Side Effects Of Chemotherapy For Cancer Treatment
Science is progressing rapidly. There are varieties of diseases which can be totally cured by using different therapies and still search is going on for some diseases like AIDS and cancer.
There are different treatments available to cure and control cancer but most of them show side effects, which seriously affect the cancer patient. Chemotherapy is mostly used to cure cancer; it also shows some side effects on the body. Side effects of chemotherapy are described below.
Chemotherapy
Varieties of medicines are used to treat cancer. Some persons can experience side effect and some might not. It is completely depends on the patients health. Some important side effects are given below.
- Constipation: Large intestine of patient shows very slow movement of stool in the last part of large intestine. More amount of water is absorbed from the feces therefore stool becomes dry and hard. Patient undergoing through chemotherapy shows changes or irregular bowel movements and person takes more time to excrete fecal matter and it becomes very painful to pass.
- Diarrhea: It is total opposite of the constipation. More amount of water is excreted along with fecal matter and person gets dehydrated frequently.
- Fatigue: Cancer patient already suffers from fatigue but by getting chemotherapy person can feel more fatigue and get actually exhausted leading to anemia.
- Depression of bone marrow function: Bone marrow is the cavity of long bones. Blood cells like RBC, WBC and platelets are produced in bone marrow. Due to chemotherapy activity or production of blood cells decreases leading to weakening of immune system and person become prone to infectious diseases. Most of time infection occurs due to the micro-organisms present in the blood, skin and intestinal tract. E.g. Sepsis is a condition developed due to the microorganism. It shows inflammation or swelling throughout the body
- Loss of hair: Hair loss due to chemotherapy is different, some people may loss hair slowly, some may loss them at once only. Sometime whole body hair may loss. It can be also psychological, because of worry and tension.
- Fertility problem: Some cancer patient shows fertility problem or losing fertility permanently or momentary. Extent of fertility problem depends on the drug and dose given to the patient. Some female patient shows stopping of menstrual cycle, and vaginal passage becomes dry. In young female cancer patient menstrual cycle may continue. In males, sperm counting go down. Many times, for male, before starting treatment, sperm can be stored in sperm bank depending on his preference.
- Nausea and vomiting: Most of the time patient experience nausea and vomiting. Nausea and vomiting can be control by giving anti-nausea medicines.
- Mouth sores: In chemotherapy, many normal cells like mouth and cell of digestive tract are killed. Mouth sores creates difficulty in chewing and biting of food material. It also inhibits intake of food leads to weight loss. Because of mouth sores patient becomes more susceptible to infections.
