Medical professionals administer traditional chemotherapy in a hospital-like setting to ensure that the individual gets the correct dose at the right time. This location also allows for a quick response if the person has an adverse reaction to their treatment.
One disadvantage of oral chemotherapy is that a person may forget to take the medication or not take it correctly. According to a report , compliance with oral chemotherapy may decline with time. When a person does not take oral chemotherapy drugs precisely as a doctor recommends, the following problems may occur:. Some chemotherapy pills are so potent that people need to wear gloves to handle them.
People with young children must also be careful to store their drugs out of reach and dispose of any leftover pills safely. Access to chemotherapy drugs can also be a problem. It is sometimes necessary to order the medication many days or weeks in advance, so people who do not keep up with the ordering process may miss doses. Oral chemotherapy works in a similar way to traditional chemotherapy. It can be a great treatment option for people who find it easy to remember to order and take their medication.
It can also offer relief from the stress and inconvenience of regular hospital trips. Oral chemotherapy is not available for all types and stages of cancer. Even when it is available, it might not be the best choice for everyone. People can ask a doctor if oral treatment is an option for them and find out the details about its effectiveness and side effects. Chemotherapy can be an effective way of treating cancer.
However, while it destroys cancer cells, it can also have adverse effects. Learn how doctors…. Neuropathy from chemo can cause tingling and numbness in the hands and feet.
Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body. Chemotherapy is most often used to treat cancer, since cancer cells grow and multiply much more quickly than most cells in the body.
Many different chemotherapy drugs are available. Chemotherapy drugs can be used alone or in combination to treat a wide variety of cancers. Though chemotherapy is an effective way to treat many types of cancer, chemotherapy treatment also carries a risk of side effects. Some chemotherapy side effects are mild and treatable, while others can cause serious complications. Side effects of chemotherapy drugs can be significant. Each drug has different side effects, and not every drug causes every side effect.
Ask your doctor about the side effects of the particular drugs you'll receive. Many of these side effects can be prevented or treated. Most side effects subside after treatment ends. Chemotherapy drugs can also cause side effects that don't become evident until months or years after treatment. Late side effects vary depending on the chemotherapy drug but can include:.
Ask your doctor if you have a risk of any late side effects. Ask what signs and symptoms you should be aware of that may signal a problem. How you prepare for chemotherapy depends on which drugs you'll receive and how they'll be administered. Each person's treatment plan will be different, but there are some general guidelines about who would benefit from chemotherapy:. Metastatic disease is breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast area and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body.
Metastatic cancer is considered stage IV. Chemotherapy is used to treat advanced-stage breast cancer by destroying or damaging the cancer cells as much as possible. Because chemotherapy medicines affect the entire body, chemotherapy is commonly used to treat advanced-stage breast cancer.
Research has shown that newer chemotherapy medicines, such as:. Other chemotherapies used in metastatic breast cancer include Gemzar chemical name: gemcitabine , Xeloda chemical name: capecitabine , Navelbine chemical name: vinorelbine , and Ixempra chemical name: ixabepilone.
When this happens, there is an increased risk of bone loss and osteoporosis. There are medicines that can treat or help prevent bone loss. Even if your periods have stopped while you are on chemo, you may still be able to get pregnant. Getting pregnant while on chemo could lead to birth defects and interfere with treatment. Women who have finished treatment like chemo can safely go on to have children, but it's not safe to get pregnant while on treatment.
If you think you might want to have children after being treated for breast cancer, talk with your doctor before you start treatment. Learn more from our section on fertility concerns for women with cancer. If you are pregnant when you get breast cancer, you still can be treated. Certain chemo drugs can be taken safely during the last 2 trimesters of pregnancy.
We have more details in our section on breast cancer during pregnancy. Even though it is not common, doxorubicin, epirubicin, and some other chemo drugs can cause permanent heart damage called cardiomyopathy. The risk is highest if the drug is used for a long time or in high doses. Damage from these drugs also happens more often if other drugs that can cause heart damage such as those that target HER2 are used.
O ther heart failure risk factors, such as family history of heart problems , high blood pressure, and diabetes can also put you at risk if you receive one of these drugs. Most doctors will check your heart function with a test like an echocardiogram an ultrasound of the heart or a MUGA scan before starting one of these drugs.
They also carefully control the doses, watch for symptoms of heart problems, and may regularly repeat heart tests during treatment. If the heart function begins to worsen, treatment with these drugs will be temporarily or permanently stopped. Still, in some people, signs of damage might not appear until months or years after treatment stops. Many drugs used to treat breast cancer, including taxanes docetaxel, paclitaxel, and protein-bound paclitaxel , platinum agents carboplatin, cisplatin , vinorelbine, eribulin, and ixabepilone, can damage nerves in the hands and arms and feet and legs.
This can sometimes lead to symptoms in those areas like numbness, pain, burning or tingling sensations, sensitivity to cold or heat, or weakness.
In most cases these symptoms go away once treatment is stopped, but in some women it might last a long time or may become permanent. There are medicines that could help with these symptoms.
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