Nausea is one of the most common, unpleasant, and most distressing side effects of chemotherapy. It is estimated that 80% or more cancer patients experience nausea at some point during their treatment. Some patients struggle so much with nausea and vomiting that they will delay treatments and consider refusing future treatments due to the fear of continuing to experience these side effects.
Homeopathy, which is also called homeopathic medicine, was developed in Germany in the 1790s. A major principle of homeopathy is that “like should be cured with like”. Homeopathy is a complementary or alternative medicine approach that has been used to treat side effects of a medical condition or disease or the side effects of treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation. This post will describe the symptoms and types of nausea, discuss which cancer treatments can make patients feel nauseous, and explain both conventional medicines and homeopathic remedies for nausea.
What is nausea?
Nausea is described as a feeling of sickness with an urge to vomit. It may occur with or without vomiting. Nausea can include some or all of the following symptoms:
- a general uneasy feeling in the upper abdomen or in the back of the throat
- sour taste in the mouth
- a stomach ache
- contractions of the abdominal muscles that are unable to be controlled. This is also called retching.
- loss of appetite
Nausea can be caused by a number of issues. It can be one of the adverse effects of radiotherapy, or radiation, it can stem from the cancer itself, or from chemotherapy drugs. Nausea can also have what is called a psychosomatic component. This means physical symptoms can be caused or made worse by one’s mental state. Psychological symptoms such as anxiety, which is quite common in people with cancer, can lead to the onset or worsening of nausea.
Nausea related to cancer treatment can be classified as anticipatory, acute, delayed, breakthrough, or refractory:
- Anticipatory nausea can also be referred to as learned or psychological nausea. Once nausea has been experienced, for example, after a cycle of chemotherapy, a person may feel sick prior to the next round of treatment, thinking they’ll automatically feel sick again after that treatment. Sometimes after eating a specific food that didn’t sit right on their stomach, when the person is offered that same food again, nausea can return. Anticipatory nausea can also happen in advance of a particular event, such as follow up scans when anxiety runs high.
- Acute nausea occurs within 24 hours of receiving cancer treatment, often within minutes to hours after the medicine is given. Acute nausea resolves within 24 hours.
- Delayed nausea begins after 24 hours and up to five days after receiving treatment.
- Breakthrough nausea occurs within five days of the first chemotherapy treatment despite taking a preventative anti-nausea medication.
- Refractory nausea is when someone gets nauseous in later rounds of treatment after having breakthrough nausea and despite continuing to take anti-nausea medication prior to chemo.
What cancer treatments cause nausea?
Both chemotherapy and radiation treatments can cause nausea. Chemo drugs are rated on their potential for causing nausea and vomiting, which is referred to as their emetic or emetogenic potential:
- Minimal means that less than 10% of the time patients experience nausea if not given prophylaxis (anti-nausea medicine given just before chemotherapy)
- Low means 10-29% of the time patients will feel ill without prior medication
- Moderate means that 30-90% of the time there will be nausea and vomiting without prophylaxis
- High emetic potential means that more than 90% of the time, patients will experience these side effects without prior medication.
The most commonly used chemotherapy drugs that fall into the moderate or high categories include:
- Carmustine
- Cisplatin
- Cyclophosphamide
- Dacarbazine
- Mechlorethamine
- Procarbazine (oral)
- Streptozocin
- Carboplatin
- Doxorubicin
- Epirubicin
- Daunorubicin
The types of radiation therapy that can cause nausea include:
- radiation to the gastrointestinal tract
- radiation to the liver
- radiation to the brain
- whole body radiation (given during a bone marrow or stem cell transplant)
What can happen if nausea is left untreated?
Besides feeling awful, if nausea is left untreated, or not controlled with treatment it can lead to a number of complications including:
- an imbalance of electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and magnesium that would normally be absorbed from food, which can lead to weakness, dizziness and muscle cramps
- poor nutrition
- weight loss
- severe dehydration
- increased fatigue
- decreased quality of life
Some patients become so ill from nausea and vomiting that they must be admitted to the hospital to receive IV anti-nausea medications and fluids to regain their strength.
How is nausea treated?
Conventional medicine
Oftentimes, oncologists will create a treatment plan that includes anti-nausea medications given just before chemo or radiation to prevent nausea from occurring. By blocking chemicals or other substances in the central nervous system that trigger these reactions, the hope is that the patient won’t suffer from this uncomfortable side effect. Preventing nausea is ideal, because treating nausea after it starts can be much more difficult to get under control. Conventional treatments are usually a combination of medications such as Ondansetron (Zofran), Kytril or Emend. Emend is often prescribed along with Dexamethasone (a steroid).
Homeopathic remedies
Traditional homeopathic practice incorporates remedies developed from plants, herbs, animals or minerals. These homeopathic medicines are low dose preparations that are customized to individuals based on their symptoms. Homeopathic treatment is not used as a cure for cancer, but rather a natural remedy to treat the side effects of cancer treatment. These complementary therapies can be used alongside prescribed medications, and oftentimes have fewer side effects than traditional medications.
Homeopathic treatments are tailored by health professionals, called homeopaths, who have specifically trained in this type of alternative treatment. Homeopaths evaluate the individuals’ nausea symptoms and consider the other conventional medications that are being taken in order to avoid serious side effects of combining multiple types of treatments. Homeopaths consider the active ingredients in the herbs, plants, etc to determine which homeopathic remedy would be the best treatment and the most effective dosage for the patient.
