vol2 - Page 131
Page 131
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subsidest it is often replaced by a profound nausea which
leaves the patient unable to eat or even to be in the same room
with someone else who is eating° Together_ nausea and vomiting
can cause rapid weight loss and leave a patient weak and less
able to combat his cancer_
6. There are a number of studies in the literature
which indicate that this nausea and vomiting is also a major
reason patients discontinue potentially life-prolonging or
life-saving therapies° It has been estimated that up to thirty
percent of the cancer patients who receive chemotherapeutic
drugs which cause severe emesis discontinue treatment. In
effects these people are signing a death warrant.
7. There are a number of conventionally available
drugs, such as Compazine, which in many circumstances are
effective anti-emetlc agents. However_ one of the great
stumbling blocks in chemotherapy has been an absence of
effective medical control over emesiso Compazine_ for example,
is simply not capables in a vast majority of cases, of ade=
quately controlling the most serious epls_odes of nausea and
...... vomiting which cancer patients experience_.
8. The possibility that a new drug -_ even a drug
o
such as marijuana which is surrounded by considerable social
and political debate -_ could substantially reduce or eliminate
emesis for these patients was of significant note. _f
marijuana could effectively reduce or eliminate emesis for
these patients_ the patients would be more likely to continue
their therapies°
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