One of the common and most recommended methods to treat cancer, of any types, is chemotherapy. Even if chemotherapy is very beneficial and helpful in curing cancer, there are times that this kind of treatment provides discomforts and inconveniences to the patient. That is because chemotherapy has side effects, like other medications. While it can be really advantageous to cancer patients, it is best to be familiar with those effects so you can have an easier way of accepting them and coping with them when they happen. Here are the following side effects that a cancer patient can get during and after chemotherapy.
Change in or Loss of Appetite
This is naturally common for everyone who is suffering from an illness, but this condition is also one of the most obvious side effects of chemotherapy. Through this therapy method, there are two kinds of side effects. The first one is that the patient tends to feel less hungry, and the other one makes him or her feel that the food taking tastes different. Either way, it can give the patient a reason not to eat or consume food less.
You can avoid this side effect if you do a proper solution. This is to set meal times at the standard routine and avoid snacks or foods in between meals. It will allow you to feel hungry and have the appetite to eat healthy foods. Speaking which, select only foods that are high in protein and low calories. Also, avoid the use of plastic spoons or forks.
Fatigue
Chemotherapy can also give you fatigue. Though it is very common to get tired or feel weak easily when you are sick, a cancer patient undergoing this treatment has more tendency of getting fatigue. However, do not make this effect ruins your day. In fact, it must be a good reason to take enough rest. To lessen the possibility of being too tired or weak, try to avoid doing things that make you sweat or move too much force.
Hair Loss
The loss of hair is a very normal effect of chemotherapy. You can easily tell if a person has cancer if he or she is bald. But it does not directly mean he or she loses the hair because of that particular sickness. It is because of the kind of treatment he or she is having or had that makes the patient lose some or all strands of hair.
Hair begins to fall usually during 2 to 3 weeks after the treatment. Though hair won’t be too easy to grow then, the best thing to do to avoid feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable without hair is to wear on wig. If only a few strands of hair are lost and still have many left, you can cut your hair short. Well, you can just shave your head and go bald with boldness as long as you are very much convenient about it.
Hair loss, appetite change or loss, and fatigue are the three most common side effects of chemotherapy. They are not difficult to deal with and they are not effects that can worsen your condition. So, chemotherapy should be embraced as a good method of curing the deadly disease. While you may find inconvenience from these effects, think of the best thing that chemotherapy can do for you, and that is to help fight the cancer. Before you undergo this kind of treatment, you need to ask your doctor about other side effects and prevention to help you cope with such discomforts or inconveniences.