Questions About Cancer Treatment Side Effects

1. How long do chemotherapy side effects last?

   Question - First off, thank you for your well-written email. I can certainly hear your frustration.
   1 Expert Answer, 71 Community Answers

2. My husband is experiencing severe nasal drip due to chemo. Any suggestions?

   Question - Yes, Taxotere is one drug that comes to mind that can cause severe nasal drip as you describe. There may not be a great deal that can be done. Two possibilities to try would be a nasal antihistamine or a nasal steroid that you spray in the nose. Either of these might reduce the amount of drip.
   1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

3. What is red devil chemo and what are the side effects?

   Question - Adriamycin, aka the "Red Devil," is a chemotherapy agent used to treat many kinds of cancer, including breast, lung, ovarian, and bladder cancer. It's also often called Doxorubicin, which is the generic name. Adriamycin is a brand name.
   1 Expert Answer, 6 Community Answers

4. How can I get the doctor to be more responsive when my mother has side effects from chemotherapy?

   Question - I hear this question all the time from family members, because so often we don't have a personal relationship with our doctors anymore. As a caregiver, you are your parent's representative, and you may have to be very assertive about asking the doctor to help you provide good care.
   1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

5. What can be done about chemo swelling of the feet and legs?

   Question - Feet and legs swell during chemotherapy treatment for cancer because of edema, or fluid buildup. This can be painful and uncomfortable and can make it hard for cancer patients to walk. Here are a number of suggestions from one of our experts on how to prevent and reduce swelling and make your loved one more comfortable...
   1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

6. Can chemo cause jaundice?

   Question - Yes, there are two ways chemotherapy can affect skin color. A common side effect of chemotherapy is discoloration of the skin and nails, usually graying, but sometimes yellowing. What you see is predominance of old or dead skin cells. This happens because chemotherapy kills fast-growing cells and slows the growth of new skin and nail cells...
   1 Expert Answer

7. Exactly which chemotherapy drugs are cardiotoxic?

   Question - The chemotherapy drugs known to be cardiotoxic belong to a class of chemo drugs called anthracyclines. Technically these drugs are antibiotics, although they are very strong and would not be used against bacteria like most antibiotics.
   1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

8. What can we do for kidney pain during chemo and radiation?

   Question - There can be various causes of the two symptoms you list and it is possible that the kidney pain and the difficulty urinating could be caused by the same drug or problem or they could be unrelated. It is hard to say because depending on what drugs (chemotherapy and others) your husband is taking and...
   1 Expert Answer

9. Do chemo personality changes happen during treatment?

   Question - Yes, you may see changes in the personality of someone who's going through chemotherapy for cancer treatment, either because of the cancer itself or because of the toll that chemotherapy takes on the body and on the spirit.
   1 Expert Answer

10. My menstrual cycle lasted for 11 days. Is this normal for breast cancer patients who still have a cycle?

    Question - If your oncologist is telling you your blood counts are normal, that’s a good sign, however, an oncologist is not a gynecologist. It’s common that your menstrual cycle would be influenced by different treatments including hormonal therapy or chemotherapy used with breast cancer.
    1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

11. Is shaking as a side effect for chemo for non-hodgkins lymphoma serious?

    Question - The shaking could be the result of chills, which is a common side effect of chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Symptoms like chills, shaking and fever are the body's way of trying to increase temperature through muscular activity. Chills and shaking (known as "rigors") are particularly common with certain...
    1 Expert Answer

12. Using VP160 on a 79 year old father for his lung cancer

    Question - Etoposide, the drug in VP-16, is commonly used for lung cancer. This drug is known to suppress the bone marrow, which means it tends to lower blood counts dramatically. Your father may suffer a decline in red blood cells and in platelets, which can cause fatigue, weakness, and bleeding, and in white blood cells, which puts him at risk for infection...
    1 Expert Answer

13. Are chills a side effect of chemo?

    Question - Symptoms like chills, shaking and fever are the body's way of trying to increase temperature through muscular activity. Chills are particularly common with certain cancer drugs such as interferon, interleukin-2, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), but they can occur after treatment with most chemotherapy agents...
    1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

14. Should my dad be feeling stomach pain after chemo for stage 4 colon cancer?

    Question - When your parent's in pain, it's important to pay close attention to when the pain occurs and what seems to make it worse and better, then talk to the doctor and describe it as best you can. If the pain is worse the week after chemo, it sounds like the chemotherapy drugs may be causing it or making it worse...
    1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

15. How can I comfort my mother when she feels distressed about losing her hair?

    Question - Sometimes it's not what you say to your mother, but what you let her say. She's going through something really major, and she's sad, worried, and upset. It's hard for you to see her distressed, so naturally you try to make her feel better. But you're stuck, because when you say "You look great" or "It...
    1 Expert Answer, 5 Community Answers

16. I had chemo for breast cancer and now have neuropathy in my feet and legs. What can be done?

    Question - The most commonly used chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer can cause neuropathy, or nerve damage, as a side effect, but it is usually temporary. However, there are cases in which the neuropathy lasts for a long time after chemotherapy is completed, and some patients report permanent nerve damage, although this is rare...
    1 Expert Answer, 4 Community Answers

