Chemotherapy Effects

Chemotherapy as the drug-based cancer treatment involves the elimination of the disease by stopping cancer cells from division. This treatment works by attacking and killing cells which divide very quickly as cancer cells do. Unfortunately, chemotherapy destroys other cells with a rapid division speed normally encountered with many body functions; this is the case with the cells in the digestive tract, hair follicles and bone marrow. Hence, the chemotherapy effects usually damage these areas. The most common adverse reactions that occur during and after chemotherapy include myelosuppresion decrease in the production of blood cells, mucositis inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, and alopecia hair loss.

Chemotherapy effects or side effects can be divided into two major groups as short and long term. Side effects of chemotherapy represent unwanted symptoms which occur as a direct result of taking a drug. sometimes chemotherapy effects are taken for cancer symptoms. Symptoms characterize the disease in fact, while the side effects consist of natural adverse reactions to a powerful external invasion in the body. Anyway, various chemotherapy drugs have different short term and long term side effects; not all chemotherapy drugs lead to every side effect.

Generally speaking, chemotherapy affects those cells with a faster division. The mouth, intestines, skin, hair, bone marrow (the spongy material that fills your bones and produces new blood cells) are mainly affected by chemotherapy. Since hair is growing all the time, the skin is constantly renewing itself and the lining of the digestive system and the mouth have the same dynamics, then, the new cells result from a rapid and constant division occurring in these parts of the body. And, unfortunately, when cells are dividing, chemotherapy drugs attack them.

Chemotherapy effects and adverse reactions also vary from one patient to another. The intensity of the experience, and their evolution during the treatment depend on many various factors. These elements include the period of drug administration, the concentration of the drug, how the drug is administered, the patients overall health condition, as well as the combined use of chemotherapy medication and other remedies. Some chemotherapy effects are serious medical conditions which must be dealt with; others, although upsetting, are not necessarily a major threat to the patients health. It is also important to discuss the effects of chemotherapy with the health care provider in order to be aware of what lies ahead and be able to bear the treatment in a good psychological shape.

Filed Under: Chemotherapy