Keypoints

Nausea and vomiting

Patients treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma may experience nausea or vomiting. Modern anti-sickness medications (anti-emetics) are very effective. They can be given via an intravenous injection along with the chemotherapy injections, or can be taken as tablets.

Anti-emetics are better at preventing sickness than they are at treating it once it starts. Therefore, it is usually best to take them regularly, as advised, even if there is no nausea and vomiting. There are many different anti-emetics, and some work better for some people than others. So if one does not seem to work, it may well be possible to try another.

In addition to medications, patients can use simple measures to reduce feelings of nausea. These include:

• Avoiding strong smells, such as pungent perfumes and aftershaves, and cooking smells, as well as avoiding fatty foods, red meats and strong flavours
• Sipping fizzy drinks help some patients to reduce feelings of sickness, although others find the bubbles make them feel bloated and uncomfortable
• Acupuncture. There is evidence to suggest that acupuncture helps to reduce feelings of nausea. Not all patients are comfortable with needles, but pressure on the acupuncture points of the wrist may help.

Before adopting any of these methods for reducing nausea or vomiting, patients should speak to their family doctor or lymphoma team.