Chemotherapy has been used in oncology for a long time: during the Second World War, physicians noticed the properties of certain substances that could potentially affect cancer cells, destroying them or launching a natural program of self-destruction in them.
Types of chemotherapy
There are several types of chemotherapy:
- Adjuvant and non-adjuvant. It is performed if malignant formations can be operated. Chemotherapy can be prescribed both before (non-adjuvant) and after surgery (adjuvant), and its advantage is that before surgical treatment it is possible to determine the sensitivity of the tumor to such drugs.
- Therapeutic. This type of chemotherapy is prescribed in the presence of metastases and is aimed at reducing them.
- Induction. It is performed with a locally advanced form of the disease, in which case it is impossible to operate. It is used to reduce the tumor so that it can be removed.
Since chemotherapy uses poisons and toxins that negatively affect not only the clones of malignant tumor cells, but also the healthy ones, this leads to a number of side effects, which makes it difficult to recover after chemotherapy.
Side effects of chemotherapy
There are 5 degrees of side effects of chemotherapy - from 0 to 4. They depend on the extent of the body's damage to poisons and toxins.
Most often, the side effect is manifested as:
- Loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, due to adverse effects on the intestinal mucosa and oral cavity, as well as the liver.
- Hair loss if doxorubicin, etoposidone, epirubicin or taxanes are used in therapy. These drugs affect the hair follicles, because of which the hair after chemotherapy drop out until complete baldness. The resumption of their growth occurs some time after the termination of procedures (up to 6 months).
- Increased body temperature, especially if bleomycin was used in therapy. The temperature after chemotherapy with bleomycin is observed in 60-80% of patients, and it is associated with the toxic effect of the drug, but can also occur with the use of mitomycin C, etoposide, cytosar, L-asparaginase, adriamycin, and fluorouracil.
- Inflammation of the veins, which is manifested by pain and burning after chemotherapy, if several drugs were injected repeatedly into one vein. The combination of cytosar, embihinoma, doxorubicin, vinblastine, rubomycin, dactinomycin, dacarbazine, epirubicin, taxanes and mitomycin C lead to this effect. They can also lead to thrombosis, blockage of veins and edema after prolonged chemotherapy.
- Disturbances of hematopoiesis that arise due to the depressant properties of drugs. Most often, leukocytes and platelets are affected, much less often - red blood cells.
Features of rehabilitation after chemotherapy
Recovery after chemotherapy takes a long time and is voluminous: you need to gradually restore disturbed systems, as well as create favorable conditions for the body that he himself tries to regulate his work.
The most dangerous and large-scale defeat due to chemotherapy is the circulatory system. Often, the amount of leukocytes is disturbed, which causes the patient to suffer from infectious, fungal and bacterial diseases.
How to increase white blood cells after chemotherapy?
For this purpose, a special diet is prescribed after chemotherapy, the diet of which is rich in mussels, walnuts, beets, carrots, light broths on chicken or beef, as well as stews of fish and vegetables.
The fact is that one of the basic building materials in the body is an easily digestible protein, and
To raise the level of leukocytes, there is another way, medicamentous. Such drugs as: granacite, neypogen, leukogen, imunofan and polyoxidonium increase the level of leukocytes.
It is optimal to combine diet and medications for recovery.
Other rehabilitation measures are aimed at restoring the affected organs and are individual.