Chemotherapy: How it Works, Benefits, and Side Effects

Chemotherapy or chemo is a procedure of administering drugs to kill cancer cells. Check out the explanation of the benefits and side effects for the body in the following review.

What is Chemotherapy?

Basically, various Chemotherapy drugs help inhibit cancer cells’ ability to divide and reproduce. Drugs alone or in combination can be used to fight various types of cancer.

Chemotherapy drugs it can either be channeled directly into the bloodstream (to attack cancer cells throughout the body) or it can be targeted at specific cancers.

Keep in mind, cancer cells grow much faster than other healthy cells. As more cells are produced, they accumulate until they occupy the space previously occupied by useful cells.

Chemotherapy Goals

Understanding the goals of treatment when making these treatment decisions is important. There are three main goals of treatment, including:

1. Helps Cure Cancer

Usually doctors don’t use the word ‘medicine’ except as a possible cure. When giving a treatment that has the possibility of curing a person’s cancer, doctors may describe it as a treatment with the intention of being a cure.

This treatment has no definite guarantee for curing cancer, because chemotherapy does not always work. It usually takes years to know if the cancer is gone.

2. Controlling Cancer

If a cure is not possible, the goal may be to control the cancer. This treatment is used to reduce the mass of the tumor or stop the cancer from growing and spreading. In the end, the patient’s life expectancy can be longer.

Usually the cancer is not completely gone, but is controlled and managed as a chronic disease, such as heart disease or diabetes.

3. Relieve Cancer Symptoms

When cancer enters an advanced stage, where cancer is not controlled and has spread to other parts of the body, palliative chemotherapy treatment may be an option.

This treatment aims to improve quality of life or help people with cancer feel better. For example, chemo can be used to help shrink tumors that are causing pain.

Things to Look For Before and After Chemotherapy

Careful planning is needed before you take this treatment, including:

• Method used.
• Side effects that may appear.
• Chemotherapy success rate.

Chemotherapy planning can be done after the patient has undergone examinations, such as blood tests and scans with photographs x-ray.

It should be noted that chemotherapy is not recommended for pregnant women because it can cause birth defects in the baby. In addition, patients who are taking other medicines, including herbal medicines are also advised to inform their doctor first.

Sufferers can feeling weak after chemotherapy Therefore, patients are usually advised to ask for help from family or friends to accompany and accompany them during the process

After undergoing chemotherapy, the patient’s condition must always be monitored by a team of doctors. This aims to determine the success rate of treatment.

Also read: Signs Your Chemotherapy Is Working and How to Know It

Other Conditions Requiring Chemotherapy

In general, chemotherapy is used to treat cancer. Various types of cancer that can be treated with chemo include: cervical cancer, breast cancer, blood cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, lymph cancer, and many other types of cancer.

The following are various other diseases that require this treatment, including:

1. Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis It is an autoimmune disease that causes long-term inflammation of the joints. The condition can cause swelling to pain around the joints and organs

2. Psoriasis Arthritis

This condition occurs when the body’s immune system actually attacks healthy body cells, causing inflammation in the joints and excessive production of skin cells. In addition, this type of arthritis can cause the sufferer’s joints to become inflamed (swelling), stiffness and pain.

3. Lupus

Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal tissue. Lupus symptoms are marked by inflammation, swelling, and damage to the joints, kidneys, skin, blood, lungs, and heart.

Also Read: Know the Types of Blood Cancer and Treatment

4. Crohn’s disease

This is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. This type of inflammatory bowel disease can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and be life threatening

5. Vasculitis

Vasculitis is a term for a group of diseases characterized by inflammation and damage to blood vessels or blood vessel walls. The vascular system or blood vessels refers to the collection of directions in the body.

Diseases that require this treatment can be primary diseases or secondary conditions associated with other diseases.

6. Scleroderma

Scleroderma is a variety of disorders in which the skin and connective tissue tighten and harden. This condition is a long-term progressive disease, meaning it can get worse with age.

7. Polymyositis

This is an inflammatory disease that causes muscle weakness and affects both sides of the body. This condition makes it difficult for you to get out of your chair, climb stairs, and lift objects. Poliomyelitis symptoms usually develop gradually, over weeks or months.

Types of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a treatment that can be given in several ways. Your doctor will suggest the right type of chemo for you. The most common types, including:

1. Intravenous Chemotherapy

This type of chemo is usually done in a hospital and uses drugs that are given through a tube into a vein in the hand, arm or chest.

2. Oral Chemotherapy

Sufferers may be recommended one type of chemotherapy drug or a combination of different types. After undergoing the oral chemotherapy process, the patient usually still has to do several treatment sessions and usually will last for several months.

Also Read: 12 Food Restrictions after Chemotherapy that Must Be Followed!

Chemotherapy Side Effects

Although useful for killing cancer cells, this treatment can have an impact that reduces the quality of life of sufferers. Some of the side effects that can occur include:

• Nausea and vomiting.
• Body feels weak.
• Hair loss.
• Anemia.
• Loss of appetite.
• Fever.
• Changes in skin and nails.
• Indigestion (constipation or diarrhea).
• Easy to get infection.
• Impaired memory and concentration.

Tips for Undergoing Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy side effects cause various conditions that cause discomfort. Therefore, here are some tips to help reduce its effects:

1. Using a Cold Cap

Undergoing chemo doesn’t necessarily mean experiencing complete hair loss. You can use a cold cap to minimize hair loss and make your hair grow faster.

2. Haircut

If not use cold cap, don’t shave your head so you’re going to undergo chemo. Consider trimming before treatment begins and then shaving when the hair starts to fall out (usually two to three weeks after the first chemo) to minimize shock from balding.

3. Prepare the Wig

If you have started chemo and are experiencing baldness, you can use a wig to improve your appearance.

4. Prepare pain relievers

Take medication for pain relief as prescribed by your doctor. Although useful, this drug can compress and damage the blood vessels in the wrist if you use it for too long.

5. Prepare Constipation Medication

As long as you are undergoing chemo, the next problem that can occur is constipation. To overcome this, consume constipation medicine before doing chemotherapy and continue consumption until the condition improves.

Also Read: Various Types of Examination to Detect Lung Cancer

6. Cold Drinks

Consider having ice cream or cold drinks available for a cooling sensation during chemo. This medication will affect your taste buds and usually make you crave cold drinks.

7. Drink Juice

Consume juice for five day is a great way to meet the needs of vitamins. In the end, this condition can help reduce the side effects of chemo

Consider providing a juicer. After diagnosis, taking it for 5 days is a great way to fill up on vitamins that can help reduce the side effects of chemo.

8. Using Nail Polish

Consumption of certain drugs to treat cancer can actually have an effect side in the form of discolored or loose nails. Therefore, the use of nail polish can disguise this condition

Apart from nail polish, you can also use gloves and socks to help reduce side effects that can occur

10. Get plenty of sleep

First days after chemo it can feel like a hangover accompanied by a migraine. One of the easiest ways to deal with this condition is to get more sleep and sufficient body fluid intake.

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