Chemotherapy side effects and long term effects.?

Question

Does anyone have long term effects of chemotherapy?

Answer 1

Chemotherapy drugs are toxic to normal cells as well as cancer cells. A dose that will destroy cancer cells will probably cause damage to some normal cells. Doctors adjust doses to do the least amount of harm possible to normal cells. Some patients feel few or no side effects, and others may have more serious side effects. In some cases, a dose adjustment is all that is needed to reduce or stop a side effect.

Some chemotherapy drugs have more side effects than others. Some of the most common side effects are:

* nausea and vomiting
* loss of appetite
* hair loss
* anemia and fatigue
* infection
* easy bleeding or bruising
* sores in the mouth and throat
* neuropathy and other damage to the nervous system
* kidney damage

Nausea and vomiting are common, but can usually be controlled by taking antinausea drugs, drinking enough fluids, and avoiding spicy foods. Loss of appetite may be due to nausea or the stress of undergoing cancer treatment.

Some chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss, but it is almost always temporary. Chemotherapy side effects as above may continue for about 4-6 months in the normal course. It greatly depends the type of medicine, dosage given and the stage of the disease and recovery thereof. In some acute cases the side effects even continue for about an year., but generally in 6 months patients can expect normalcy, including hair growth. -

Answer 2

Actually in recent years there is more and more effort being made to make the chemotherapy drugs less toxic to the body . . those are the types of research that is often under reported. The chemo that a patient takes today is not quite the same as it was even five years ago. New drugs are being introduced with the idea of treating cancer as a chronic disease . . and when you do that you need to have a drug that can be used fairly regularly. At the moment my son is on an experimental drug that he takes twice a day. He has no apparent side effects . . no loss of hair . . no nausea or fatigue, but he is having some slight neutropenia at the moment . . though he feels fine.

My son also underwent nine months of high dose chemotherapy. During chemo he had the hair loss and nausea, but once it stopped he hasn't had any lingering side effects that are noticable. He was taking college courses but stopped because his treatments required that he miss too many classes.

To tell you the truth . . the greatest joy I would have right now is to believe with all my heart that he will someday have to deal with long term side effects . . because that will mean that he has survived one of the most devastating childhood cancers. You make choices when you are dealing with advanced disease . . and long term side effects . . well if they occur . . we'll deal with it. It's hard when they're young. Hopefully medical science will find a treatment that will fight the cancer effectively while sparing a young persons body.

Livestrong: Aftereffects of Cancer Treatment
http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.jvKZLbMRIsG/b.670041/k.206/Aftereffects_of_Cancer_Treatment_Detailed_Information.htm

Answer 3

chemotherapy side effects that can effect a person in the long-term are the effects that happen to the organs in the persons body. so lets forget about the hair loss part as that is pretty much temporary even though it does not always grow back the way it was.
Cisplatin chemotherapy can cause a person to become deaf..
Doxorubicin can alter how the heart muscle works, may cause cardiomyopathy.
cyclophosphamide can cause haemorrhagic cystitis.
Methotrexate can cause renal toxicity and stop a person's kidneys from working.
those a few examples..
Chemotherapy can cause infertility (not always in everyone though).
you can go to this website and it gives you the side effects of individual chemotherapy drugs
www.cancerbackup.org.uk
Just remember one thing everyone is different and some may suffer from every side effect there is and another person will not..

Answer 4

I assume you know all the typical side effects such as hair loss (though not all chemo regimes cause hair loss), tiredness, nausea, depression etc- side effects vary from person to person. A few people breeze through it, others find it very difficult.

It is three and a half years since I finished chemotherapy, and yes there can be some long term effects. I suffered a certain amount of mental confusion - what is often referred to as 'chemo brain' ; it affected my short term memory, including my memory for everyday words. Many chemo patients have amusing stories to tell about this; a few weeks after chemo ended I stood in a coffee shop struggling to remember the word for the sort of coffee I wanted - in the end I asked for 'unleaded'. The word decaff just wouldn't come.

This can continue for some time after chemo ends; I still have attacks of 'chemo brain' but they are getting much fewer and far between. I had to leave a new job a year after chemo because I couldn't manage mental arithmetic and would get tearful trying. I don't have a problem with mental arithmetic now and I assume in time the occasional mental fogginess will end completely.

Even if chemo brain never went away, I don't regret having chemotherapy. I'm fit and well and as far as I know cancer-free.

Answer 5

I think, it depends on various factors. Each person behaves in a unique manner to the chemotherapy.
As it has been mentioned above, people tend to loose their hairs. However, it is not happening with every individual and some may experience changes only in the color and texture of the hair. Some may grow back their hair with the different color and texture and some may not.
As a long term effect, people may experience loss of appetite and some even experience changes in their bowel pattern. This may make them vulnerable to depression when it is associated with the loss of hair.
Many people under my care stated that they also lost their normal skin pattern. Again, it can contribute to change in their image and may predispose to depression and social isolation.

At last, chemotherapy drugs are by nature immuno-suppressive drugs. Due to it`s effect, many people vulnerable to pneumonia and other opportunistic infections. It is common in people with Leukaemia, underwent BMT and treated with a chemotherapy. Very commonly due the nature of illness, they become neutropenic and prone to various infections.
Hope, this helps.
Regards.

Answer 6

Here are some I've seen in family members--all long-time survivors of cancers. BTW, not everybody lost all their hair.

Hair grows back different color or texture--or not at all. (Actor Evan Handler wasn't bald before he survived leukemia; he wrote about it in "My Time on Fire.")

Body hair fails to return, or is a different color. Most disturbing when it's pubic hair or eyebrows.

Minor balance problems which resolved slowly, over a year.

Depression, although it's impossible to pin that solely on the chemo. (It did happen to the same person with the balance problem, which suggested to the doctor there'd been minor brain damage.)

Change in gait when running.

Weakness on one side of the body, without muscle atrophy. (This went away with physical therapy.)

All in all, better to have the side effects and live, right?

Answer 7

Each chemo is different and so are the side effect and long term effect. One thing they all have in common is that they are poison.
Best to call the company of the specific chemo.

Answer 8

i dont know if 5 years is long enough to answer your question but i had chemo. last 5 yrs and thank God no side effects.

Answer 9

I worked with chemo patients some yrs back, one thing I remember, is that when all the hair fell out.... it sometimes grew back a different color... interesting.

Answer 10

Acupuncture, which involves inserting thin needles into various points on your body, may reduce peripheral neuropathy symptoms.