Emotional issues Having chemotherapy can be a frustrating, stressful and traumatic experience. It's natural to feel anxious and to wonder if your treatment will be successful. Stress and anxiety can also increase your risk of getting depression. Speak to your care team if you're struggling to cope emotionally.
Some people find they can lead an almost normal life during chemotherapy. But others find everyday life more difficult. You may feel unwell during and shortly after each treatment but recover quickly between treatments. You may be able to get back to your usual activities as you begin to feel better.
Chemotherapy can cause fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, bowel issues such as constipation or diarrhoea, hair loss, mouth sores, skin and nail problems. You may have trouble concentrating or remembering things. There can also be nerve and muscle effects and hearing changes. You will be at increased risk of infections.
Most types of pain related to chemotherapy get better or go away between individual treatments. However, nerve damage often gets worse with each dose. Sometimes the drug causing the nerve damage has to be stopped.
Chemo Brain
Emotional and mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, stress, and having trouble sleeping can add to that foggy feeling. Chemo brain can also intensify feelings of frustration or anger. That's OK. These feelings can be managed.
Around the third day following a chemotherapy treatment, some people may experience flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches and pains. If you experience these aches, you can take over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol or Advil. If necessary, contact your doctor for stronger medication.
Doxorubicin is considered one of the strongest chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer ever invented. It can kill cancer cells at every point in their life cycle, and it's used to treat a wide variety of cancers, not just breast cancer. Doxorubicin is also known as “The Red Devil” because it is a clear bright red color.
Most people say it takes 6 to 12 months after they finish chemotherapy before they truly feel like themselves again. Read the resource Managing Cognitive Changes for more information about managing chemo brain.
Sickness caused by some chemotherapy drugs is the most difficult side effect for many people. Uncontrolled sickness can affect your quality of life on many levels. But not all chemotherapy drugs make you sick. If they do, it generally starts from a few minutes to several hours after having the drug.
Some chemotherapy drugs can cause painful side effects, such as aching in the muscles and joints, headaches and stomach pains. Pain may be felt as burning, numbness, tingling or shooting pains in the hands and feet (called peripheral nerve damage). This type of pain can last long after treatment ends.
IV chemotherapy should not cause any pain while being administered. If you experience pain, contact the nurse taking care of you to check your IV line. An exception would be if there is a leak and the drug gets into surrounding tissues.
There Will Be First Chemo Treatment Side Effects
Fatigue: You may feel tired or very fatigued the day after your first treatment. This differs from tiredness that can be cured with sleep. It may feel like profound lack of energy you can't seem to shake.
The effects of chemo are cumulative. They get worse with each cycle. My doctors warned me: Each infusion will get harder. Each cycle, expect to feel weaker.
When treatment ends, you may expect life to return to the way it was before you were diagnosed with cancer. But it can take time to recover. You may have permanent scars on your body, or you may not be able to do some things you once did easily. Or you may even have emotional scars from going through so much.
Short, planned delays in chemotherapy for good-risk GCT patients (less than or equal to 7 days per cycle) appear to be acceptable since they may prevent serious toxicity in this curable patient population. Delays of longer than 7 days are strongly discouraged except in extraordinary life-threatening circumstances.
In some cases, oncologists fail to tell patients how long they have to live. In others, patients are clearly told their prognosis, but are too overwhelmed to absorb the information.
For most people the side effects were worst in the first few days after treatment, then they gradually felt better until the next treatment. Some said the effects were worse with each successive treatment. Most side effects don't persist and disappear within a few weeks after the end of treatment.
During a course of treatment, you usually have around 4 to 8 cycles of treatment. A cycle is the time between one round of treatment until the start of the next. After each round of treatment you have a break, to allow your body to recover.
' However, there are certain types of cancer that are known to respond highly to chemotherapy. These include all three major types of blood cancer namely leukaemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Here are 3 types of blood-related cancers you should know about.
Yes. It will take some extra planning and working out who can support you but it's possible to continue living alone when you have cancer. Having cancer and going through treatment raises many challenges and emotions. These may be harder to deal with when you live alone.
You may worry about the safety of family and friends while you are having chemotherapy. There is little risk to visitors (including children, babies and pregnant women) because they aren't likely to come into contact with any chemotherapy drugs or body fluids.
Bathe every day and use warm water. Avoid soaking in spas or hot tubs. Use a mild soap for bathing. Use a soft towel to gently wash skin.