Individuals who are going through chemotherapy, before they start, are frequently concerned about the potential side effects of chemo. Some of the side effects can be severe while others are much more cosmetic than anything else.

When side effects of chemotherapy occur, they are most likely to be related to cells that reproduce or divide rapidly. The cells that divide most quickly include bone marrow or blood cells, hair follicle cells, cells in the digestive tract, and cells in the reproductive tract. When these cells are damaged, many of the side effects of chemo are experienced. Each chemotherapy drug has different side effects. The side effects experienced also differ based on the dosage received, how the drug is given, and individual experience. There is no standard experience for side effects.

One of the most feared, in patients, side effects is nausea or vomiting. This side effect is most worrying to patients because no one likes feeling sick all of the time. Fortunately, there are a variety of medications available that can either prevent or treat nausea and vomiting. These drugs make these side effects much less common than they were in the early days of chemotherapy but the side effects are still possible.

Vomiting is most frequently caused because of the damage done to the lining of the stomach and the small intestine. These cells are affected because they reproduce quickly. Chemotherapy drugs are designed to kill cells that generate quickly because that’s what cancer cells do.

A feared, mainly cosmetic, side effect is hair loss. Not everyone completely loses the hair on their head. Many people experience thinning while many others experience complete hair loss. When the hair is lost, it is because it either becomes brittle and breaks off at the surface of the scalp or falls out at the hair follicle.

More serious is the appetite loss experience by the majority of chemo patients. If a person experiences severe appetite loss, a doctor may recommend that a feeding tube be put in place as weight maintenance is very important to successful chemotherapy. The appetite loss can be because of the drugs or from the effects of cancer on the body’s metabolism.

The most serious of all side effects is the destruction of white blood cells. This process, and the destruction of white blood cells, is a result of damage to the cells in the bone marrow as well as the blood cells themselves. As a result of undergoing chemo, a person can experience anemia or a low white blood cell count. When the white blood cell count is low, a person is more susceptible to infections and colds.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

The method of killing the cancer cells present the whole body or in particular part by passing anti-cancer drugs into the blood stream is called chemotherapy. It is also employed to prevent the spreading of cancer from part to another. It proves to be more efficient when it is used in the metastasis condition. In this condition the cancer spreads to all parts from where it has originated.

Each every chemotherapy agent has specific role depending upon the treatment and characteristics of the drug used. Most of them intervene with the DNA synthesis. Based on their features and treatment they are classified as alkylating agents, anti-metabolits, anthracyclines, antitumor antibiotics, monoclonal antibodies, platinums, or plant alkaloids.

Alkylating agents are the widely used drugs in the chemotherapy treatment. These drugs are effective through all phases of cell cycle. The alkylate agent acts directly on the DNA strands, breaks the strands and forms abnormal pairing, thus prevents the cell division taking place, and cells die off as a result of it.

Anti-metabolits are found to be useful in treating chronic problems and some cases of leukemia and for various tumors.

Anthracyclines drugs are obtained from natural resources. They work by producing free oxygen radicals which acts with the DNA strands and prevents the cell division.

Antitumor antibiotics are obtained from soil fungus streptomyces. It employs the free oxygen radicals for breaking the DNA strands and preventing cell division. Bleomycin is a commonly used antitumor antibiotic

Monoclonal antibodies, they are attach themselves with the tumor specific antigens and thus block the growth of the cell.

Platinums, they are also used to provide the DNA impairing and to stop the cell growth. But the setback is they can injure the kidneys as they are toxic.

Plant alkaloids, according to the name they are derived from plants. And they are used in cell specific cycles.

Anand prabhakar is an author living in India. He is an expert in list of chemotherapy drugs and you can learn a lot about it from his website how is chemotherapy made
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Meg’s Brother had cancer and made chemotherapy experience more fun with DVDs and a good attitude; now she helps other people have bright spots during their chemotherapy with her non-profit.

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Chemotherapy can be given at one or more stages. These are described here:
• Cancer patients may have chemotherapy before surgery (neo-adjuvant therapy) to shrink a tumour so that it’s easier to remove. It’s usually used for tumors that are too large or too attached to surrounding tissue.

• Cancer patients may be given chemotherapy after surgery (adjuvant therapy) to make sure that any cancerous cells left in your body are killed. This makes it less likely that the cancer will come back.

• If cancer patients have advanced cancer, chemotherapy may be used to shrink the tumor, or, if it has spread to other organs, to slow the progress of the disease and prolong your life. This is known as palliative chemotherapy.

There are few factors to determine the type of chemotherapy that cancer patients will have:
• the type of cancer
• where the cancer started
• what the cancer cells look like under a microscope
• whether the cancer has spread to other parts of cancer patient body
• Health condition of cancer patient

Cancer patients may have none of these side effects or just a few. The kinds of side effects cancer patients have and how severe they are, depend on the type and dose of chemotherapy they get and how their body reacts.

Most cancer patients have no serious long-term problems from chemotherapy. However, on some occasions, chemotherapy can cause permanent changes or damage to the heart, lungs, nerves, kidneys, reproductive or other organs. And certain types of chemotherapy may have delayed effects, such as a second cancer, that show up many years later.

Most commonly, chemotherapy destroy cancer cells by stopping them from growing or multiplying. This means that it also harms healthy cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles. Harm to healthy cells is what causes the most common side effects of chemotherapy—myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).

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In popular usage, chemotherapy refers to antineoplastic drugs (“anticancer” drugs) used to weaken and destroy cancer cells in the body, including cells at the original cancer site and any cancer cells that may have spread to another part of the body.

Chemotherapy, often shortened to just “chemo,” is a systemic therapy, which means it affects the whole body by going through the bloodstream. Chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of cancer cells. Healthy cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances can also be harmed. Harm to healthy cells is what causes side effects.

Although chemotherapy treatment leads to unwanted side effects, chemotherapy still consider as one of cancer treatment options or given before surgery to shrink the cancer in some cases. Basically, the purposes of chemotherapy treatment are:

Assassinate Cancer Cells

Chemotherapy usually is used to treat patients beside cancer that has spread from the place surrounded by the body where it started (metastasized). Chemotherapy destroys cancer cell anywhere in the body. It even kill cells that own broken off from the largest tumor and traveled through the blood or lymph systems to other parts of the body.

Control the Disease

In some cases, it is used to slow the growth of cancer cells or to save the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. When a cancer has been removed by surgery, chemotherapy may be used to keep the cancer from adjuvant therapy (after surgery or radiation). When the cancer is at an advanced stage, chemotherapy drugs may be used to relieve symptoms caused by the cancer.

To achieve the above purpose of chemotherapy treatment, it can be administered in a number of different ways to treat tumors, depending on the site of the tumor, the size of the tumor, and the health and age of the patient.

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