Oncology Treatments/Side Effects
Anemia
What it is:
Inside your bones is marrow. It is a factory and makes your blood. Your red blood cells help carry oxygen around your body. Treatment may hurt your marrow, and the factory doesn't work as well. Anemia happens when there are fewer red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body.
Anemia can make you dizzy, weak, and pale.
What you can do:
Eat and drink well. Rest. Ask for help from others.
Appetite Loss
What it is:
Treatment or medicines can change your appetite, and also the way food smells and tastes. Smells and tastes are what make your food seem good. So, if you are not hungry, your appetite has changed.
What you can do:
Drink plenty of liquids. Some activity or exercise will help your appetite. Eat very small meals or snacks several times a day. Sometimes food with less smell, or cool foods are easier to try. You might also try foods that are easy to chew or have a sauce.
Bleeding and Bruising
What it is:
Your blood has many parts to it. One part is called 'platelets'. This part of your blood helps to keep you from bleeding or bruising. If there are too few platelets, it is easy to bruise and bleeding may take longer to stop.
What you can do:
Ask if any medications you take will make bleeding and bruising worse. Take extra care in daily activities like brushing your teeth, shaving, using sharp objects, and try to protect your skin. If platelets are very low, you may not even be able to have sex. Ask about this.
Concentration Problems
What it is:
Chemotherapy and radiation can make you feel like you are in a fog. Thinking clearly and remembering can be very hard during and especially after your treatment. This is sometimes called "chemo brain" or "chemo fog".
What you can do:
Make a clear plan for your day and write it down. Ask others to help you with your plan. Exercise will lessen confusion and memory problems.
Constipation
What it is:
Constipation happens when you cannot poop very well, or not at all. Your stomach may hurt, sometimes badly. You might feel very full or swollen in your stomach. Some people may feel queasy.
What you can do:
Drink more water, eat well, and be aware of your medicines. Pain medication can slow down your gut. You might need medicine to help you move your gut.
Diarrhea
What it is:
If your poop is like water or very runny, or if you have many poops, you can lose a lot of liquids and become very weak. Some medicines can cause this. Infections can also cause diarrhea. Some treatments, like radiation or surgery to the gut, can cause diarrhea.
What you can do:
Drink a lot of fluids (8-10 drinks a day) to replace the liquid you might lose. Small and healthy meals during the day will give your body power. Talk to your nurse or doctor and find out what medicine might help you.
Edema
What it is:
Our bodies are made of many kinds of fluids. If these fluids cannot move and get out of the body, you can experience swelling, fullness, tightness, and discomfort. Sometimes this is caused by treatment or medication.
What you can do:
Wear lose fitting clothes. Stay as comfortable as you can. Raise your legs when relaxing. Talk to your nurse and doctor about ways you can exercise and wear pressure clothing to help you feel more comfortable. There are also medicines that can help reduce the swelling. Sometimes changing what you are eating can help too.
Fatigue
What it is:
Almost all treatments can cause fatigue. This is the most common side effect of cancer and cancer treatments. Feeling tired, run down, weak, and worn out can be very frustrating and hard to solve quickly. What may have taken you minutes to do before treatment now might take a few hours.
What you can do:
Plan on resting. Make a schedule for rest and things you want to do. Share with your caregivers about fatigue. Ask for help. Tell your nurse and doctor about your fatigue.
Fertility Problems
What it is:
You need to avoid pregnancy during treatment. For some, cancer treatment will make it impossible to have children after treatment is over.
What you can do:
Learn about your fertility before treatment so you can know what to expect and prepare for.
Hair Loss
What it is:
Some chemotherapy drugs and radiation can cause your hair to fall out. Radiation can make your hair fall out in the area where you are receiving the treatment. Chemotherapy can cause hair loss not just on your head but also all over your body.
What you can do:
Be gentle with you hair and your scalp. Use gentle shampoo and avoid harsh hair treatments. Plan for what you want to do with your hair. Some people arrange for a wig while they still have hair. You might want to cut it short. Or leave it as is and take the changes as they happen. Talk about what you want to do with those people close to you.
Infection
What it is:
When germs invade a part of your body or your own germs grow, this is an infection. It can be a virus, or bacteria, or fungus, or yeast. If you have a fever of over 100.5 degrees, pay attention to how you feel. Treatment can cause your body to weaken and be more open to germs.
What you can do:
Tell your nurse or doctor about your fever and where you feel badly. Tell them other symptoms such as cough, green or yellow spit, pain when peeing or pee that smells.
