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Doxorubicin Adriamycin. Gemcitabine Gemzar. Oxaliplatin Eloxatin. Taxol Paclitaxel. Vinblastine Velban. Hormone Therapy. Anastrozole Arimidex. Lenalidomide Revlimid. Chemotherapy can be administered a number of ways but common ways include orally and intravenously. The chemotherapy itself stays in the body within 2 -3 days of treatment but there are short-term and long-term side effects that patients may experience.
Not all patients will experience all side effects but many will experience at least a few. Short term side effects may include hair loss, nausea, fatigue, fingernail and toenail weakness, pain, mouth or throat soreness, loss of menstrual periods, weight gain, insomnia, constipation, diarrhea, anemia, changes in white blood cell count and more.
The good news is that many of these symptoms are short-term and will go away once chemotherapy treatment is discontinued. Long-term side effects of chemotherapy are frustrating but, unfortunately, possible. It is important to go into treatment with eyes open to long-term side effects so that you can make the best decision for your health and wellbeing.
Some experts also do not recommend probiotics and would advise you talk with your doctor and pharmacist before taking a probiotic supplement while receiving cancer treatment.
In general, it is best to avoid highly processed foods, and those that have a lot of sugar. Ask your doctor or clinical pharmacist if raw fruits and vegetables are safe to eat with your treatment as these are often the best source of necessary vitamins and nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. What if I do not feel like eating during treatment or if foods taste different to me now due to treatment?
Healthy Diet Some treatments are well-known to change the way foods taste. Some experts recommend avoiding your favorite food if it tastes different during treatment so that when you are finished with treatment, you will still enjoy eating it. In addition, if food makes you nauseated, try to avoid foods that produce a lot of aroma, or leave them uncovered so that they do not produce overwhelming smells when you take the lid off.
If you are unintentionally losing weight, ask your doctor if you can meet with a dietician who can recommend specific foods that will help prevent further weight loss. Healthy Diet Be sure to check with your doctor and pharmacist about foods that may interact with your treatment because certain medications may be affected. For example, grapefruit and grapefruit juice commonly interacts with certain anti-cancer pills. What if my other doctors prescribe medications while I am receiving treatment from you?
Home Medications Before you start taking medications, it is usually a good idea to tell your hematologist or oncologist about newly prescribed medications from other physicians, physician assistants, or nurse practitioners to avoid any dangerous drug-drug interactions. If they do not know the answer, they will refer you to a pharmacist.
Who can I talk to? Mindset Intimacy is an important part of many people's lives. Cancer and its treatment surgery or medications may cause anxiety, fear, a depressed mood, nausea, or fatigue, all which can lead to decreased sexual desire, decreased function and lower level of intimacy. It is a common problem and is probably underreported. Although it may be a bit uncomfortable to talk about at first, your doctor will understand.
Certain medications may help improve your sexual health. Additionally, ask your doctor about the availability of counselors or other specialists that can speak with you and your partner.
These specialists may have you fill out a brief questionnaire that will help them help you! Mindset Support groups available online or in-person and may be offered by your treatment center. Ask your doctor which ones they recommend. Do you recommend I make any lifestyle changes now, or is it best to wait until after treatment?
Mindset Now might be the time to start thinking about lifestyle changes. Are you avoiding things that make you unhealthy and doing things that build you up?
Treatment will likely work better if you are in better physical condition! If you are feeling fatigued from treatment, watch our video on fatigue for some ideas on regaining energy.
How quickly does this treatment work and how will I know it is working? Monitoring The first sign that a treatment is working is often when your symptoms reduce in severity. Your doctor may order blood tests and scans at various time points throughout your treatment to determine how well it is working. On occasion, treatment may be switched to a different regimen if the blood results or scans do not show that the cancer is not responding as expected.
If I need to reduce the dose s of my treatment, will it affect how well it works? Prognosis Certain anti-cancer medications can be reduced without affecting the overall chances of getting rid of the cancer. Your doctor or clinical pharmacist may be able to answer this question for you based upon the specific cancer and treatment. Sometimes dose reductions are made due to side effects. Other times dose reductions are made due to kidney, or liver problems when these organs are involved in breaking down the medication.
