When Can You Tell If Chemotherapy Is Working
Have you been in the unfortunate position of being asked when to know if chemotherapy is working? It can be difficult to answer someone who is asking this question and it’s important to understand what they’re looking for. In this article, we’ll take a look at these questions and provide some answers that will help you explain your experience with chemo.
How long did it take you to realize that your tumor was shrinking?
This is a common question, and the answer is almost always linked to how long it took patients to notice a change in the appearance of their skin. The reality is that patients may not see a change in appearance until after they have finished chemo. It’s important to remember that chemotherapy can affect many parts of the body including hair, nails, and skin. Skin changes are typically very gradual, often taking weeks or months for most people. For example, many people notice a change in the color of their hair first then gradually notice changes to the nail growth and texture over time.
What do you know that doesn’t show on CT scans?
One of the most common questions patients have is when they can tell if their chemotherapy is working. Unfortunately, there is no one definitive answer to this question. While CT scans may give you a good indication of how well your treatment is working, they cannot tell you whether or not you are feeling better as a result. At the same time, many patients that have received chemotherapy will feel better immediately after the treatment has been completed. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Symptoms may linger for weeks or even months beyond what is “normal.”
I would like to make it clear that there are many great reasons to continue your cancer treatment after you have finished chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In most cases, chemotherapy and/or radiation are designed as a part of your treatment plan as a way to prevent distant spread of cancer cells to other parts of your body. Chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments can also help you improve the appearance of microscopic tumors on otherwise healthy areas of your body (such as skin) so that they do not become overly noticeable.
When can you start to see improvement?
The majority of people can start to see some relief from their symptoms within a few weeks of starting chemotherapy, but it can take up to several months for the full effect to be seen. Some people may start to experience significant improvement sooner, while others may not see any improvement for a longer period of time. Symptoms will typically get better over time as the cancer shrinks and the chemotherapy damages or kills tumor cells. What happens if the cancer comes back? The goal of treatment is to cure cancer, but in most cases the cancer will come back at some point, or it won’t go away completely. It is not unusual for cancer to come back after several years of being cured and it may return even if you have been cured for many years. If you are currently undergoing treatment for lung cancer, there is an 80% chance that the cancer will come back as a different type of lung cancer before it has completely disappeared from your body. In addition, about half of people with early stage non-small cell lung cancers can have a recurrence at some point during their lives.
How do the doctors know if it is working?
When a cancer patient begins chemotherapy, one of the first things the doctor will do is to measure the tumor’s size. The goal of chemotherapy is to shrink or kill the cancer cells while leaving normal cells and tissues unaffected. The size of the tumor will initially decrease as the chemotherapy works to kill the cancer cells. However, over time, if the cancer has spread beyond where it was initially found, the tumor may not shrink even with continued treatment. In this case, doctors may decide to stop chemotherapy because it is no longer likely to help the patient.
What are chemo side effects?
Chemotherapy is a treatment for cancer that uses drugs to kill tumor cells. Side effects can occur during, before, or after chemotherapy. Side effects can be mild or severe, and can depend on the type of chemotherapy and the individual’s health. Most side effects go away after chemo treatment is finished. However, some side effects may continue for weeks or months after chemo therapy is finished. When side effects occur, they may include:
Headache or dizziness (mild)
Headache and dizziness are common side effects of chemotherapy. The severity of the symptoms you experience depends on how healthy your heart is. Side effects may also be mild or severe during chemo therapy at different times of the day or after different treatments. Dizziness can make it hard to drive, walk, or use stairs for a few days after treatment. Stress incontinence (urinary leakage – especially at night). By definition, “stress incontinence” means that you have an involuntary leak of urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise very vigorously, go up and down stairs several times in a row
