How do you manage dexamethasone/cortisone while staying keto during chemotherapy?
How do you manage dexamethasone/cortisone while staying keto during chemotherapy?
My mother has stage IV cholangiocarcinoma and is currently receiving gemcitabine + cisplatin. She is following a ketogenic diet, mainly to keep carbohydrate intake and blood glucose low.
The problem is that she is given dexamethasone (cortisone) around chemotherapy—currently about 8 mg/day for a couple of days—and it seems to completely disrupt her ketosis and raise her blood glucose.
I understand that dexamethasone is commonly used with cisplatin to prevent nausea, so I don't want to stop or change it without her oncologist's approval.
For those following keto during chemotherapy:
How do you deal with the steroid-induced rise in blood glucose and drop in ketones?
Did your oncologist allow a different anti-nausea regimen with less/no dexamethasone?
Did you simply accept the temporary loss of ketosis around chemo and return to keto afterward?
Is there anything safe that helped you get back into ketosis after the steroid course?
I'm particularly interested in experiences from cholangiocarcinoma or other cancer patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Thanks.