The Effects of Chemotherapy on Your Body
After receiving a cancer diagnosis, your first reaction may be to ask your doctor to sign you up for chemotherapy. After all, chemotherapy is one of the most common and most powerful forms of cancer treatment. But chemotherapy does a lot more than get rid of cancer.
While these drugs are powerful enough to kill rapidly growing cancer cells, they also can harm healthy cells. This may cause a number of side effects. The severity of these side effects depends on your overall health, age, and type of chemotherapy.
While most side effects clear up shortly after treatment ends, some may continue well after chemotherapy has ended. And some may never go away. Be sure to discuss any side effects you’re experiencing with your doctor. In some cases, depending on the reactions your body is having, your doctor may need to adjust the type or dose of the chemotherapy.
How the side effects of chemo manifest for each person may depend on other factors, such as age or existing health conditions. But no matter how severe, these effects are noticeable for each individual.