In the treatment of oncology, chemotherapy is often used as an additional and even the main method of treatment. This method of treatment is based on the introduction into the body of oncological chemical preparations possessing antitumor activity.
These drugs do not distinguish between bad and good cells, so they destroy them all, which leads to a large number of consequences and side effects, so after the course of chemotherapy treatment it is necessary to conduct a special rehabilitative therapy.
Consequences of chemotherapy in oncology and methods of treatment
Cancer cells are able to quickly divide, so the tumor grows rapidly and metastasizes into neighboring and remote inorganic structures.
State of the patient after chemotherapy
The condition after chemotherapy is even included in the list of diseases where it is assigned the code Z54.2.
After a chemotherapeutic course, the condition of cancer patients is usually regarded as moderate to severe or severe.
Oncologists suffer differently in similar treatment, because each of them has a different stage, the degree of malignancy of the oncology and the state of the immune status.
Symptoms of
There are general symptoms of the post-chemotherapeutic condition to which include:
- All indicators of organic activity decrease;
- There is a change in blood;
- Immunity falls;
- Increased susceptibility to infections;
- Cell structures of bone marrow, hair follicles and mucous membranes are killed;
- Toxins from drugs affect pulmonary and cardiac, renal and hepatic, urino-genital and gastrointestinal, skin and other structures.
Also in patients after chemistry the nervous system suffers, polyneuropathy develops, depression and excessive fatigue, general organic weakness, etc.
Alopecia
Hair begins to fall about a couple of weeks after the start of the chemotherapy course. But not all drugs cause characteristic baldness.
With the application of some of them, only a small amount of hair falls out, and the main head of hair can be saved. A few months after the treatment, the hair will grow back again.
Hair loss is observed not only on the head, but also throughout the body - eyelashes, eyebrows on the legs and underarms, in the groin and on the chest.
To minimize alopecia, it is recommended to use soft baby shampoos, and comb your hair with a soft massage brush. But from the aggressive effects of a hair dryer, thermal hair and curling iron, various ironing and other appliances, it is better to refuse.
Anemia
Chemotherapy anti-tumor drugs cause a decrease in the number of red blood cells of the blood. As a result, anemia of the hypochromic type develops.
The body receives oxygen nutrition specifically from red blood cells, so if they are short, oxygen starvation develops.
Patients are troubled by such manifestations:
- Vertigo;
- Shortness of breath;
- Constant weakness;
- Chronic fatigue;
- Tachycardic manifestations.
To eliminate anemia, it is necessary to restore the bone marrow functions of hematopoiesis. What is indicated for is the reception of stimulators of fission of bone marrow cellular structures, which accelerate the formation of erythrocytes.
These include Erythropoietin and its derivatives like Recormon, Epogen, Procritus and Erythrostim, Epoetin, etc.
Weakness and fatigue
All oncological patients after chemotherapeutic treatment experience such adverse reactions as excessive fatigue and weakness.
This symptom accompanies such complications of anticancer therapy as anemia, general organic intoxication, real exchange disorders, sleep disorders, depressive states, infections and pain syndrome.
Dysfunction of the digestive tract
Mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract are constantly renewed, their cells are constantly in the process of division, so chemotherapy often leads to violations of these cellular changes, and causes constipation, diarrhea and other consequences.
To reduce side effects of a similar nature, it is recommended specially designed for oncological diet therapy.
- With constipation, you need to increase fluid and fiber intake. Recommended whole grains, bran and all sorts of vegetables.
- With diarrhea, you must abandon fatty foods and alcohol, caffeinated drinks. It is better to eat porridge and light broths, rice and bananas.
Additionally, the doctor will prescribe the necessary medications.
Stomatitis
Practically all cancer patients after chemotherapy after about a week and a half, there is stomatitis - in the oral cavity begins to appear ulceration, causing dryness and burning. When the patient takes food, then the taste of stomatitis changes markedly.
To avoid the formation of stomatitis, experts recommend with great care to produce oral hygiene:
- Use a toothbrush of increased softness;
- Brush your teeth after every meal.
If the mouth begins to show the first signs of stomatitis, you must abandon the products that irritate the mucous - from alcohol, soda, citrus and tobacco.
Palmar-plantar syndrome
After some types of chemotherapy in patients, palmar-plantar syndrome may occur, which is manifested by swelling, tenderness and redness of the feet and palms.
