What is oral chemotherapy? The term refers to the way of administering chemotherapy, namely taking chemo drugs by mouth. Chemotherapy is medicine used in treating cancer and the ways to apply it are multiple. Nowadays, oral chemotherapy is not the only option cancer patients have, as science has come up with other ways of medicine administration adequate for a patient’s condition. Nevertheless oral chemotherapy refers to any drug administered by mouth. The health impact of pills remains identical to that of intravenous medication for instance, with the specification that the incidence of digestive adverse reactions will be a lot higher.
Some chemotherapy drugs can never be taken orally as they cannot be absorbed in the stomach or they can cause harm if swollen. As a matter of fact, most of the chemotherapy drugs are introduced into the patient’s veins by means of injecting it through an intravenous line. In the case of oral chemotherapy, the treatment is more facile as the patient can do it at home, without being forced to go to hospital every time it is applied.
A good way to administer oral chemotherapy is by giving it in cycles. Thus, risk of damaging normal healthy cells gets lower and the drugs only target the cancerous formations. Obviously, the doctor is the one who will decide how frequently (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) medication will be taken. Anyway, there should be a patient-doctor discussion concerning the advantages and disadvantages of a treatment scheme so that the patient may know what to expect. Only when one informed and convinced of the efficiency of the treatment, can one decide to begin it.
Although oral chemotherapy drugs are not as strong as the others and although they do not affect the patients’ stomach, there are side effects of the treatment here too. The list of oral chemotherapy adverse reactions is very long and it generally includes fatigue, nausea, vomiting, anemia, flu-like symptoms, diarrhea and constipation, increased susceptibility to infections, kidney malfunctions, hair loss and various other sores and pains. For any of these side effects it is advisable that patients address their doctors for advice and help.
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