According to CDC.gov, around 650,000 cancer patients receive chemotherapy each year. Chemotherapy can be used to treat different types of cancer. Advances in chemo have made it a more sought out treatment plan for cancer. While it is a viable option, the risk of chemotherapy is the side effects that it often brings. Side effects are unique to each patient. Factors that contribute to these side effects are:
Side effects include nausea, constipation, hair loss, bruising or bleeding, low white blood cell count, and much more. Any myriad of side effects can be experienced based on certain factors and there’s still no true way to predict how a patient will react to chemotherapy. As beneficial as chemotherapy can be, pain is one of the most common side effects.
Pain from chemotherapy includes mouth and throat pain. Swallowing becomes much more difficult because of mouth sores that the radiation creates. Chemotherapy can cause different types of pain:
Some chemotherapy drugs can cause nerve damage that causes tingling or numbness. Pain could also stem from the vein where the chemo drugs were injected. Chemotherapy can also damage bone marrow.
The most common side effect of chemotherapy is fatigue. Enduring the pain of chemotherapy can take a lot out of a patient’s body. Although the problem of fatigue is known to go away once the treatment is completely over, it can still be a lingering issue.
Garden State Pain understands the pain that chemotherapy can cause and our pain experts can help you manage this pain. Keeping a diary about your pain can help us understand exactly what we can do to help. Knowing how long the pain lasts, how intense the pain is, and how your daily activities are affected can be key in easing the pain that you feel. If you have had chemotherapy treatment and are experiencing severe pain, contact us online or call your local New Jersey Garden State Pain Center to get information about what we can do to help.