In these instances, it is expected that the anti-cancer medication will achieve the same level in the body as it would in someone with normal kidney or liver function. Likewise, without changing their effectiveness, anti-cancer medications may require a dose reduction if they interact with another medication you are taking to treat another illness. Is there anything that can be done if I am overwhelmed by the number of appointments for doctor visits, scans, and blood tests?
Schedule Ask your doctor if certain labs can wait to be drawn at the same time as others, or drawn a little early to avoid unnecessary trips. Or, ask if there are alternative medications that you might be able to take that do not require as many visits required for monitoring. Importantly, some tests should not be delayed or drawn early because they may affect your doctor's ability to make a decision that is important to your overall health.
How do I know when to call about a side effect and when to try to manage it on my own? Side Effects Ask your doctor and nurse which side effects from your specific treatment are most concerning and when to call the clinic, or an after-hours on-call doctor for help.
That said, sometimes even seemingly simple problems such as mild constipation should prompt a phone call to your doctor in order to prevent a small problem from becoming a major one, such as a complete bowel obstruction. Most importantly, by calling your doctor when you are not feeling well, side effects will be appropriately managed and you will feel better faster.
What can I be doing to take care of myself while receiving treatment? Supportive Care It is important for a patient to be able to activate and support self-management, as well as engage in an exercise program that is safe and tailored to their abilities. Self-management refers to tasks related to the management of the disease or treatment, working with new emotions, and the possibility of changing roles in relationships in order to continue to live well with the condition Chan RJ et al.
Support Care Cancer. The delivery of information, such as that which is found on ChemoExperts. Certain side effects require immediate attention by your health care provider and it is important that you know what these are and when to seek immediate medical attention. In order to effectively take care of yourself, set goals with your doctor and formulate actionable plans that enable you to work through problems when you can, but also seek help in a timely manner when you need it.
Ask questions when you do not understrand something. As clinicians ourselves, we see too many patients remain silent during their clinic visits. Now is your time to speak up! How long has this treatment been used to treat people? Treatment The longer a particular treatment has been in use the higher likelihood that your doctor will have real-world experience with it and be able to tell you what the road ahead might look like. However, for the older regimens still in use, the clinical trials that led to their use did not typically report detailed information on side effects like newer therapies do now.
Thus, by reading the references found at the bottom of every ChemoExperts. What can I be doing to increase the chances of this treatment working? Treatment Your doctor may recommend dietary changes, increased physical activity, or simply staying on schedule with all prescribed treatments. Tell your doctor if you are missing doses of medications and the reasons why.
They are here to help you, not judge you, and would rather know so that they can give you the ideas or resources you need to be successful. Treatment Your doctor can give you a general idea of the likelihood of response to treatment based upon characteristics specific to you. Know that not everyone responds to treatment the same because we are all unique.
Genes, gender, size, and other medications we take are just a few things that can sometimes influence response to treatment. Fertility Ask your doctor when it is safe to start a family or adding to your current one.
If you used fertility preservation methods prior to starting treatment, your doctor may refer you to a specialist in reproductive medicine to help with having a baby. Is anyone in my family at risk of inheriting this cancer? Genetics Certain types of cancers carry a risk of being passed down to children.
Most cancers however, either arise from unknown causes or develop from risk factors such as being overweight, having certain types of infections, or being exposed to environmental toxins such as chemicals, smoke, or excessive sun exposure. Some cancers are related to your age.
Your doctor will know whether this cancer may have been due to the genes you inherited and whether it is worthwhile for your family members to get tested. Am I able to enjoy an occasional glass of wine or beer now that treatment is over? Healthy Diet Alcohol can harm your liver and interact with certain medications. Moreover, alcohol is a known risk factor for developing certain types of cancer, therefore it is very important you do not drink alcohol without being cleared to do so by your doctor first.
Important Note: this question only applies to those who are of legal drinking age. Caregivers If you are not feeling well, your caregiver may need to be available to drive you to and from your clinic appointments, lab draws, and infusion visits. If the treatment you are receiving increases the risk of serious side effects, you may need to have someone available around-the-clock in case you need urgent help or deciding if you need transportation to the ER.
At some or all stages of your treatment, you may need a caregiver in home 24 hours a day to help you with eating and bathing until your are feeling better. Caregivers often play an important role in helping you keep track of your scheduled medications throughout treatment. Ask your nurse what other ways your caregiver may be able to help. Being a caregiver can hold a lot of meaning and personal satisfaction, but it is important to be aware that caregivers experience emotional pain, sadness, and frustration as well.
