no appetite

i had tonsilir cancer .after the radiation and chemo ,i`ts VERY difficult to eat,even at the best of times.everything tastes awful and my mouth and tongue still burn.i have NO desire to eat,but obviously i have to.i`ve never been a marijuana user in my life ,but i know lots pf people who were and are.hypothetically,IF i were to use a couple of puffs off a joint each day to REALLY give me an appetite ,would i just end up doing more harm again them good ? as i say,i`m not a user ,so a couple of puffs would do the job ,making it so much less sickening of a job to feed,but i don`t want to cause any damage .hope someone can help me with this .i`m afraid to ask my oncologist just in case i`m WAY off base.i`m in Ontario Canada and i believe it`s legal here .hypothetically ,it`d sure be a big help if it turns out not to undo any of the good my doctors have done for me.hope i`ve done this right and someone can help me.sick of being sick trying to feed :(

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  I strongly advise you NOT to use marijuana just to try increasing your appetite. The effect of marijuana on a patient who underwent chemoradiation is unpredictable, and may result in aggravation of adverse  effects. There are other medications which are proven effective in increasing appetite in cancer patients.  You may try taking megestrol acetate tablets for that (usual dose 800 mg/ day). You can ask your oncologist to give you a prescription.

Part of the reason for your decreased appetite is because of the injury to the lining of your mouth and throat caused by the radiation and chemotherapy.  Radiation causes you to produce substantially less saliva and mucus, which results in less lubrication to the food, difficulty in swallowing, and eventually dryness and ulceration of the mucosal lining of the mouth and pharynx.  There is also a drug, amifostine, which can be used to protect against this kind of chemo-radiation induced injury.  The drug is rather expensive, but effective.  Ask your doctor if this treatment is appropriate for you.

[redgreen9]

thank you for your reply and advice about my loss of appetite.now i`m a little bit scared though.i`ve tried it a few times and it worked great.i`m going to stop now that you`ve advised against it.can you explain more about what you mean by "aggravation of adverse effects" ? do you think i`ve already caused some ?? do you mean i can cause the cancer to come back by using marijuana to stimulate my appetite ?