Long Term Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a mode of treatment to treat various kinds of cancer, and the drugs used here are chemical based and they destroy the cancerous cells in the body. These drugs either slow down the rapid growth of the cancer cells or destroy them completely.
Type of chemotherapy depends upon the stages of cancer, prognosis etc. The duration of the treatment also depends upon these factors and the mode of treatment varies from person to person and the stage of cancer.
There are two types of chemotherapy i.e. long term and short term. As you know that chemotherapy is not a single cycle treatment as it comprises 4-6 cycles depending upon the stage of cancer. These chemo drugs are known to destroy the cancerous cells in the body but then they also damage the normal cells that surround these cancerous cells. There is a recovery period between every chemotherapy cycle. The treatment lasts for about 6 months to a year.
As mentioned above there are two modes of treatment in case of long term chemotherapy only one drug is used. Research has shown that the use of combination drugs are more effective but then when the prognosis is poor doctors prefer to administer only one drug as the patient is not able to tolerate the action of more than one drug. There are different ways where chemotherapy is administered to the patient depending upon the condition and type of cancer and the mode of treatment are either by injecting the drugs through intravenous, orally, intramuscular or topically.
There are side effects in all modes of cancer treatments and some of these side effects can be unpleasant. Though these side effects are temporary and tend to disappear after the completion of the treatment. The side effects associated with chemotherapy are vomiting, constipation, nausea, bleeding, low resistance power to fight against diseases etc.
Chemotherapy is known to increase the chances of survival but then those undergoing chemotherapy for a longer period of time do have some long standing side effects that take time to ware off , though these side effects are rare and some of the long lasting side effects are damage to the main organs of the body like the lungs, heart, kidney etc. Damage to the nervous system, blood stream and the urinary tract are yet another possibility of long term side effects due to chemotherapy. Not only this chemotherapy is also known to bring about other diseases like the Hodgkin’s disease and rare but true chemotherapy may give rise to other types of cancers too which include lymphoma, tumours and leukaemia.
Before going in for chemotherapy you need to gather all the information regarding chemotherapy as well as the side effects related to this mode of treatment. You also need to know about the long term effects of chemotherapy and need to consult your doctor about the side effects before considering chemotherapy. This through knowledge about cancer treatment and the side effects related to chemotherapy will help you get back to good health and also help you complete the whole treatment cycle thus increasing your chances of survival.