They may experience caregiver fatigue and, if so, might look for a local or online support group to assist with navigating the ups and downs. Ask you nurse if there are specific things that they think might help your caregiver as well. Your primary caregiver should be a trusted spouse, partner, parent, or adult child. You can also consider close friends, co-workers, or neighbors to assist.
If your cancer treatment is going to be costly, there may be financial or patient assistance programs available to you to help lessen out-of-pocket costs. Ask your nurse if any of these are available and if someone such as a financial counselor can help you.
You may qualify for financial or patient assistance programs, or supplemental insurance. If you do not know your pharmacist, your nurse may be able to connect you with one that may help reduce the cost of medications.
There are many online resources that are free to use to help you learn more about specific types of cancer. One reputable source is the A merican Cancer Society. Other good resources include Medline Plus and cancer. Results of your tests may be given over the phone or in person during a follow-up clinic visit.
Be sure to ask the clinic staff how you will find out this information. Once a final diagnosis is made by your doctor, your nurse should be able to find this information for you in your chart. Timing is important. If you are interested in having children in the future, do not delay in dealing with this issue.
Ask your nurse and doctor to connect you with a fertility specialist that will be able to assist you throughout this process. For more information on this topic, Click on our "Doctor" icon, and select "Fertility" as a category. Some cancer treatments take several hours to complete causing you to spend a significant part of your day in the infusion center. In some cases, you may be at the infusion center when it is time to eat.
Ask your nurse if food is typically provided to patients in the infusions center and if not, what the policy is for patients who want to bring food with them. A tablet or computer, or a good book often helps the time go by faster as well.
Before treatment, ask your nurse if the specific treatment you are receiving is likely to change the way food tastes or if you are likely to lose weight. Now might be a good time to reevaluate what you eat on a daily basis. If you eat a lot of sugary or fatty foods, it would be good to eat more wholesome foods such as vegetables and fruits. Remember, it is not always what you are eating, it is what you are NOT eating that matters as well.
Fruits and vegetables may contain valuable cancer-fighting compounds that may help you heal faster. If your healthcare team advises that you avoid vegetables, ask them for the written information that supports this recommendation. There may be several medications that need to be started for anti-cancer therapy. Some of these medications may help you to avoid possible side effects from treatment and are therefore extremely important.
Ask your nurse about the new therapies you are starting and why you need to take them. Knowing what they are, how they work, how often they need to be taken, and the dosages will help keep you safe. Some medications need to be stopped or changed before starting treatment because they may not be needed. On occasion, other medications may need to be switched to a different one, or stopped altogether if they interact with new anti-cancer medications or supportive care medications that are prescribed for you.
Your nurse can work with your doctor and pharmacist to determine if any changes to your medications need to be made before treatment is started. Your nurse wants to make your life easier, but won't be able to unless you tell him or her what you are struggling with. Know that most health care professionals genuinely want to help you and the questions you ask now will save both you and them time by preventing problems down the road.
If you can change your mindset and begin asking for assistance early, it will help them and it will help you. Problems may be able to be prevented and everyone wins! Some labs may need to be done at the clinic since not all laboratories have the ability to do them, but some routine labs could be done at a laboratory closer to home to save you a trip to clinic if it is a long drive. If you are interested in getting labs done closer to home, ask your nurse if this would be possible.
It is always a good idea to keep good records during your treatment course. Your nurse can help you get the records that you need. This depends upon your specific treatment, but in general, you should understand the normal ranges for your white blood cells, hemoglobin, platelets, serum creatinine kidney function , and liver function tests bilirubin, AST, ALT, Alkaline phosphatase.
Your nurse may be able to help you understand what happens if your lab results are not within the normal ranges for these specific tests. Hospitals can be busy places, with dozens of patients coming and going each and every day. The nurses may have to coordinate the time you come in for treatment around the time at which a hospital room becomes available.
Make sure you speak with your nurse prior to coming to the hospital so you that know a room will be ready for you when you arrive. If you have a good understanding of what side effects to expect, you can begin to take measures to prevent them. Watch our side effect videos to learn more.
