Doesn't it make you sick

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.923

BMJ 2003;327:923 (18 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.923

Filler

Doesn't it make you sick

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

An elderly Serbian woman recently presented to the hospice withsymptoms of persistent nausea. She had developed breast cancerin 1980 and had undergone a mastectomy. Her disease had relapsedin 1993 and 1997. She had a history of hypothyroidism and asthma.She had been taking regular inhalers, thyroxine, and slow releaseaminophylline for many years.

In December 2002 she was admitted to a London teaching hospitalwith nausea and vomiting; trial treatment with cyclizine, levomepromazine,and metoclopramide met with limited success. Her thyroid functiontests were normal, as were her renal function, liver function,and bone profile. A brain scan had ruled out brain metastases;an abdominal ultrasound ruled out liver metastases.

She was discharged from hospital in mid-January, but her symptomshad not improved. She was admitted to the hospice two weekslater. Again, we tried various combinations of antiemetics bysubcutaneous infusion, we treated her constipation, and . . . [Full text of this article]

Rosemarie Anthony-Pillai, registrar in palliative care

Pembridge Palliative Care Unit, St Charles Hospital, London