What is chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with chemical drugs to control the disease and relieve symptoms. Chemotherapy can be used alone or in combination with other treatments.
Why do I need chemotherapy?
Surgery cannot remove cancer cells that have entered the bloodstream and is ineffective against distant metastatic tumors, while radiotherapy only works on the radiotherapy area and is ineffective against metastatic tumors. Therefore, it is suitable for patients with all stages of cancer.
Why are many people afraid of chemotherapy?
After receiving chemotherapy, many patients have various unbearable adverse reactions, including physical changes such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, decrease in white blood cells, change in kidney function, skin necrosis at the injection site, and other physical discomforts after chemotherapy. As well as psychological changes after chemotherapy, feeling fearful and pessimistic, lonely and helpless. Do not know how to express their feelings to others.
Correct treatment of chemotherapy.
Although chemotherapy has many side effects, it can effectively treat cancer. Excessive fear and pessimism about chemotherapy will not only not help the treatment of cancer, but on the contrary, due to excessive mental tension and anxiety and restlessness, it will lower the resistance of the body and promote the development of cancer more quickly. Therefore, you should put down your mental burden, eat well, sleep well, strengthen your resistance, and actively cooperate with doctors for the best prognosis.
Treatment of common side effects of chemotherapy
Know what side effects may occur during chemotherapy? How to prevent these side effects? Knowing these things and being prepared for chemotherapy can help you avoid and reduce the discomfort caused by chemotherapy.
Nausea and vomiting: This is the most common side effect for chemotherapy patients. To avoid or reduce these side effects, you should strictly follow the doctor’s instructions and take the drugs on time, in the right amount and in the right order to reduce the chance of side effects.
And should not eat a lot before making chemotherapy. Eat small and frequent meals to avoid excessive bloating of the stomach. Avoid greasy, too sweet and overly flavored food, and drink some cool drinks.
If nausea and vomiting still occur, fast temporarily and apply some antiemetic drugs.
Constipation, diarrhea: It is due to the destruction of intestinal mucous membrane cells by drugs.
For diarrhea: Eat a light diet, ask the doctor to prescribe antidiarrheal agents, and if the diarrhea is severe, intravenous rehydration is needed.
For constipation: Take more water, vegetables and fruits or use laxatives.
Hair loss: Because the chemical drugs are more likely to destroy cells that divide faster, such as skin and hair cells.
Since this side effect will disappear after chemotherapy is stopped, hair will continue to grow again. Therefore, during chemotherapy, you can cut your hair short, avoid excessive washing and blowing or combing, don’t pull your hair when it is wet and use silk essence to moisturize your hair, and wear a wig to improve your appearance if necessary. Lastly, when undergoing chemotherapy, you can sleep on an ice pillow to shrink the blood vessels in your head and reduce the chance of hair loss.
Decreased white blood cells, anemia and bleeding gums or bleeding spots under the skin.
This is because chemotherapy drugs can destroy the reticuloendothelial system in human bone marrow and inhibit the hematopoietic function of bone marrow.
If you experience such symptoms, you should consume high protein and high calorie foods. Avoid bumping and wearing tight-fitting clothes. Use a small toothbrush with soft bristles to reduce irritation of the gums to prevent bleeding of the oral mucosa.
If the blood level is lower than normal, it may be necessary to reduce the dosage or wait until the blood quality is normal before performing chemotherapy.
Oral mucosal ulcers: Due to the long-term use of anti-cancer drugs, the bacteria in the mouth are inhibited and the fungus is encouraged to grow, resulting in the appearance of white spots in the mouth and ulcers if left untreated. This is commonly known as “thrush”.
For such patients, they should pay attention to oral hygiene, brush their teeth and rinse their mouths after meals and before going to bed, and rinse their mouths with 2% soda or 4% compound boric acid solution after meals and before going to bed if possible to prevent fungal growth, and avoid eating overheated and acidic food. If oral mucosal ulcers have appeared: cotton balls or gauze should be used to clean the mouth until the symptoms are relieved, and dentures should be avoided during this period.
Changes in kidney function: mainly because the drugs are metabolized by the kidneys, kidney function will also be affected.
