infected with the H pylori bacteria but who do not have any symptoms should be treated with antibiotics. This is a topic of current research. Some studies have suggested that giving antibiotics to people with H pylori infection might lower the number of pre-cancerous lesions in the stomach and reduce the risk of developing stomach cancer. But not all studies have found this.
While its not yet clear if all people with H pylori infection should be treated, some research has shown that it might be helpful to treat people with H pylori who are also at higher risk for stomach cancer for other reasons, such as having a close relative with stomach cancer.
More research is needed to be sure that treating other groups of people with H pylori infection can lower stomach cancer risk.
If your doctor thinks you might have H pylori infection, there are several ways to test for this, including a breath test, a blood test, a stool test, and an endoscopy procedure, in which a biopsy is done.
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Help With Nutrition Issues
For many people, stomach cancer and its treatment can affect how they eat and absorb nutrition. Nausea can be a problem during and after some treatments, and some people lose their appetite . People also often find they need to change the way they eat, such as eating smaller, more frequent meals instead of a few larger ones each day.
Your cancer care team may refer you to a dietitian, an expert in nutrition, who can help you adjust to changes in your eating habits and can give you ideas on how to deal with some of the nutrition issues that might arise from the cancer or its treatment.
If you have lost or are losing weight, or if you are having trouble eating, do the best you can. Eat what appeals to you. Eat what you can, when you can. You might find it helps to eat small portions every 2 to 3 hours until you feel better. Try to keep in mind that these problems usually improve over time.
If part or all of your stomach has been removed, you might need to eat smaller amounts of food more often. Your doctor or dietitian may also recommend that you stay upright for some time after eating. Your health care team can help you adjust your diet if you are having problems eating.
People who have had surgery especially if they had the upper part of their stomach removed will probably need to have blood work done regularly to check their vitamin and mineral levels. Some people might need vitamin supplements, which could include B12 injections.
Your Feelings About Eating Problems
You may feel self-conscious about eating at home or out with family or friends. You may worry that changes in your eating will affect your relationships with your partner, family or friends. Or you may be anxious about what people think of your eating problems.
Many people find that it helps to talk to someone close to them. If you find it difficult to talk about your feelings with your family, you could speak to your doctor, specialist nurse or GP. There are ways they can support you.
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What Can You Eat With Stomach Cancer
Food for dishes must be crushed as much as possible, cooked in a double boiler or cooked. Food is in a warm form .
The menu should be dominated by vegetable, dairy products, as well as cereals and pasta .
How Cancer Can Affect Eating
People with cancer may have different dietary needs. Some people feel well and able to eat normally. For others, weight loss or a poor appetite were symptoms that led to their diagnosis. If you had eating problems before you were diagnosed, you may need support to improve your diet. Speak to your doctor or dietitian before you start treatment.
Some eating problems may be related to the cancer itself. Depending on where the cancer is in your body, it can cause:
- sickness
- pain
- poor digestion
The cancer may also change the way your body uses the food you eat. This means that you do not get all the nutrients you need.
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Early Symptoms Are Commonlyoverlooked
Early stomach cancer symptoms are typically so unremarkable that they go completely unnoticed.
Stomach cancer is one of those tricky diagnoses where most people may have retrospectively felt symptoms, but theyre usually vague symptoms that can be confused with many other benign gastrointestinal disorders.
Some of these early symptoms include:
- Bloating.
- Nausea.
- A general feeling of discomfort.
Because these symptoms tend to be dismissed as normal GI issues and they are for most people when stomach cancer is finally diagnosed, its often in the advanced stages.
Limiting Your Salt Intake
Canadians consume twice the recommended daily intake of sodium, increasing their risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and many cancers, including stomach cancer.4 The body does require some sodium to regulate body fluids and blood pressure and for muscle and nerve cells to operate effectively. Sodium is an element that is a component of table salt . Most of the extra sodium in our diet is from processed foods found at grocery and convenience stores, also known as ready-to-eat food, as well as from the food we eat at restaurants, especially fast food outlets. By cooking more meals at home, you can control the amount of added salt and follow in the footsteps of the Mediterranean people, who flavour their food with herbs, spices, onion, garlic, and lemon juice. More and more food companies are starting to offer âLow Sodiumâ and âNo Sodium Addedâ products as well, so keep an eye out the next time youâre in the supermarket aisle.
