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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Ways To Increase Appetite In A Cancer Patient

My mother in law has stage four cancer and has been on Tarceva. The problem is that she is losing weight and has not appedite. We as a family have tried everything. She is on 150 mg. What can we do to help her put on weight if she has not appedite?? Her weight is 144 and she in her 70 s.
Wed, 8 Apr 2015
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Radiologist,  's  Response
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.

Sorry to hear about the progress of cancer in your mother in law. A stage 4 cancer can have a survival from 6 months to 2 years. She must fight the battle with cancer till the end. As it is not clear from your query regarding the area of cancer involvement, Tarceva is given for many cancers including those of lung, pancreas and I think she is having one of these. While a lung cancer patient might have a longer survival and unfortunately a pancreas cancer person does not survive much.

For her appetite, it is important to give her frequent small feeds containing good amounts of proteins. You can try giving her foods that she likes and reduce the time gap between meals. Occasionally you can also give her protein drinks and beverages so maintain a daily calorie intake of 1800 kcal. Please do not worry.
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Suggest Ways To Increase Appetite In A Cancer Patient

Hi, Thanks for writing in. Sorry to hear about the progress of cancer in your mother in law. A stage 4 cancer can have a survival from 6 months to 2 years. She must fight the battle with cancer till the end. As it is not clear from your query regarding the area of cancer involvement, Tarceva is given for many cancers including those of lung, pancreas and I think she is having one of these. While a lung cancer patient might have a longer survival and unfortunately a pancreas cancer person does not survive much. For her appetite, it is important to give her frequent small feeds containing good amounts of proteins. You can try giving her foods that she likes and reduce the time gap between meals. Occasionally you can also give her protein drinks and beverages so maintain a daily calorie intake of 1800 kcal. Please do not worry.