types of cancer treatments
Cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy are used to treat cancer. These types of treatments help to increase the life expectancy and improve the overall quality of life of cancer patients. However, performing these treatments often comes with a wide range of side effects. There are different types of cancer treatments used in people. The side effects of cancer treatment mainly depend on the type of cancer, its treatment options, and the patient’s overall health conditions. While some side effects of treatments are subtle, they won’t harm the patients, while others can significantly impact the overall quality of life.
In this article, we’ll discover more about the common side effects of cancer treatments and some of the best ways to reduce the symptoms of different cancer treatments suggested by Oncare’s cancer specialists.
Common side effects of cancer treatments
There are some common side effects of cancer treatments which are often observed in many cancer patients.
These may include:
- Pain: Pain is the main side effect of chemotherapy or other cancer treatments. Pain is one of the common side effects of many cancer treatments.
- Fatigue:Fatigue is another common side effect, which is also known as cancer-related fatigue. Many patients might experience this type of fatigue as highly overwhelming and exhausting.
- Anemia: Anemia often develops when a patient lacks red blood cells in the body. One of the symptoms of anemia is dizziness, weakness, and increased heartbeats.
- Hair loss: Different types of cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, usually cause loss of hair in most people. Different types of chemotherapy cause hair loss in most patients. However, some patients won’t experience hair loss; instead, they might lose facial hair or body hair.
- Infection: This is another common side effect of cancer treatments. Infection develops in many patients when they become highly vulnerable to getting many diseases.
- Mouth sores: Many patients experience mouth related problems due to the side effects of different types of treatments.
- Sex and fertility issues: Patients with different types of cancer often experience fertility issues and reproductive health issues.
- Mental health issues: Undergoing different types of cancer treatments would affect the patients mentally, and this might cause several health issues such as anxiety, depression, and emotional distress.
- Nausea and vomiting: Patients with side effects of nausea and vomiting often cause several health issues such as weight change, dehydration, and malnutrition.
How to manage cancer treatment related side effects?
If you are experiencing several side effects of cancer treatment, consult with your doctor immediately to avoid any complications. Avoiding or ignoring the side effects of cancer treatments often damages the immune system, reducing your energy levels, and this might disrupt the flow of life. If needed, ask your medical team to lower the dose of medicine, change the treatments, or pause the treatment for some time.
Here are some of the ways to manage your treatment-related side effects:
- For Pain:To reduce any types of body pain, patients can use different types of pain relief medicines and practice any types of physical activity.
- For Anemia: To increase the blood count levels in patients, they can use blood count-increasing drugs such as iron- folic acid and multivitamin tablets.
- For hair, skin, and nail problems: To improve health issues such as hair loss and skin and nail issues, then consult your oncologist and take necessary drugs to deal with any side effects of cancer treatments.
- For nausea and vomiting: These health issues can be treated with anti-nausea and vomiting drugs.
- For weight change or weight loss: Patients can consume a healthy, balanced diet with the supervision of any dietitian and your oncologist team.
- For mental health issues: To tackle any type of mental health issue, you need to consult a psychologist to improve your mental health during the cancer treatments.
At Oncare, you won’t feel alone; we understand the value of emotional and medical support during your treatment journey. We walk the cancer healing journey with you until you become cancer-free!
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Undergoing cancer treatment is not always easy. Patients often feel overwhelmed, and this might also cause different issues and distress in their physical, emotional, and mental health. Understanding these side effects and learning how to manage them effectively helps the patients to improve their quality of life and reduce the symptoms of different cancer treatments.
At Oncare, we understand the value of proper guidance in terms of several treatments, their processes, and the side effects of cancer treatments. That’s why we provide proper awareness and guidance before and after any major treatments. We offer professional guidance to our patients and explain more about the side effects of chemotherapy on them and how to manage these during their cancer treatments.
If you or loved ones are diagnosed with cancer and looking for the best cancer hospital in India, then visit Oncare Cancer Center, and book an appointment with our cancer specialist today, get an estimated cost of cancer treatment now!
