Chemotherapy Drugs Offer Help To Cancer Sufferers

  When this happens, the cancer cells attack the body's tissue, including organs.  If left untreated they will slowly consume the tissues to the point of the organ being unable to function.  For this reason, getting medical treatment for cancer becomes very important to the life of the patient.

Chemotherapy is the process of stopping those cancer cells from developing and dividing.  In order for this to happen, the cells must be killed off.  The process allows your body to remain unhurt while the cancer cells are effectively destroyed to the point where they can no longer function.  

Chemotherapy is actually a term that is used to describe a number of different cancer fighting drugs available to help you.  One or several of those drugs can be used to treat your cancer.  The drugs are selected based on the tumor location, the overall health that you have, the cancer spreading and the type of cancer you have.  With all of this information determined, the doctor can choose the most appropriate cancer fighting drugs for you.

There are many different types of chemotherapy drugs available and those selected will be chosen for their ability to help with your specific type of cancer.  Some drugs, for instance a combination called ABVD work in cycles.  This is a cycle of four weeks long, in which the four medications are used.  This unique combination is made up of Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine.  In this particular case, you will have the first cycle of drugs given to you on the first day with all four drugs included.  After this, a two week break is given.  On the 15th day of the cycle, another dose of the four drugs is given.  Then, there is another two weeks with no additional medications.  On the 29th day, the cycle begins again.  Most people will experience four to six cycles like this.

Chemotherapy side effects are perhaps the most detrimental of all aspects of this treatment.  Nothing is more important than getting rid of the cancer, but the side effects you face can be very tiresome.  In this particularly mentioned combination of chemotherapy drugs, side effects come from all four of the drugs. In this case, you may have side effects such as increased fatigue and a low blood cell count in bone marrow, which can cause an increase in your chances of infection.  Other side effects include hair loss, skin reactions, hypersensitivity and a loss of appetite.

Medications for chemotherapy can be given in various ways.  Some medications are given through an injection into your vein while others use a drip method (intravenously.)  Still others use oral chemotherapy where you will take the medication by mouth, usually in pill format.  The various types of chemotherapy drugs have their own ability to be used in these formats.  Often, it is necessary for a central line or a cannula (a fine tube into your arm) to be used to administer the medications.

Chemotherapy drugs are not easy for the body to handle because they do work to target and kill cells (sometimes even the normal, healthy cells in your body.)  They cause a number of difficulties during administration including discomfort.  Even worse, they can lead to a number of uncomfortable and unwanted side effects.  While all of these things about chemotherapy are very true, it is also the case that the medications are the most helpful tool you have in the fight against cancer.