It is important to let the therapists know how you feel, especially if you experience any serious pain. It may be an indication that your body cannot tolerate one or more of the drugs being used, and your doctor may be able to prescribe an alternative or otherwise intervene to make the treatment less painful.
One of the things patients often find difficult is determining how to spend their time when receiving chemotherapy in an outpatient facility. Often, there are several patients receiving therapy in the same room at the same time.
Some people like to talk to one another, some read, watch TV or entertain themselves on a phone or tablet, and some even use the time to work. How you choose to spend your time will likely depend on how you feel. Many patients have developed lifelong friendships that began while receiving chemotherapy. The pre-therapy drugs help patients get through the therapy session, but the side effects that these drugs mask are likely to appear later.
These can include nausea, bone pain, fatigue, mouth sores, numbness, insomnia and more. Hair loss varies as to its timing and extent. For many people, the side effects of chemotherapy subside for up to after a week after the therapy. Depending on the frequency of the treatment, this can make life pretty manageable.
The length of your treatment session will depend on many factors. Some chemotherapy treatments take minutes or hours. Others are given over several days or weeks. This is called continuous infusion chemotherapy. You do not need to stay at the hospital or clinic for continuous infusion. Instead, drugs are delivered through a small pump you wear or carry. To get the full benefit of chemotherapy, it is important to follow the schedule of treatments recommended by your doctor and manage other medications you're taking.
After your treatment session ends, the nurse or another health care team member will take out your IV. If you have a port, it will stay in until you finish all of your treatments. The nurse will check your blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and temperature again.
Your oncologist or nurse will talk with you about what to expect with side effects. They will give you medication, tell you how to manage common side effects, and offer information such as:. Avoid people with colds or other infections. Chemotherapy weakens your body's immune system. Your immune system helps fight infections.
Drink lots of fluids for 48 hours after chemotherapy. This helps move the drugs through your body. Before you leave your first treatment, be sure to ask who you should call with any questions or concerns and how to contact them, including after hours or weekends. Physical, Emotional, and Social Effects of Cancer. These printable PDFs provide an introduction to chemotherapy, answers to common questions, terms to know, and questions to ask the doctor. Who is on my chemotherapy team?
Your team may include these health care professionals: Medical oncologist. Their responsibilities can include: Giving physical examinations Ordering and interpreting laboratory and diagnostic test results Prescribing and administering medications and other therapies, including chemotherapy Providing education and counseling for patients and families Oncology nurse. Oncology nurses can also: Answer questions about treatment Monitor your health during treatment Help you manage side effects of treatment Other health care professionals.
These professionals include: Pharmacists Social workers Registered dietitian nutritionists Physical therapists Dentists Learn more about the oncology team. What happens before chemotherapy? Signing this form means: Your team gave you information on your treatment options. You choose to have chemotherapy.
You give permission for health care professionals to deliver the treatment. You understand that the treatment is not guaranteed to give the intended results. How should I plan for chemotherapy treatments? There are steps you can take before treatment begins to help you cope. What happens during chemotherapy treatment?
Before your treatment starts, you will: Have a blood sample taken Meet with your oncologist so they can check your health and blood test results Meet the nurse or other health professionals who will give your treatment Have your blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and temperature taken before starting treatment Have your height and weight measured to find the right dose of chemotherapy May have an IV tube, also called a catheter, put in your arm Some people receive chemotherapy through a port.
What happens after IV chemotherapy ends? They will give you medication, tell you how to manage common side effects, and offer information such as: Avoid people with colds or other infections. Whether there are activities to do or avoid doing on future treatment days. Questions to ask the health care team Who is creating my chemotherapy treatment plan? How often will the plan be reviewed? Which health care professionals will I see at every treatment session?
How will I receive chemotherapy treatments? Will I need a port? Will I need any tests or scans before this treatment begins? Can you describe what my first treatment will be like? How long will each treatment session take? Will I need someone to drive me home after each session? How often will I have chemotherapy? For how long? Here's a list of many of the common side effects, but it's unlikely you'll have all of these.
Many people having treatment feel tired a lot of the time or get tired very easily doing everyday tasks. If you're working, you may want to ask your employer for time off or arrange to work part-time until your treatment has finished.
Read more tips to help fight fatigue. Contact your care team if you suddenly feel very tired and out of breath. This can be a sign of anaemia. Many people having chemotherapy will have periods where they feel sick nausea or are sick vomit.
Side effects of anti-sickness medicines include constipation , indigestion , problems sleeping insomnia and headaches. Tell your care team if your medicine does not help, or it causes too many side effects. There may be a different one that works better for you.
Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy, although it does not happen to everyone. Ask your care team if it's likely to be a side effect of the medicines you're taking. If you do lose hair, it usually starts within a few weeks of your first treatment session. If you lose lots of hair, this typically happens within 1 to 2 months. It's most common to lose hair from your head, but you can also lose it from other parts of your body, including your arms, legs and face.
The hair loss is almost always temporary. Your hair should start to grow back soon after your treatment has finished. But sometimes the hair that grows back is a slightly different colour or it may be curlier or straighter than it used to be.
Hair loss can be upsetting. Talk to your care team if you're finding it difficult to cope with losing your hair. For example, you may decide you want to wear a wig.
Synthetic wigs are available free of charge on the NHS for some people, but you'll usually have to pay for a wig made from real hair. Read more about advice about cancer and hair loss.
It may be possible to reduce the chances of hair loss by wearing a cold cap while you're having chemotherapy. A cold cap looks like a bicycle helmet and is designed to cool your scalp during a treatment session. This reduces blood flow to your scalp, reducing the amount of medicine that reaches it. Whether you can use a cold cap depends on the type of cancer you have. Cold caps also work better with certain types of chemotherapy medicine, and they do not always work.
Chemotherapy can reduce your body's ability to fight infection. This makes you more likely to get infections that could make you seriously ill. A course of antibiotics may sometimes be prescribed to reduce your risk of getting an infection.
If your red blood cell count drops too low, you'll develop anaemia. Contact your care team as soon as possible if you have any of these symptoms. You may need treatment to increase your number of red blood cells. Including a high amount of iron in your diet can help reduce your risk of anaemia, as iron helps the body make red blood cells. Read more about iron deficiency anaemia.
Chemotherapy can reduce the number of cells called platelets in your blood. These help stop severe bleeding when you cut or injure yourself. Tell your care team if you experience these problems.
You may need treatment to increase the number of platelets in your blood.
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