17. Can chemo cause side effects for those exposed to the patient receiving it?

    Question - No, there is nothing for your son to worry about. Chemotherapy drugs are systemic drugs that stay within the cancer patient's body and cannot affect others. Those who live with cancer patients or care for them cannot be exposed to the chemotherapy drugs in any way.
    1 Expert Answer, 4 Community Answers

18. Does colon cancer cause back pain? Will homeopathic remedies help?

    Question - Unfortunately, colon cancer frequently causes back pain and pain in various parts of the abdomen. There certainly could be other causes but asking your dad's oncologist if the pain is due to the cancer is reasonable so that the pain can be treated.
    1 Expert Answer

19. Can my husband with stage 2 testicular cancer safely drink alcohol after chemotherapy?

    Question - All questions about specific chemotherapy drugs need to be asked of your husband’s oncologist. With some, a small amount of alcohol may not matter very much. For others, especially for those that affect the liver, alcohol, even in small amounts can be dangero...
    1 Expert Answer

20. Will chemo take away quality of life for my mother, who has Alzheimer's?

    Question - Making decisions about treatment options for cancer is really tricky in older patients when there are additional health problems such as Alzheimer's. Your concerns about chemotherapy compromising your mother's quality of life are valid, and you need to take them up with her doctor...
    1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

21. How can I help my Grandfather with his chemo treatments received via catheter?

    Question - This localized chemo is designed to avoid classic side effects related to systemic chemo, such as hair loss. However, he's likely to still encounter nausea(from the influx of chemicals),pain at the insertion site, difficulty with elimination of waste (particularly urination), and fatigue.Additionally, his open wound is susceptible to infection...
    1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

22. How do I help my sister cope with chemo?

    Question - While your sister's undergoing chemotherapy, she's going to be coping with a lot of unpleasant side effects from the treatment. These occur because the chemotherapy drugs kill all fast-growing cells in your body, not just the cancer cells...
    1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

23. How can I help my parent control nausea from chemotherapy?

    Question - Dealing with nausea is one of the daily challenges of caring for someone with cancer, and you just have to keep changing tactics, trying to find things that help even a little bit. If you've been prescribed antiemetic drugs -- medications that fight nausea by altering the chemistry of the brain -- you can ask if there are other antiemetics you haven't tried...
    1 Expert Answer, 8 Community Answers

24. What are the best foods for chemo patients?

    Question - The main issue for patients undergoing chemotherapy is that they often feel nauseous and lose their appetites. So talk to your father about what appeals to him; he's more likely to eat if it's something he wants. Here are some more ideas to stimulate a cancer patient's appetite...
    1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

25. Why doesn't my mother's doctor want to perform a red blood cell transfusion, just because she's never had one before?

    Question - When your mother’s red blood count (RBC) is low, her doctors may start considering a transfusion if her anemia is causing symptoms such as extreme fatigue and shortness of breath. Unlike a platelet transfusion, a transfusion of red blood cells can have both immediate and long-lasting benefits, sincece the average red blood cell lives 120 days...
    1 Expert Answer

26. My mom had an in-situ mass removed and we're reluctant for her to do radiation therapy. Thoughts?

    Question - The most important point is to discuss these ideas with your mother to see what her priorities and goals of care are. For many people, the balance between quality of life with length of life is important to think about and discuss. As people age, their health and energy deteriorate slowly or quickly, depending on the person...
    1 Expert Answer, 7 Community Answers

27. What else can I do for incontinence after prostate surgery?

    Question - I would suggest the next step would be to continue to meet with your physician and review your situation.
    1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

28. Is it possible for cancer to spread during surgery?

    Question - I consulted a surgical oncologist on The Compassionate Caregiver’s Medical Advisory Board about this for my book because it is asked so commonly. He says “Research has shown that cancer cells may routinely enter the blood stream in the weeks and months up to the discovery of the ca...
    1 Expert Answer

29. Why is my mother suffering from drastically dropping platelets?

    Question - Why is my mother suffering from drastically dropping platelet count? My mom is a leukemia patient who's in the hospital for a second time, receiving chemotherapy due to the disease coming out of remission. The problem is that they cannot keep her platelet count stablized. Once they give her platelets, by the end of the day they've diminished...

30. My father has bladder cancer and he no longer want to eat or drink. Is there anything we can do?

    Question - Loss of appetite is a common side effect of both cancer and cancer treatment. It can also be a sign that a patient is nearing the end of his life and is ready to begin letting go.
    1 Expert Answer, 18 Community Answers

31. Does surgery make cancer spread faster because of oxygen exposure?

    Question - No, it's not true that exposing a tumor to the air can make cancer spread faster. I hear this fear all the time from patients, it's one of the most common cancer myths. People seem to think that when you "open up" the body during surgery it somehow "stirs things up," and can cause tumor cels to spread but that's not the case at all...
    1 Expert Answer, 7 Community Answers

32. Can the side effects of chemotherapy last for months?

    Question - I am delighted that your leukemia is under control but unhappy that you have so many uncomfortable symptoms. I know that the drug Fludarabine can cause many side effects during treatment, including some quite serious ones. The more common symptoms are muscle and nerve symptoms, general body discomfort...
    1 Expert Answer