A similar reaction is observed if the antitumor drug from capillaries percolates on the extremities. As a result, tissue damage occurs, which is manifested as redness, irritation and soreness.
For treatment, topical corticosteroids, Dimethyl sulfoxyl, Pyridoxine, etc.
may be recommended. To prevent such a side effect, it is recommended to avoid prolonged exposure to the palms and feet of hot water, for example, when bathing or washing dishes. Eliminate contact with household chemicals, work with tools that require hand pressing, etc.
Cough
For a number of reasons, after chemotherapy, cancer patients may have a cough. Provoke it:
- Taking medication. Drugs cause active overdrying of the mucous membranes. As a result of drying, irritation of respiratory structures occurs, which is expressed in dry cough;
- Low immunity. The organism after chemistry, because of the pathologically low immune barrier, easily passes the infectious pathogens causing the respiratory pathologies of the respiratory system. Cough indicates the penetration of just such an infection, which must be combated through antibiotic therapy.
Mucositis
Similar complication develops in approximately 40% of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment. Specificity of the disease is associated with the formation in the mouth of wounds and sores, often extending to the mucous throat.
For prevention of mucositis, it is recommended before before and during each chemotherapy session to dissolve pieces of ice, which will reduce the likelihood of mucosal inflammation in the mouth.
Most often mucositis develops on the background of treatment with drugs like 5-fluorouracil, etc. To relieve pain in myositis, analgesics or anesthetics are recommended. It is recommended to rinse your mouth with a saline-soda solution( according to ½ a small spoonful of salt and soda for 200 ml of water).
Nausea
Such a sign as nausea after chemotherapy worries many patients. It is impossible to avoid such a side effect, although there are many ways to eliminate it with medications, for example, Cerukal, Dexamethasone, Ondansetron, etc.
With adequate and correct selection of drugs, nausea occurs in about 90% of cases.
In addition, it facilitates the nausea manifestations of a diet that involves the exclusion of salty and sweet, fatty and fried. Nausea slightly removes grape juice or cranberry juice, Regidron, tea with mint and lemon, jelly, bananas.
Popular remedy for nausea
It is widely used against post-chemotherapeutic nausea and folk remedies that are even more effective than medications. But they should be used only on the recommendation of an oncologist.
An effective remedy for reducing nausea and vomiting and restoring GIT function is the infusion of lemon balm. Raw materials are ground and brewed like tea, soaked under a lid for about 2 hours. Daily rate - 2 cups, taken during the day.
Neutropenia
Bone marrow constantly produces leukocytes - white blood cells, which are represented by several species: neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes.
Under the influence of chemotherapy there is a sharp decline in all types of leukocytes. Reduction of neutrophils is called neutropenia. These cells are of paramount importance in confronting infections, so their reduction leads to a high risk of their development.
Colony-stimulating granulocyte factor G-CSF is used to treat neutrophil deficiency, which promotes the accelerated formation of neutrophils.
Pain in the legs, head, bones, stomach
Often after an anticancer treatment, cancer patients have severe pain in various organs and parts of the body. This may mean that there is a high risk of damage to these structures.
In addition, the cause of pain is the action of chemotherapeutic drugs.
- Soreness in the stomach occurs when cytotoxic drugs reach the intestine. The cause of pain in the stomach is a toxic gastritis.
- Headaches of occur against the background of toxic damage to certain cerebral zones. There is a similar soreness periodically, manifesting a different intensity and character.
- Pain in the legs of is also not uncommon after anti-cancer treatment. The cause of the syndrome may be polyneuropathy, bone marrow disorders or severe arterial and venous lesions.
- The pain syndrome in the bones of is caused by the lesion of bone marrow structures by drug antitumor drugs.
Treatment of any post-chemotherapeutic pain is symptomatic, i.e. with the use of pain medications prescribed by the oncologist.
Edemas
Many cancer patients after chemotherapy begin to complain of swelling, which occur both throughout the body, and in its individual parts - on the limbs, face, in the abdomen.
The cause of post-chemotherapeutic hyperopathy is a violation of renal activity.
To reduce puffiness, it is recommended to exclude salt from the ration or at least substantially limit it.
It is useful to include in the menu greens and other products with a diuretic effect like dill and parsley, watermelons and melons, blackberries and strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers, apples, etc.
Numbness
Quite a frequent consequence of chemotherapy is numbness caused by damage to peripheral nerve fibers. There is numbness in the loss of sensitivity in the limb. Begins from the fingertips, spreads higher on the arms and legs, and then along the spine.
