Side effects of chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a relatively advanced treatment method that can effectively control many serious diseases. However, while chemotherapy kills various tumor cells and cancer cells, it also causes great harm to the body, mainly causing varying degrees of damage to the body's immune system and various organs. Western medicine is often used in chemotherapy, and when it comes to toxic and side effects, it is basically a single medicine, so there is no way to alleviate all the side effects of the drugs.

After chemotherapy, obvious symptoms such as nausea and vomiting often appear. Regular physical examinations should be conducted after chemotherapy. In addition, some medications can be taken to control the disease and prevent recurrence. In terms of diet, you should eat more nutritious, high-protein, and high-vitamin foods to improve the body's immunity and resistance. Try to eat small meals frequently and do not add new burdens to the body. Also, try to eat foods that are easily digested and absorbed to facilitate the body's recovery.

Side effects of chemotherapy The side effects of chemotherapy are divided into short-term toxicity and long-term toxicity:

Recent toxic reactions are divided into local reactions (such as local tissue necrosis, thrombophlebitis, etc.) and systemic reactions (including digestive tract, hematopoietic system, cardiac reactions, pulmonary toxicity reactions, renal dysfunction and other reactions).

The long-term toxic reactions are mainly reproductive dysfunction, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, etc.

In addition, due to its toxic side effects, chemotherapy may sometimes cause complications, the most common of which are infection, bleeding, perforation, uric acid crystals, etc.

Common side effects are as follows:

1. Local reactions: phlebitis, local tissue necrosis.

2. Bone marrow suppression: Most chemotherapy drugs have varying degrees of bone marrow suppression. In the early stages of bone marrow suppression, there may be a decrease in white blood cells, especially granulocytes. In severe cases, platelets, red blood cells, and hemoglobin may all decrease. Patients may also experience fatigue, decreased resistance, susceptibility to infection, fever, bleeding, and other symptoms.

3. Gastrointestinal toxicity: Most chemotherapy drugs can cause gastrointestinal reactions, manifested as dry mouth, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes oral mucosal inflammation or ulcers. Constipation, paralytic ileus, diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, and abdominal pain may also be seen.

4. Immunosuppression: Chemotherapy drugs are generally immunosuppressive drugs, which have varying degrees of inhibitory effects on the body's immune function. When the immune function is low, the tumor is difficult to control and the recurrence or metastasis process is accelerated.

5. Nephrotoxicity: Some chemotherapy drugs can cause kidney damage, which is mainly manifested as acute necrosis and degeneration of renal tubular epithelial cells, interstitial edema, and tubular dilatation. In severe cases, renal failure may occur. Patients may experience low back pain, hematuria, edema, abnormal urine test results, etc.

6. Liver damage: The liver reaction caused by chemotherapy drugs can be acute and short-term liver damage, including necrosis and inflammation, or it can cause chronic liver damage due to long-term medication, such as fibrosis, fatty degeneration, granuloma formation, eosinophil infiltration, etc. Clinical manifestations may include abnormal liver function, pain in the liver area, hepatomegaly, jaundice, etc.

7. Cardiac toxicity: Clinically, it may manifest as arrhythmia, heart failure, cardiomyopathy syndrome (the patient presents with weakness, dyspnea during activity, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, and in case of heart failure, there may be rapid pulse, rapid breathing, hepatomegaly, cardiomegaly, pulmonary edema, edema and pleural effusion, etc.), and abnormal electrocardiogram.

8. Pulmonary toxicity: A few chemotherapy regimens may cause pulmonary toxicity, manifested as interstitial lung inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis. Clinical manifestations may include fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. Most patients have an acute onset and are accompanied by granulocytosis.

9. Neurotoxicity: Some chemotherapy drugs can cause peripheral neuritis, which manifests as numbness of fingers (toes), loss of tendon reflexes, abnormal sensations, and sometimes constipation or paralytic intestinal obstruction. Some drugs can produce central nervous system toxicity, which is mainly manifested as paresthesia, decreased sense of vibration, limb numbness, tingling, gait disorder, ataxia, drowsiness, mental abnormalities, etc.

10. Hair loss: Some chemotherapy drugs damage hair follicles. The degree of hair loss is usually related to the concentration and dosage of the drugs.

11. Others: Hearing loss, rash, facial or skin flushing, nail deformation, osteoporosis, bladder and urethral irritation, infertility, amenorrhea, sexual dysfunction, male breast enlargement, etc. can also be caused by some chemotherapy drugs. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can produce some toxic side effects, which can cause nausea, vomiting and many other physical discomfort symptoms.

Side effects and precautions caused by radiotherapy/chemotherapy for malignant tumors:

Most of the existing chemotherapy drugs, while inhibiting or killing cancer cells, also have toxic effects on normal cells in the body, especially bone marrow hematopoietic cells and gastrointestinal mucosal epithelial cells. The most common symptoms among patients are leukopenia or thrombocytopenia, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. In addition, patients should pay attention to oral hygiene and rinse their mouths after each meal to avoid oral ulcers. If you experience diarrhea during chemotherapy, especially more than five times a day, you should tell your doctor immediately. Some chemotherapy drugs can cause hair loss, so patients and their families should be mentally prepared. In short, chemotherapy drugs have various toxic and side effects, and chemotherapy patients are in a state of low immune function, so they should regulate their emotions and avoid worry, distress or impatience.

We all know the side effects of chemotherapy. It is worth reminding that any disease requires a good attitude to face it, especially after chemotherapy, both the physical and mental aspects will suffer varying degrees of pain. If you maintain a good mood it will have a very big effect on your physical recovery. I hope you can recover your health as soon as possible.