During and after chemotherapy, large amounts of intravenous fluids should be continuously rehydrated to promote urine elimination in order to reduce renal toxicity. When there is a decrease in urine, the doctor should be informed immediately and diuretics should be applied to help expel urine.
Tissue and skin necrosis at injection site: when intravenous injection of chemotherapy drugs, due to drug leakage outside the blood vessels, can cause local tissue and skin necrosis
If the drug leaks out of the blood vessels, it should be avoided as much as possible, and if it leaks out of the blood vessels, it should be treated with local closure or wet dressing with magnesium sulfate at the early stage. And the use of oral antitumor drugs can avoid local tissue necrosis.
The attention of diet during chemotherapy.
Tumor is a consumptive disease, and malnutrition is common among tumor patients. Therefore, it is very important to promote appetite and strengthen nutrition for the recovery of patients.
The diet should be a combination of meat and vegetables, with more protein, vitamins and minerals, so that the intake of nutrition is more than the consumption to improve the anti-cancer ability of the body. Eat more nutritious foods, such as meat, fish, eggs, beans, cereals and other high-protein foods, and especially eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, (because they are rich in vitamin C, which has a certain effect on anti-cancer).
Do not eat stale and spoiled or irritating food, less fumigated, baked, pickled and soaked, deep-fried and over-salted food, and mix coarse and fine grains in staple food to ensure nutritional balance. Do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, do not eat acidic, spicy and other irritating foods, and do not eat foods that are too cold or too hot.
When gastrointestinal discomfort occurs after chemotherapy, the milder the feeling of nausea and anorexia, the heavier it causes violent vomiting. At this time, we need to pay attention to the diet, as much as possible to a small number of meals, light, at this time do not have to enter the high protein, high-calorie food to avoid accumulation of food, causing vomiting.
Other precautions.
In addition to taking medication as prescribed by the doctor, try to avoid the chance of infection;
The living room should be ventilated frequently; bed sheets and clothing should be frequently unwashed and exposed to sunlight; do not go to crowded places; avoid secondary infection.
Take your temperature once a day. Fingernails should be trimmed in time to avoid scratching the skin and causing infection. Pay attention to safety in daily life and avoid trauma. Drink more boiled water to accelerate the excretion of drug toxins and reduce side effects.
Post-chemotherapy psychological adjustment.
You may feel lonely, helpless or depressed during and after chemotherapy. You need to adjust your emotions during the treatment process, which will benefit your recovery.
You can consider talking to others or approaching your healthcare provider to talk out your worries and pains, which can ease your depressed mood.
You can also write in a journal, listen to music or watch a movie, participate in some social activities to relax yourself and try not to make your mood fluctuate.
Remember: Just because you have to undergo chemotherapy doesn’t mean you can’t participate in some leisure activities. It can make you feel good, take your mind off your troubles and help your body recover.
Post-chemotherapy activities.
Early stage cancer patients, if conditions permit, should try to go for a walk outdoors as much as possible to breathe more fresh air without having to stay in bed all day, which is conducive to reducing stress and improving the body’s ability to fight cancer. In the activities, you should pay attention to try to move as much as your physical strength allows.
For bed-ridden patients, you should help turn over regularly and put air cushions on the parts where bones protrude (sacrococcygeal, heel, etc.) to prevent bedsores.
Post-chemotherapy rest.
During chemotherapy, you may feel tired but have insomnia or poor sleep, you can try to listen to music and relax before resting.
Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages such as tea and coffee before bedtime, or you can use medications to help you fall asleep.
Seek help.
Most chemotherapy patients need the support and care of family, friends or healthcare professionals
For cancer patients, they hope to get full understanding and support from friends and relatives to keep themselves emotionally stable and optimistic, to treat the disease correctly and to build up confidence to overcome the disease.
You may consider going to medical professionals to ask for advice about the development of your disease, the role and effect of treatment and related issues.
You may also consider participating in some educational activities for cancer patients and interacting with other patients who have the same experience as you, which can help you increase your confidence in life.
Follow-up appointments.
Don’t forget to always follow up closely after surgery, usually once a month for six months, then once every three months, and then once every six months after that for early detection of tumor recurrence and to pay attention to the presence of colorectal cancer.