First published in the Inside Tract® newsletter issue 174 â 2010
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Be Patient And Accepting Of A Persons Emotional Needs
Everyone greets their final moments in their own way. Some people have moments of sadness or fear, while many people are often at peace, accepting of whats ahead.
If youre with someone dying of esophageal cancer, make sure theyre physically comfortable, but also offer words of comfort. They may want to complete unfinished business, such as resolving relationship conflicts, financial concerns, or the distribution of special belongings.
Be prepared to patiently listen and accept whatever comes from an individual in this situation and offer whatever support you can at the end.
Stomach Cancer Diet Tips And Healthy Foods To Eat
Maintain a Healthy Weight, Have small, cherries, rather than solid cause-and-effect relationships, and deli meats, half an onion a day could reduce the risk of stomach cancer by 50%, eat your Greek yogurt straight from the container, While research tends to point to associations between specific foods and cancer, without any crazy add-ons, there are several things you canIf you dont have nutrition-related side effects from your cancer treatment that limit your ability to eat and/or digest food, plain foods settle best when you have an upset stomach, raspberries, Dont eat fat free and diet foods, including lingonberries, red grapes, lovage, If you have stomach cancer, there are certain dietary habits that can have a major influence on your risk.Try to eat cold foods such as mousses, andAn ideal colorectal cancer diet is similar to that of a diet for diabetes patients eat often
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Helps Keep Brain Functioning Well
As potatoes are mainly complex carbohydrates, they are a great source of healthy energy for the brain in the form of glucose. A steady flow of healthy glucose in the blood is necessary for proper brain function.
A well-fed brain will develop greater cognition and learning capabilities and will also have a greater memory capacity, especially in young childrens development period.
Also, potassium in potatoes helps dilate blood vessels and arteries so the brain gets a steady blood supply, which makes it function optimally.
Surgery To Ease Your Symptoms
If your stomach cancer has spread beyond your stomach, it may not be possible to remove it using surgery.
However, if your stomach has been significantly affected by cancer it can cause a blockage, which prevents food from being properly digested. A blocked stomach can cause symptoms such as stomach pain, vomiting and feeling very full after eating.
If your stomach is blocked, there are a few options:
- stenting a stent is a plastic or wire mesh tube inserted through the oesophagus using an endoscope under local anaesthetic after being inserted, the stent will be expanded and open up the stomach
- partial or total gastrectomy to remove the blockage and improve your symptoms
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Feeling And Being Sick
Stomach cancer can cause a blockage in the stomach. This stops food from passing through your digestive symptom which can make you feel or be sick.
Rarely, there is blood in the vomit. You may not be able to see any blood if it is small amounts. The blood might be bright red, which means it is fresh bleeding. Or it may look dark brown, like used coffee grounds, if the blood has been in the stomach for a while.
What You Can Not Eat With Stomach Cancer
First of all, remember that consuming fried, spicy, hot, smoked food, as well as products containing dyes, preservatives, flavors, emulsifiers and other potential carcinogens can accelerate tumor growth and worsen the situation.
What else should be excluded from the menu for stomach cancer:
- any rich broths of meat, mushrooms or fish
- spices, gravies, sauces
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Laser Therapy Or Stent
Laser therapy can be used to destroy tumors, stop bleeding, or alleviate a blockage in the stomach.
This can sometimes be accomplished without surgery.
The doctor inserts a long, flexible tube called an endoscope down the throat and into the stomach to deliver the laser beam. This is also called endoscopic tumor ablation.
Hollow tubes called stents can sometimes help. By placing a stent between the stomach and esophagus or between the stomach and small intestine, food will be able to pass through unobstructed.