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Chemotherapy Patients
Dealing with Chemotherapy Patients
Finding out a friend or love one will undergo chemotherapy can be emotionally difficult. It’s vital to remember while chemotherapy patients often experience serious side-effects this therapy is typically the best chance of beating a life threatening cancer.
Chemotherapy refers to the treatment of disease by a chemical or chemicals that kill cells within the body. Commonly, this means the use of antineoplastic drugs which can destroy micro-organisms or cancer. Unfortunately most cancer drugs can’t differentiate between good or non-cancerous cells and the cancerous cells which is one cause of discomfort chemotherapy patients usually experience.
Newer drugs currently being developed act only against the abnormal proteins found in cancer cells. This ‘targeted therapy’ is presently only available for certain types of cancer.
According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the side-effects most commonly experienced by chemotherapy patients are: anemia, bleeding problems, appetite changes, diarrhea, fatigue, hair loss, infection, memory changes, mouth and throat changes, nausea and vomiting, nerve changes, pain, sexual and fertility changes, skin and nail changes, swelling or fluid retention, and urination changes. These various health issues range from moderator to severe. In extreme cases, some chemotherapy patients opt to discontinue treatment because they can no longer stand these harsh effects.
Since many patients either can’t or shouldn’t use any other pharmaceutical drugs while undergoing chemotherapy alternative methods of relief are becoming more popular. In May of 2007, the journal Cancer Treatment Reviews published a study finding no proof antioxidant supplements interfere with chemotherapy agents and might, in fact help patients endure the treatment and thus increase survival rates for chemotherapy patients.
Another recent study by University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York found ginger, a common folk remedy for nausea, helped many chemotherapy patients. The nausea experienced by cancer patients who took ginger was reduced by 40 percent the researchers found.
As difficult as chemotherapy is it very often represents the best hope for recovery and a return to better health. Being aware of the special needs and physical trials a chemotherapy patient might be facing can go a long way in aiding their recovery.