Side effects of chemotherapy may include mouth sours, constipation, diarrhea, pain, hair loss, vomiting, nausea and the side effects related to blood.
Side effects to CBC
The CBC means complete cell count, which helps doctors to find out side effect of chemotherapy. Following are side effects related to blood:
- Anemia: Lower amount of red blood cells is the reason for anemia. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin or Hb that carries oxygen from lungs to muscles and organs of body. For the health of your tissues and organs, oxygen is very important factor. There are various options available to treat anemia. Red blood cell transfusions and erythropoiesis are two stimulating agents for increasing the amount of red blood cells in your blood.
- Neutropenia: It is scientific name for low infection fighting white blood cell count. If the amount of white blood cells in your body is slow your body may get harmed and you feel weak while taking doses of chemotherapy drugs in high quantity. At this stage your doctor reduces your dose until you reach at sufficient level.
- Thrombocytopenia: The scientific name for a low platelet count is ‘Thrombocytopenia’. There may be bruising and excessive bleeding due to low platelet count.
The above mentioned side effects related to chemotherapy are diagnosed through the CBC test.
Bone marrow suppression:
The bone marrow is the liquid found in the inner part of bones that plays an important role in production of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Bone marrow suppression is one of the most common side effects, in which bone marrow gets damaged.
Hair loss:
Some drugs used in chemotherapy may affect rapidly growing cells of hair follicle. There may be some changes like hair fall or your hair may become brittle and break off from the scalp. This is a temporary side effect prevented by taking medicines. The hair loss mostly depends on drug used for chemotherapy and the period of treatment. Some peoples may loose their complete hair or other may see thinning of their hair. There may be possibility of hair fall of eyebrows, eyelashes, body hair and pubic hair but it is less severe because of the less active growth of the hair follicles compare to the growth of hair on scalp. The hair loss during, or after the treatment is very common. Your hair may grow again after the completion of chemotherapy. However, hairs grown after chemotherapy have different color and texture than that of your original hair. There may be possibility of depression or loss of self-confidence due to hair loss.
Mouth and throat sores:
Some drugs used for chemotherapy may cause sores in mouth and throat. Stomatitis refers to the inflammation or sores in the mouth. Pharyngitis is the similar change in the throat and the change in esophagus are called as esophagitis. Pale and dry appearance of mouth lining is the first sign of mouth sores. There may be feeling of sore to mouth, throat and gums and it becomes red and inflamed. The tongue may have some problems like coating and swollen that leads to troubles like swollen, talking and eating. There may be other problems like bleeding, infection and painful ulcers due to stomatitis, esophygitis and pharyngitis. The sours to mouth, throat and esophagus are temporary that remain for 5 to 14 days after receiving chemotherapy.
Change in taste:
Due to the cancer and it’s treatments there may be change in taste of food, which can cause malnutrition, anorexia and weight change. The change in taste may cause more desire or dislike for sweet, tomato, tomato products, pork and beef or dislike for the food having bitter taste and feeling of medical taste in your mouth. There are receptor cells in our mouth that tell the flavor of the food you taste. The above mentioned changes occur because the changes are produced in the taste receptor cells due to chemotherapy. However, reasons like mouth infections, dentures, oral hygiene, unpleasant odors may also changes taste. These changes remain till your chemotherapy treatment is continuing or even longer.
Constipation:
This is the passage with discomfort of hard, infrequent, dry stool. There may be increase in gas, bloating, pain and cramping, when you have constipation.
Reasons for the constipation:
- Decrease in intake of food and low fiber food
- Lack of physical activity
- Complete bed rest
- Depression
- Some chemotherapy drugs
To avoid this you have to take food containing fibrous food and drink more water. Also you consult with your doctor and he will determine causes and treatments for your problems.
Change and loss in weight:
‘Anorexia’, may be caused by use of some chemotherapy medicines. It may be mild but if it severe then it may lead to ‘cachexia’, and causes malnutrition and wastage of muscles. The proper diet will help you to recover the body and provide strength to fight against disease and infection. Weight loss or appetite are temporary and we may gain weight after finishing chemotherapy treatment. There may be other reasons for weight loss like vomiting, diarrhea, appetite loss and side effects by drug. However, there may be other side effect like weight gain during cancer treatment. The reasons for this include inactivity, electrolyte imbalances, and fluid retention and chemotherapy regimens containing steroids.
Fatigue:
Fatigue is one of the most common side effects due to chemotherapy. You may experience certain feelings like weakness, lack of energy, weariness, problem to thinking and constipation, forgetfulness and decrease in mental and physical functioning. Fatigue is responsible for change and affects your health and quality of life. Your health care team can correct these physical causes and help to manage it.
Heart Damage:
1 to 10 % of people undergoing chemotherapy treatment suffer from heart damage, especially damage to heart muscles due to drugs like doxorubicin, daunorubicin, anthrcyclines and other drugs. This can lead to fluid build up and other problems and you may feel symptoms like shortness of breath, dry cough, swelling and puffiness in hands and feet, erratic heart beats etc.
Thinking and memory change:
The chemotherapy treatment may change the way of brain function. This change occurs after many years of treatment and very few numbers of people suffered by this disease. There may be affection to brain’s activity like concentration, comprehension or understanding, memory and reasoning.
Changes in nervous system:
There may be changes in central nervous system, peripheral or cranial nerves because of the chemotherapy drugs. Cranial nerves are very important for movement and touch sensation of head, neck and face that are connected directly to brain. These nerves are also important for the sense of smell, taste, hearing and vision. And the peripheral nerves are important in movement, regulating activities of internal organs and touch sensation. These side effects occur in the early phase of chemotherapy or even several years later.
You may feel following symptoms due to change in central nervous system.
- Headache
- Fever
- Sleepiness
- Confusion
- Depression
- Vomiting and nausea
Following are symptoms you feel after damage of cranial nerves:
- Decrease in sensation
- Tingling
- Numbness
Lung Damage:
Drug like bleomycin can damage your lung. Receiving the radiation to the chest along with the chemotherapy can increase the chances of lung damage. The age factor is also important to lung damage. Belomyacin can damage lungs of people who are 70 years old and above. The symptoms of lung damage are dry cough, shortness of breathing and fever. Lung damages are mostly permanent.
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