Health Blog » Cancer

DAMAGE TO MUCOUS MEMBRANES – TREATMENT

admin — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:29:58 +0000

Mouth reactions usually start within a few days of treatment. You can minimise the problem by taking steps to protect the lining of your mouth from infection or any other irritation. If you are having drugs that are likely to cause mouth ulcers (or actually have caused them on previous treatments) ask your doctor for supplies of antiseptic mouth wash and anti-thrush medication beforehand. Use each of these about four times a day from when your mouth first starts to feel sore until it feels quite normal again. Avoid very hot foods or drinks and keep any dentures out of your mouth as much as possible.
The anti-thrush medication is important because thrush is the most common type of infection in this situation. You may have seen it in babies’ mouths. It forms white patches which look a bit like dabs of paint. If a patch is gently scraped off, a raw surface is left. A commonly affected site is under a dental plate. The anti-thrush medications come in syrup or lozenge form. If you are using the syrup make sure you swish it thoroughly around your mouth and keep it there for at least two minutes before swallowing it. It is important to swallow these medications because the thrush can spread down into the throat. Symptoms of this can include soreness and difficulty swallowing.
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ANTICIPATORY NAUSEA

admin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:01:32 +0000

It is not unusual for people who have had unpleasant nausea with chemotherapy to develop anticipatory nausea and vomiting. This means starting to feel ill or even vomiting before you get your chemotherapy. If this happens to you, it does not mean that you are going crazy or that you are a weak person. It simply means that your body is anticipating your previous unpleasant experiences. You have developed what we call a conditioned response. A nausea response is being triggered not simply by the chemotherapy itself, but also by other things that happen around the same time. Thus, for example, nausea may be triggered off by the sight, smell or even the very thought of your injection or tablets, the clinic, the clinic staff, the clinic car park, or the vehicle in which you usually travel to and from your treatment.
If you are very anxious about your treatment, and/or have developed anticipatory nausea, you could consider learning relaxation techniques and/or taking a mild tranquilliser before your treatment. Both of these approaches can be very helpful. Try not to feel embarrassed about wanting to try them. Your anxiety and/or anticipatory nausea are normal reactions to a very stressful situation. Your doctor should give these problems the same attention as any other aspect of your cancer and its treatment.
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SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR PAIN RELIEF – EXTENSIVE CANCER PAIN

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:45:53 +0000

For extensive cancer pain, some doctors recommend injection of morphine into the covering around the spinal cord through a small plastic tube which can be left in place (epidural injection). This can result in better pain relief for less side effects, but has some drawbacks such as the risk of infection, inconvenience, and the need for a practitioner who is experienced in placing the tube correctly.

Another specialised method for relieving cancer pain is destruction of the pituitary gland by inserting alcohol, ice cold probes or radioactive substances into it via the nose (see page 00).

The pain relief is not achieved through producing remission of the cancer. This method may therefore be recommended for any cancer pain, not just that due to a type of cancer which could be dependent on the hormone balance in the body. I would not agree to it for myself because I believe that it is too unreliable and temporary in its effects and that the side effects are too great for the benefits. However, you must weigh up the situation for yourself if it is recommended for you. I definitely wouldn’t try it before trying painkillers as I have described.

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EXPRESSIONS USED TO DESCRIBE EFFECTS OF TREATMENT – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS (PART 1)

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:37:15 +0000

Now we come to the question which hangs on every patient’s lips, although some never dare to actually ask it: ‘How long will I live?’

Many patients avoid asking this question because they fear the answer so much. In my experience, most patients actually imagine that things are worse than they really are. Thus the answer may come as a pleasant surprise. Whether or not this is so for you, I believe it is always easier to deal with facts than with the products of your imagination. In any case, you cannot possibly make the best decisions for yourself if you don’t know what difference various treatments are likely to make to the length of your life.

This question is also hard to answer, partly because no one can look into the future and tell you exactly what will happen to you as an individual. Many doctors use this as an excuse to avoid giving any answer at all. However, they can tell you what is average or likely, what is possible but unlikely and what is so unlikely as to be a miracle if it happens. I believe that the following is the least you need to find out from your doctor in order to make the best possible decision about treatment. Firstly, it is possible that any treatment could completely cure you, that is, that you could live as long as if you hadn’t ever had the cancer? Secondly, what is the median length of life for each possible anticancer treatment, and also if you have no anti-cancer treatment at all? The median (or average) length of life is the time between diagnosis or starting treatment and when half of the patients have died. Thirdly, what is the chance that you could live for five years? (This is called the five year survival time.)

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