Cancer related appetite loss
Reduced appetite and weight loss during cancer or its treatment.
About this condition
Loss of appetite is very common in cancer and its treatment. Food can taste wrong or metallic, small amounts feel filling, nausea gets in the way, and mouth soreness or a dry mouth make eating uncomfortable. Weight and muscle loss follow, which reduces strength and tolerance of treatment.
Cancer related weight loss is not simply about eating more. Cachexia involves metabolic changes that food alone cannot reverse, so care combines dietitian input, nutritional supplements, treatment of nausea and mouth problems, and attention to mood. Specialist dietetic and palliative care support makes a real difference.
Treatments people usually try first
These are the treatments commonly offered in the UK for this condition. A specialist doctor will want to know which of them you have tried, and what happened.
- Specialist dietitian assessment and nutritional supplements
- Anti sickness medicines to remove nausea as a barrier
- Corticosteroids for a short term appetite effect
- Progestogens such as megestrol in selected cases
- Treatment of mouth soreness, dry mouth and taste change
- Specialist palliative care input
Could medical cannabis be appropriate?
People with this condition sometimes ask whether medical cannabis could be appropriate for them. That is a question for a specialist doctor, who will look at your diagnosis, your history and everything you have already tried before saying anything either way.
Medical cannabis is an unlicensed prescription only medicine in the UK. It is considered only where a diagnosed condition has not responded adequately to conventional treatment, and it is never a first step. We cannot tell you in advance what might be prescribed, and UK law does not allow us to describe or advertise any medicine on this website.
What we can do is assess you properly and be honest with you. If a specialist doctor does not think this route is right for you, they will say so, and they will explain why.
All treatment is subject to clinical assessment and eligibility.
Questions about cancer related appetite loss
Gastrointestinal and palliative
Other conditions in this category
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