Mid- to late-stage lung cancer is mostly treated with chemotherapy, which is effective for all different types of lung cancer. The process of chemotherapy is generally tolerable and not too painful.
Chemotherapy for lung cancer shows different symptoms because each person tolerates it differently or has a different sensitivity to chemotherapy. Some patients may experience gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting, and if the reactions are more severe, such as vomiting and diarrhea, it is more painful when they are not able to eat, and some patients may give up chemotherapy and further anti-tumor treatment because they cannot survive this side effect, which is not beneficial for recovery and prolonging survival, so patients need to try to cooperate with the treatment.
In addition to nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and constipation, the more common side effects of chemotherapy for lung cancer are hypocellularity, decreased granulocytes, decreased resistance, and easy co-infection. Other symptoms such as insomnia, hair loss, and liver and kidney damage can also occur.
Of course, the painfulness of chemotherapy is also related to the patient’s specific chemotherapy regimen, the adjuvant drugs used in chemotherapy, and the patient’s physical condition. With the current update of chemotherapy drugs and adjuvant medications, few patients now feel very much discomfort during chemotherapy either.
Lung cancer is best treated with a high-protein diet during chemotherapy, which strengthens the patient’s body resistance, aids in the fight against tumors, and reduces the side effects of chemotherapy.