Homeopathic medicines can often be found in tablet form (also called pellets) which are dissolved under the tongue. Homeopathic remedies can also be drops, when the medicine is diluted in alcohol or water. They can also be found in gel or cream form. Clinical trials have been conducted with various homeopathic regimens and found the following to be helpful for nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy or radiation:
Nux vomica: the seeds from the poison nut tree are finely powdered and made into pellet form, which are dissolved under the tongue to help with constant nausea.
Ipecacuanha: the root of the ipecac plant is helpful for persistent nausea that is not relieved by vomiting. Ipacacuanha can be used on its own and also used alongside the following:
Ignatia amara: from the St. Ignatius bean, Ignatia amara is used for anticipatory nausea.
Colchicum: the meadow saffron is helpful when the sight or smell of food, or even thoughts of food triggers nausea.
Additional common homeopathic remedies include:
Tabacum: this comes from the leaves of the tobacco plant, and is helpful when nausea is triggered by even the slightest movements and accompanies extreme weakness.
Cocculus indicus: from the Indian cockle tree, this homeopathic medicine is often used for motion sickness and morning sickness, but is also helpful for cancer patients who feel sick at the sight of food.
Antimonium crudum: the sulphide of antimony is used for indigestion/nausea from medication and when the individual cannot find any foods that taste good.
Veratrum album: the white helleborus plant is used when one has severe nausea accompanied by painful vomiting.
Phosphorus: phosphorus can help when simply water on the stomach causes nausea and vomiting.
Other herbs
Additional natural remedies that homeopaths may recommend are the use of ginger and peppermint. Ginger is well known as a home remedy for nausea and vomiting. Ginger root can be steeped in hot water to make ginger tea, one can suck on ginger candies, or drink ginger ale. Peppermint tea made from the steeped tea leaves can also soothe an upset stomach.
Essential oils
Some homeopaths will recommend aromatherapy, which is the use of essential oils to relieve nausea or other side effects of cancer therapy. Essential oils are created by distilling plant matter into concentrated forms. Inhaling the essential oils or mixing with a carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil and rubbing into the skin are common ways to use essential oils.
A recent study demonstrated that the inhalation of peppermint oil not only reduced the frequency and severity of nausea, retching and vomiting, but could help prevent these side effects after chemotherapy from low, minimal and moderately emetic chemo drugs.
Another recent systematic review found that in addition to peppermint aromatherapy, cancer patients can also inhale any of the following essential oils for a reduction in nausea symptoms:
- ginger
- chamomile
- cardamom
Additional complementary therapies for chemotherapy patients experiencing symptoms of nausea
There are numerous additional therapies that have been studied to help with nausea and vomiting brought on by chemotherapy or radiation. These integrative medicine options include, but are not limited to music therapy, massage therapy, relaxation techniques including progressive muscle relaxation, acupuncture (the use of thin needles at specific pressure points in the body), and acupressure. I review these in great detail in my blog post on alternative therapies for nausea and vomiting. As these are not homeopathic products, they are not discussed in this post.
General recommendations for eating and drinking with nausea
Some suggestions for those dealing with nausea include
DO get fresh air if possible. Being in the open air can encourage slower, deeper breathing, which may ease nausea.
DO eat a bland diet, only eating a small amount at a time. Smaller, frequent meals are much better than larger meals.
DO take a small sips of water, and rinse out the mouth to dispel any bitter taste in the mouth.
DO eat sour things or suck on sour candies if these help. Some find them to be helpful, while others find it makes their nausea worse.
DON’T try to eat fatty foods, rich foods, or spicy foods, as these can cause additional nausea and stomach pain.
How to use homeopathic remedies for nausea
It is important to first discuss your symptoms with your healthcare provider. It is also critical to work with a professional homeopath to determine which options are right for you, and the proper dilutions to use.
Some food and/or drinks such as grapefruit juice and herbal remedies such as St. John’s Wort cannot be taken with certain cancer treatments, because they can interact with or even reduce the effectiveness of prescription medications or treatments, so it is important that you also check with your health care provider before starting any medicinal plants or herbal therapies for nausea so they can make sure there are no interactions with your current medications.
The use of homeopathy can be a good choice to address side effects of cancer treatment. With so many options between conventional medicine, homeopathy treatment and complementary therapies, hopefully you can control the nausea and vomiting that is a common occurrence with so many cancer treatments.
References:
Bagot, J.L. (2014). Cancer and Homeopathy, 2nd ed. Unimedica.
Erturk, N.E., & Tasci, S. (2021). The effects of peppermint oil on nausea, vomiting and retching in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: An open label quasi-randomized controlled pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 56, 102587.
Frass, M.et al. (2020). Homeopathic treatment as an add-on therapy may improve quality of life and prolong survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: A prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, three-arm, multicenter study. The Oncologist, 26(3), e523.
Toniolo, J., Delaide, V., & Beloni, P. (2021). Effectiveness of inhaled aromatherapy on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: A systematic review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 27(12), 1058-1069.
Medical disclaimer: The content on My Cancer Resources is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice, or as a substitute for the medical advice, diagnosis or treatment by a physician or other health care practitioner.
