3 ms·

Not only that but it is very easy to create a very strong food aversion to whatever you have recently eaten. Your brain connects the very bad nausea that result

Not only that but it is very easy to create a very strong food aversion to whatever you have recently eaten. Your brain connects the very bad nausea that results from the chemo with whatever you last ate. This effect can be so strong that people can never eat that food ever again.

tluyben2 11y ago
Yes, that is important to note! All the 'experience' including the nausea, but also the smells of the hospital and the changes in that smell get connected to food you eat at that time. I did not touch my favorite foods during that because of that reason. The stuff I did eat I couldn't stomach for many months after (like croissants); luckily I went to work in China for months after so I got completely different food than in Europe which gave me the time for my body to unstress from the ordeal.
tominous 11y ago
One trick is to choose a scapegoat food that you don't care too much about, preferably something novel (e.g. strong liquorice might work). This has been shown to reduce the risk of aversion to normal food. [1] [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/3677112/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/3677112/
- ac2u 11y ago
  That's brilliant if so, great how such a simple technique could potentially have a solid, measurable, quality of life improvement.
agumonkey 11y ago
Interesting. I ate a can of tuna fish salad a while back. They changed something in the recipe, something made me feel sick in weird and deep ways. For a year, the sight of a similar enough can would trigger nausea back, with cold sweat fear.
- steve19 11y ago
  As a child I ate some sweet potatoes and not long after was vomiting (some sort of bug), for the next 15 years I felt sick at the thought of eating sweet potatoes and similar vegetables and did not eat any. Now I enjoy them just fine and cook with them, but every time I see one I still remember throwing up as a child.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    I had the same experience with leaf parsley as a kid - my aunt made a broth with a bit more parsley than I was used to, and something - probably unrelated - made me almost vomit then. My brain "connected the dots". From then on, pretty much just seeing leaf parsley would make me nauseous, and I was quite a PITA for the family over that. 10-15 years later, something "clicked" in my head, and now I actually like it in my soup.
    - agumonkey 11y ago
      Teaches you how many security layers there are in our systems. Very low risk to ingest anything that may cause you harm.
karmelapple 11y ago
This happened to me with a particular type of cheese stick when I was young. I had a nasty illness, and to help, my Mom heated up a frozen cheese stick I never had before. I loved cheese sticks, yet never had this kind from the store before, and it was very different than any kind of cheese stick I had. I could never eat that again. My brain tied it directly to bad feelings.
wodencafe 11y ago
This happens with alcohol, too. I couldn't drink tequila for years after getting so drunk, and so sick from it.
- netman21 11y ago
  With me it was coffee laced with whisky. Could not drink coffee or whisky for years. But I powered through it. :-)
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  I got sick once after drinking a little too much of vodka drinks at my friends', and for the next half a year the very smell of vodka made me nauseous (I could drink other alcoholic beverages quite fine). Funny thing, the week after that incident at my friends' I was on the wedding reception, and I was probably the only mostly sober person there (besides staff), because only alcohol served was vodka and I couldn't stand more than one or two shots.
e40 11y ago
This is why I cannot eat salmon. I threw up for 6 hours straight after eating it 30+ years ago and I have not had a single taste of it since. The mere smell of it makes me unhappy.

tluyben2 11y ago

Yes, that is important to note! All the 'experience' including the nausea, but also the smells of the hospital and the changes in that smell get connected to food you eat at that time. I did not touch my favorite foods during that because of that reason. The stuff I did eat I couldn't stomach for many months after (like croissants); luckily I went to work in China for months after so I got completely different food than in Europe which gave me the time for my body to unstress from the ordeal.

tominous 11y ago

One trick is to choose a scapegoat food that you don't care too much about, preferably something novel (e.g. strong liquorice might work). This has been shown to reduce the risk of aversion to normal food. [1] [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/3677112/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/3677112/

ac2u 11y ago
That's brilliant if so, great how such a simple technique could potentially have a solid, measurable, quality of life improvement.

agumonkey 11y ago

Interesting. I ate a can of tuna fish salad a while back. They changed something in the recipe, something made me feel sick in weird and deep ways. For a year, the sight of a similar enough can would trigger nausea back, with cold sweat fear.

steve19 11y ago
As a child I ate some sweet potatoes and not long after was vomiting (some sort of bug), for the next 15 years I felt sick at the thought of eating sweet potatoes and similar vegetables and did not eat any. Now I enjoy them just fine and cook with them, but every time I see one I still remember throwing up as a child.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  I had the same experience with leaf parsley as a kid - my aunt made a broth with a bit more parsley than I was used to, and something - probably unrelated - made me almost vomit then. My brain "connected the dots". From then on, pretty much just seeing leaf parsley would make me nauseous, and I was quite a PITA for the family over that. 10-15 years later, something "clicked" in my head, and now I actually like it in my soup.
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    Teaches you how many security layers there are in our systems. Very low risk to ingest anything that may cause you harm.

karmelapple 11y ago

This happened to me with a particular type of cheese stick when I was young. I had a nasty illness, and to help, my Mom heated up a frozen cheese stick I never had before. I loved cheese sticks, yet never had this kind from the store before, and it was very different than any kind of cheese stick I had. I could never eat that again. My brain tied it directly to bad feelings.

wodencafe 11y ago

This happens with alcohol, too. I couldn't drink tequila for years after getting so drunk, and so sick from it.

netman21 11y ago
With me it was coffee laced with whisky. Could not drink coffee or whisky for years. But I powered through it. :-)
TeMPOraL 11y ago
I got sick once after drinking a little too much of vodka drinks at my friends', and for the next half a year the very smell of vodka made me nauseous (I could drink other alcoholic beverages quite fine). Funny thing, the week after that incident at my friends' I was on the wedding reception, and I was probably the only mostly sober person there (besides staff), because only alcohol served was vodka and I couldn't stand more than one or two shots.

e40 11y ago

This is why I cannot eat salmon. I threw up for 6 hours straight after eating it 30+ years ago and I have not had a single taste of it since. The mere smell of it makes me unhappy.