Talk Cancer

Question:

I was one of those who suffered extreme nausea, even after trying a widely different variety of foods taken with the pukey pills.  I did get much relief from, of all things, ginger ale and ginger snaps.  I believe ginger is a natural anti-nausea agent. -JohnnyM

Response:

2 tips: 1 check on the prices between 8 mop and oxsoralen ultra, if close try the ultra, it is absorbed faster and "supposedly " causes less stomach irritation. 2 I don’t know about "large breakfasts" but I eat 2 saltine crackers , take 2 pills, chase with ginger ale , wait 10 min, eat 2 more crackers, take 2 more pills , wait 10 min , eat 2 final crackers take 2 more pills, (6 x10mg of oxsoralen ultra total) Also, even if you get clear, go for a "maintainence" dose every other week after laying off for 4 weeks, my derm tells me that after 6 weeks, they need to start you over back at lower doses of light, which to me, while cautious, is not effective.  (I do up to 12 minutes , about 10millijoules per square cm if I am not mistaken, I could be wrong, I am much less obsessive about the energy exposure than I used to be, I just ask how long it will be and take a watch it with me so I know if someone accidently put too much time on — by missing a decimal point in the energy setting.  I think they enter in an energy, and a computer chip, based on the bulbs life calculates the time needed for that energy, ie old bulbs may take almost 2 times longer to give same energy as new ones).   2 times a week is good for PUVA , because sometimes, as you work up to your maintainence dosage, you may get a slight burn.  Since PUVA is UVA rays with psoralen, the slight burn may not set in for up to 72h after the PUVA treatment.  With 3 days a week you can get into trouble.  (UVA burns are slower to appear, less red, but can last 3 weeks and are more itchy than UVB ones where a mild MED — minimum erthymal dosage is actually desired, ie a slight burn that shows up within 12 hours and goes away in a few days . Hope this helps and check with your derm re: eating and the oxsoralen stuff. Doug

Response:

Yeah. A half a teasoon of ground ginger (supermarket type) in a small glass of water will soothe a belly ache. A fat joint will cure the nausea as well.

but it wouldn’t be right

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spake: I was one of those who suffered extreme nausea, even after trying a widely different variety of foods taken with the pukey pills.  I did get much relief from, of all things, ginger ale and ginger snaps.  I believe ginger is a natural anti-nausea agent.

Yeah. A half a teasoon of ground ginger (supermarket type) in a small glass of water will soothe a belly ache. A fat joint will cure the nausea as well. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –JohnnyM

Response:

From what I understand, It’s fine, even good, to eat with the psoralin pills. If I didn’t eat with them, I would feel like I was going to die. Also, I think you ought to be wearing good UV eye protection everyday, not just on the days you are taking the psoralin.   erin

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It might be better to do the PUVA as the sun goes down.  You won’t need the eye protection in the dark, so you will need it the ollowing morning till about noon. And dont try the puva pills without bukly food unless you want to puke. I hope you are using eye protection starting 15 minutes ater you ingest the pills if it is still daylight…… Bob

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<snip Question:  Does anybody know if a large breakfast (eggs, toast, orange juice) interferes with the 8-MOP getting in to the system to the skin in the 90 minutes?    On regular work days I usually head off to work without any breakfast. so I could forgo the breakfast.    I am taking breakfast because I’ve heard that it settles the stomach and when taking  the 8-MOP in the past it has caused a very mild nausea without food.   It wasn’t so bad and it passed quickly. To get the maximum amount of psoralen to my skin in the designated time period would I be better off not having any food or having a small breakfast?   And would I be better off eating breakfast before taking the pills or after?

Nope, you’re *definitely* supposed to take psoralen after eating. My Rx always came with a label saying so. FWIW, I am NOT a morning person and not even remotely interested in breakfast when I first get up, so I found it very helpful for morning sessions to have a bit of yoghurt or even ice cream -something that really coated the stomach but wasn’t heavy- instead of normal breakfast foods. I also found I got less nauseous taking the psoralen after that sort of stuff than after a lot of other types of food. Also, the bath is a GREAT idea. I found that the PUVA worked much better after a bath or shower, when the skin was well moisturized and the flaky buildup washed off. -Kim. "From far, from eve and morning  And yon twelve winded sky  The stuff of life to knit me  Blew hither, here am I"      -A. E. Housman

Response:

I have started doing PUVA again as I am up to about 20% coverage. Every few years I find that none of the topicals are working and plain old sunlight isn’t helping either so I resort to PUVA.  I am fair skinned and I am concerned about skin cancer down the line but it gets to the point where some quality of life takes precidence.   Just did my fifth session and the psoriasis is less active and not cracked or painful anymore. I am doing the light session in the morning.   Here is the regimen: Jump in the bath tub at 7:00am.  Take two 8-MOP psoralen pills at 7:10 and two more at 7:15.  (I heard a suggestion sometime ago that it was a bit easier on the stomach to take the four pills this way.)  I stay in the tub until about 7:40.   Get dressed and make a breakfast.  Done with breakfast by 8:10, out of the house by 8:20.  Pull in to the doctor’s office at 8:35 or so and then hope there aren’t others also waiting to use the box.   Get to work by 9:30.   I wear UV eye protection for the rest of the day.   Doing this twice a week for awhile and then I’ll taper off. Question:  Does anybody know if a large breakfast (eggs, toast, orange juice) interferes with the 8-MOP getting in to the system to the skin in the 90 minutes?    On regular work days I usually head off to work without any breakfast. so I could forgo the breakfast.    I am taking breakfast because I’ve heard that it settles the stomach and when taking  the 8-MOP in the past it has caused a very mild nausea without food.   It wasn’t so bad and it passed quickly. To get the maximum amount of psoralen to my skin in the designated time period would I be better off not having any food or having a small breakfast?   And would I be better off eating breakfast before taking the pills or after? krauster atearthlinkdotnet

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