For side effects that we do not yet have videos for, ask your nurse for ideas on how best to prevent them or if they occur, manage them appropriately. Doing so may keep you out of the hospital or even save your life! Some side effects can be life-threatening and need to be treated right away! Ask your nurse what side effects can be life threatening and if they occur, need to be treated at the nearest or emergency department ED or the emergency room ER designated by your health care team.
Infusion reactions can be common with certain treatments and can be managed in different ways. If a reaction occurs, nurses will first stop the treatment, then call your doctor for instruction on how to proceed. Ask your nurse to give you information on how an infusion reaction would be managed if it occurs.
Serious issues can arise anytime of the day or in the middle of the night. Ask your nurse what on-call phone number you need to speak to a doctor or other healthcare professional after hours. Your nurse may have experience helping other patients who have received the same treatment recommended to you.
If they do not have experience, ask your nurse to schedule another appointment with your Doctor to answer questions. You can also ask your nurse if a social worker is available to talk to.
They may be able to help you navigate through many of the fears of starting treatment and help you take the proper steps in addressing them. There are many ways to infuse treatment, including a peripheral I.
Your doctor, nurse, and sometimes pharmacist will work together to determine what is best for you. Caregivers Encourage your caregiver to schedule rest and relaxation, have other friends or family members take "shifts" being the caregiver, allow friends or loved ones to cook meals, or find local or online support groups when time permits.
It is important your caregiver continue to engage in activities that bring them joy, even though they may feel guilty stepping away from their role. Remind them they can't take care of you unless they take care of themselves first! Your nurse may have more specific ideas for you as well. It is important to have a designated back-up during the times your primary caregiver is unavailable or to have a plan in place for the times that they are not around.
If you know you will have difficulty making it to certain appointments, ask your nurse if they might be able to reschedule for a time or day that works for you. If you need transportation to a health-related appointment, your social worker may be able to assist, but will need plenty of time to make arrangements for you. In the case of an emergency, never hesitate to call If your caregiver begins appearing irritable, withdrawn, depressed, stressed, etc. Your nurse may know of other signs to look out for as well.
When food becomes unappealing, focus on protein shakes, smoothies, electrolyte replenishing drinks, and broth. Ask your nurse to connect you with a dietician to help you with making food choices that agree with you. When all else fails, eat what you can! Most experts agree that a small snack that sounds delicious and stays down is better than nothing at all. In some cases, diarrhea can be caused by an infection. Be sure to speak to your nurse and care team before attempting to manage diarrhea at home.
You should then consider trying the B. If you like dairy products, know that they may cause cramping in some people during treatment. If your stomach is bothering you, and you are having diarrhea, eat dairy in small amounts until you know you can tolerate a full serving. To make sure that you don't experience any delays in treatment, make sure you ask your nurse who you should contact and how you should contact them when you need medication refills.
Also be sure that they have your preferred pharmacy on file so they can send your prescription to the correct pharmacy. It is always helpful to bring your medications so that your healthcare team can see exactly what you are taking and determine if you need any refills before you go home. Importantly, most if not all, medications will be supplied by the hospital. However, some medications such as oral anti-cancer medication or chemotherapy pills may not be routinely stocked and may not be readily available to the hospital's pharmacy.
If this is the case, and your doctor wants you to continue to take your oral anti-cancer medication, you may ask the hospital if their policy permits you to use your own medication so that you do not miss doses. If you do bring your medications, and they allow you to use your own supply, it is important to know that hospital staff often require that they oversee the administration of these medicines so that they know exactly what you are taking in order to keep you safe.
If they do hold onto your medications, make sure you ask for your them back before you leave since it is common for people to forget.
Your nurse may be able to help answer more specific questions about medications brought into the hospital. There are many resources that can help people deal with their diagnosis and treatment. Know that you don't have to face mental health issues alone. Talk to your nurse about what services are available at your treatment center to help with anxiety or depression, and ask what other mental health services are available in your area. In some instances, labs have to be drawn on certain days.
In other instances, labs can be drawn a day or two before treatment. If interested, ask your nurse if you need to have labs drawn on the day of treatment or if you can get them done earlier to lessen the time you spend waiting at the infusion center.
In order to maintain activity in a safe manner, ask your nurse to put you in contact with a physical therapist. They can assess your strength level and give you individualized exercises to maintain and build muscle safely.
An example is to get up every hour during the day for a short walk in the house to maintain endurance. It might not be easy, but try to stick with it because it may greatly benefit you in the long run.
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