In addition, numbness can be manifested by painful sensations, a feeling of constriction and burning, tingling, etc.
Some patients find it difficult to cope with buttons or laces, they are disturbed, they often fall, stumble. Numbness usually indicates the development of polyneuropathy.
Than to treat a vein after a chemotherapy?
Against the backdrop of chemotherapy, extensive lesions of the veins often occur, phlebosclerosis and phlebitis develop.
Phlebosclerosis is the thickening of the vascular walls against the background of degenerative changes, and phlebitis is the inflammatory lesion of the venous walls. Usually, such lesions are observed in the area of the shoulders and elbows.
For the treatment of veins, use is recommended:
- Anticoagulants( Gumbix);
- NSAIDs;
- Local ointment remedies such as Hepatrombin, Troxevasin or Indovazin.
To avoid such complications, it is necessary to pour anticancer antibiotics and cytostatics slowly, and to complete the introduction of 5% glucose solution.
Allergy
A fairly common complication is the post-chemotherapeutic allergy. Such reactions are manifested by a variety of symptoms - from mild minor rashes to severe symptoms such as anaphylaxis and pulmonary edema or brain.
Such reactions often only exacerbate the patient's condition, but specialists often do not associate these manifestations with chemotherapeutic treatment.
Hemorrhoids
One of the unpleasant complications after anti-cancer treatment is hemorrhoids. Its causes can be as a defeat of veins components of chemotherapeutic drugs, and damage to the digestive tract.
If the patient has previously suffered from hemorrhoids, then after chemotherapy, his exacerbation will necessarily occur.
Stroke
Strokes after chemotherapy occur as a result of complications such as thrombocytopenia - a condition associated with a low platelet count, which is manifested by a decrease in blood clotting.
When thrombocytopenia is high, the probability of internal hemorrhages in various internal organs, including in the brain.
A cerebral hemorrhage can lead to a stroke, after which the patient needs a long rehabilitation.
Temperature
Hyperthermia after chemotherapy is caused by a decrease in immune defense, in which various infections begin to freely enter the body.
A similar symptom indicates that the organism of the cancer patient has formed infectious foci, for the neutralization of which it is necessary to carry out antibacterial therapy.
Treatment should begin at the first sign of hyperthermia. If the temperature is constantly increased, then the patient's body no longer cope with infectious processes and needs urgent help.
Usually, antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action are prescribed for treatment. For the correct choice of the drug, the patient is subjected to a laboratory blood test in order to identify the type of infection with which it is proposed to fight.
Complications in men
The consequences of antitumor treatment for patients of both sexes are the same, but there are some differences.
Anti-cancer drugs seriously affect the sexual functions of men, significantly reducing reproduction, activity and the number of spermatozoa. In other words, a man is temporarily infertile.
With a positive outcome, with time the fertility of a man is restored. Although there are exceptions, when infertility becomes irreversible.
Suffers from chemotherapy and male erection, can dramatically decrease libido. But these problems are resolved with time, all functions are returned.
But in the process of chemotherapeutic treatment and for a year after its completion, a man needs to be protected in order to rule out the conception of a partner. Such a measure is necessary, because the risk that the child will have serious deviations is highest.
Complications in women
Women, in addition to general chemotherapeutic effects, have dysfunctional ovarian disorders. Against this background, menstrual irregularities occur, bleeding becomes irregular, for a time they may disappear.
In fact, a woman for the time losing the ability to become pregnant. After a certain time, all childbearing functions are gradually returned. Like men, women can not become pregnant within a year because of the risk of having a sick child with serious developmental disabilities.
How to relieve a patient's condition?
Chemotherapy seriously impairs the function of the liver, so for its maintenance by oncologists it is necessary to take hepatoprotectors.
When the infection develops against the background of oppressed immunity, antibiotic therapy is prescribed.
The principles of nutrition of the oncopacillant are important, suggesting a balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals.
Due to this effect, aggressiveness and severity of complications is significantly reduced. Well proven in terms of reducing the impact of anti-cancer drugs paste Enterosgel. It is taken orally, with plenty of water.
Chemotherapy deals a merciless blow to the body, but this technique can save lives by destroying cancer cells. Therefore, you can not refuse such treatment because of fear of pobochkami, because life is much more important.
Video about nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy: