Are chemotherapy side effects giving you a tough time? Then say tootles to all your problems as we have got your back! Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer.
Due to the intensity of this powerful treatment, cancer patients generally have to deal with its severe side effects.
In this section, we’ll discuss how to take care of yourself to avoid painful chemotherapy side effects. We’ll also focus on the common side effects of chemotherapy, how to manage them, why chemotherapy causes side effects, and why follow-up care plays a crucial role after chemotherapy.
So let’s get started!
Common Chemotherapy Side Effects
The common side effects you experience depend on which normal cells are damaged by chemotherapy. Moreover, there’s a lot that depends on the drugs you’re using while taking chemotherapy, along with the dosage.
The following are the side effects of chemotherapy:
1. Bleeding and Bruising
Your platelet count is lower during chemo, and thus, lower platelets (thrombocytopenia) can lead to more bleeding injuries than expected. You may bruise more or notice small bleeding red spots beneath your skin.
2. Disturbed Bowel Movements
Chemo can lead to indigestion and diarrhea, and some may become temporarily lactose intolerant. Diarrhea is one of the most common side effects of many cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy.
3. Eating Issues
You may face difficulty in eating. Also, sore throat, mouth sores, and ulcers make it painful to eat or swallow. It’s important to note that you have to take care of your eating habits before, during, and after cancer treatment.
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4. Fatigue
The most common side effect of chemotherapy is fatigue. You feel completely energy-less while your body is fighting from cancer cells and recovering from the cancer treatment. Moreover, your blood counts are also lower, which can lead to anemia, making you feel exhausted and overtired.
5. Loss of Appetite
During your chemotherapy sessions, your sense of taste changes drastically as you don’t feel like eating anything. Other than the usual, bitter food tastes more bitter. Many food items may lack flavour or taste too salty, sweet, or metallic.
6. Nausea and Vomiting
CINV (Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting) affects around 80% of chemotherapy patients. Your gut health will likely be affected, and you may eventually feel unwell. Thus, while undergoing chemotherapy, you must avoid food items, such as chicken, sushi, sashimi, read-to-eat or chilled sandwiches, reheated starchy foods, like couscous, rice, and pasta.
*Important tip: Eating bland foods such as toast, plain yogurt, sherbet, or crackers will give you relief in nausea.
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7. Weak Immune System
There’s a significant decrease in white blood cells when you use chemotherapy drugs. Consequently, there’s a higher risk of you getting sick. If you’re going through chemo, there’s a risk of people getting neutropenia (a condition where your neutrophil levels, which are white blood cells, are lower than usual). Therefore, taking extra care of yourself is important to avoid bacteria or germs that may make you ill.
8. Trouble in Brain Functioning
Chemo results in making your brain function a little slower. There’s short-term memory loss or difficulty remembering (also called Chemobrain) and trouble with thinking compared to earlier times when you were healthy.
9. Skin Discoloration
Once your chemo sessions start, your skin may start to irritate. You can also see hand-foot syndrome or rashes, which are common during chemotherapy. Moreover, your skin may become more sensitive to sunlight and thus increase your risk of sunburn.
10. Hair Loss
Within the first three weeks of chemo, your hairfall will usually start. Sometimes, hair loss may last forever, but usually, your hair regrows two to three months after you finish your chemo treatment. At the same time, you may see some differences in your hair color and texture compared to how they used to be earlier.
11. Kidney and Gall Bladder Issues
A few chemo drugs can cause discomfort to your urinary system, making it hard for you to pee. You may experience a burning sensation, a constant urge to urinate, or urinate or dribble accidentally, which is called urinary incontinence.
12. Peripheral Neuropathy
CIPN or Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy could potentially make your body parts, especially your hands and feet, feel numb, tingly (like someone is pointing needles or pins), or painful. In fact, you may find it problematic to coordinate between your muscles, like hand-eye coordination, walking, running, and lifting activities.
13. Fertility and Sex Issues
There can be a significant decrease in testosterone and estrogen levels during or after your chemo. This may result in impacting your ability to have children or may even affect your sex drive. In women, it can lead to early menopause. Also, these chemotherapy medicines can harm the fetus if you conceive or impregnate someone during this treatment.
In a nutshell, the majority of these side effects last for a shorter time than your chemotherapy treatment. However, there are some side effects, including fatigue, hair loss, heart damage, and neuropathy that can last lifelong.
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The following section focuses on how to take proper follow-ups to ensure keen cancer care.
Why is Follow-up in Cancer Care Important?
After the completion of your chemotherapy, it’s important to ensure that the cancer cells don’t return or regrow, and hence, you need to do regular health checkups.
For instance, if your blood counts are lower than usual, it could result in severe infections as the body’s defense mechanism no longer holds its original power. Thus, with the help of follow-ups, it’s easier to save yourself from long-term side effects.
Anything Else to Know About Chemotherapy Side Effects?
Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy must contact their care team in case they have:
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- Fever of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher
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- Diarrhea issue that lasts more than two days
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- Bruises or bleeding on any part of their body.
Thus, you can’t take any side effects lightly, specifically diarrhea, which could signify a severe infection. Therefore, informing your physician about any change in your body is a must.
Why Does Chemotherapy Cause Side Effects?
Going through chemotherapy to treat cancer results in having side effects. Chemo or chemotherapy is one of the most common cancer treatment options that uses specific drugs to destroy and damage cancer cells.
These drugs distort processes that cancer cells require for their growth and multiplication. As it’s one of the most common treatments for cancer, there’s one drawback associated with it.
Chemotherapy cannot identify the difference between fast-growing healthy cells and fast-growing cancer cells. Moreover, you can witness side effects when chemotherapy damages your healthy cells. The cells that are mostly at risk from the damage done by chemo include:
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- Blood-forming cells in your bone marrow (white and red blood cells, and platelets).
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- Cells in your digestive system, mouth, and reproductive system.
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- Hair follicles and skin cells.
In chemotherapy, while cancer cells die because of the damage done by this cancer treatment, normal cells can automatically grow. The majority of the time, people who get chemotherapy are divided into several rounds or sessions that give enough time for cells to repair themselves.
Thus, it’s easier to manage chemo side effects when you give your body time to recover.
One of the most important things to note here is that no one knows or has any idea what side effects will affect your body. Also, there’s no actual prediction of the intensity of these side effects. However, just think about knowing the potential side effects, and you know how to manage chemotherapy treatments much more easily.
Conclusion
So many times, in fact, it’s frustrating to hear one and the same thing on repeat, that “it depends” when you ask about side effects.
Also, the side effects from the first round of chemo may not necessarily be the same in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on.
But don’t worry—Palak Jain Cancer Rehab Specialist is here to assure you that you’ll have no side effects whatsoever after or during your chemotherapy. Does that sound like a miracle? Yes, it does!
We assure you that our personalized consulting sessions can definitely convert your challenges into a blessing.
So, all you need is a lifestyle change, and joining our cancer rehabilitation can do wonders for rejuvenating you.
Looking to reach out to us? Contact us today to retire from these painful chemotherapy side effects!