Lymphedema
What it is:
There is a system in your body to cleanse your blood and organs. It is the lymph system. If the lymph fluid cannot drain well, you can have swelling. If you had lymph nodes taken out in surgery, or if your chemotherapy or radiation hurt some of your lymph nodes, you might have lymphedema. Sometimes tumors can block lymph fluids. The swelling feels heavy and full. If you push on your skin in a swollen area, the pressure will leave a dent.
What you can do:
Treat your skin with special care. Lotions that add moisture to your skin are helpful. Avoid tight clothing or jewelry in that part of your body. Exercise may help move the fluid through your body. A person trained in draining the lymph fluid with massage can also help relieve symptoms.
Nausea and Vomiting
What it is:
Feeling like you might throw up is nausea, and actually throwing up is vomiting. Vomiting but nothing comes out is called gagging. Cancer treatments can cause these.
What you can do:
There are very good medicines to help stop or relieve symptoms of nausea and stop any vomiting. Drink fluids often and avoid foods that make you feel sick to your stomach. Small snacks and small servings can lessen queasy feelings and keep nutrients going into your body.
Nerve Problems
What it is:
You have nerves in your body that help you feel pain, heat, cold, and pressure. These nerves let you sense things, and so they are called sensory nerves.
You also have motor nerves-- these nerves help you move.
You also have nerves that act in your body automatically, and so they are called autonomic nerves. These nerves are in charge of how you digest things, your blood pressure, your temperature, and heart rate, among other things.
Treatment can damage nerves, and depending on what nerves are damaged, you may have a variety of side effects. Tingling, burning (sensory), cramping, heaviness (motor), and sexual, digestive, or sweating changes (autonomic) are all examples of nerve problems. Nurses and doctors sometimes call this peripheral neuropathy.
What you can do:
Move more slowly and be careful. You are at risk for falling. Be careful with your hands and feet and wear shoes in your house. Be sure your shower or bath is safe and has a place to sit or hold on to.
Pain
What it is:
Your cancer or the side effects of treatment, or both, can cause pain. Pain is not something you have to endure or should accept.
What you can do:
Keep track of your pain by writing down when it happens and what it is like. Take the medicine you have been prescribed for your pain. Exercise or physical therapy can be helpful in some cases. Talk with your doctor and nurse about your pain.
Sexual Problems
What it is:
The cancer, treatment side effects, and anxiety can decrease your interest in sex. Your hormone levels may also be changed by your treatment. Painful and difficult sex may also occur if you have had surgery or radiation to sexual organs. Condom use may be good during and after chemotherapy to keep your partner from receiving any drugs you have taken.
What you can do:
Ask your nurse or doctor questions. And talk about sex and cuddling or other kinds of closeness with your partner.
Skin and Nail Damage
What it is:
Chemotherapy kills the very fast growing skin cells of our body. Skin can peel, be red and itchy, and hot. Nails can crack, turn dark or yellow, and even fall off. Cuticles can be red and painful. Radiation can create a deep sunburn that can be tough and turn dark. Radiation and chemotherapy together can create blisters and very painful rashes.
What you can do:
There are many recommended products for chemotherapy and radiation skin damage. Only use these recommended products. Many lotions have lots of alcohol and other ingredients that can make you worse rather than better.
Sleep Problems
What it is:
Treatment, physical problems, anxiety, and time in the hospital can make good sleep difficult.
What you can do:
Talking with a therapist might be the help you need to sort out worries and concerns that are keeping you from a good night's sleep. Learn about things that keep you from having good sleep like drinking caffeine late in the day or watching TV in bed. Keep your cell phone away from the bed. Having a sleeping plan and medication are other ways to improve your rest.
Throat and Mouth Problems
What it is:
Chemotherapy and radiation can cause throat, mouth, and dental problems. Chemotherapy can create sores in the mouth, gums, and throat. These sores can become infected.
Radiation can damage the spit glands in your mouth and throat. This causes dry mouth. Less spit for a long time can cause more cavities in the teeth. Sometimes white patches can grow in the mouth and throat. This may be a yeast infection called "thrush" or "candida". Tell your doctor or nurse.
What you can do:
If you can, see a dentist before you begin any treatment. Completing a cleaning and any dental work you need should happen before you face side effects from treatment. After treatment begins, keep your mouth and teeth clean.
Urinary and Bladder Trouble
What it is:
If your cancer or its treatment involves your pelvic area, it is not uncommon to have problems peeing, emptying all of the pee from your bladder, or having pain-free peeing. Infections can also burn badly, include a fever, and can cause pain in your back and stomach areas.
What you can do:
Drink plenty of water, wear cotton underwear, and using sterile bandages and equipment for care at home.