5-Azacitidine

Azactidine or Vidaza is another anti-cancer drug and is used as a chemotherapy drug. This drug is used to treat myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS and chronic myelomoncytic leukemiaCMML both are types of cancers.

This drug is administered intravenously once every day and the amount of azacitidine that is administered again depends upon other factors like the type of cancer, your age, weight, height and apart from this your overall health.

Side effects of this drug

As such there are no noted side effects of azacitidine but then like most other cancer drugs these too have some side effects which are reversible and tend to go away after the completion of the treatment cycle.

Most common side effects are nausea, low blood count or anemia, low platelet count which leads to bleeding, vomiting, fever etc. “Nadir” this means low point or the time in between two cycles of chemotherapy wherein the body has a low blood count. This state of body lasts anywhere between 10-15 days and the recovery period is anywhere between three quarters of a month to a month wherein there are certain signs and symptoms like diarrhea, fatigue, constipation, redness at the site where the injection has been administered etc.

Some of the lesser known side effects of this drug are cough, weakness, joint and muscular pain, headaches, loss of appetite, sore throat, chest pain, dizziness, back pain, bleeding of the nose, weight loss, rashes, depression etc.

Whenever you face any of these above mentioned side effects you need to contact your doctor so that your problem is taken care off. Though there are certain side effects which needs immediate attention and they are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, unusual bleeding, passing of blood in urine and stool, extreme fatigue, constipation in spite of taking laxatives, swelling or pain in different body parts, painful urination etc which persists continuously thus aggravate your problem.

Some of the precautionary methods to help you overcome these side effects:

You need to consult your doctor and inform him about the other medications that you are presently taking, do not get yourself immunized or vaccinated without consulting your doctor, informing your doctor about your pregnancy if any as azacitidine is known to be harmful to the fetus, avoid breast feeding, avoid conceiving.

Some of the self care tips are that you need to increase your intake of water, avoid crowded places as your immune system is weak and you are prone to infections, maintain a strict hygiene, avoid sports and such other activities wherein the chances of injury is more, eat smaller meals at regular intervals to prevent vomiting, alcoholic drinks should be prevented completely. Getting your blood check-up done regularly helps monitor the proper functioning of the body organs.

Azacitidine is a drug which is often referred to as DNA or demethylating agent. It works by interfering with the growth of methylation of DNA thus suppressing the further growth or division of cancerous cells and also restoring and controlling the cell growth. Azacitidine also comes under the category of ant metabolites or chemotherapy drugs, their main target is to interact with the cells that help produce cytotoxic effects leading to the rapid death of these cancerous cells.