Should a Cancer Patient Get Scared of Chemotherapy?
When diagnosed with cancer, for most of the patients, the news is quite frightening. Cancer is a dangerous disease and takes thousands of lives every year across the world. It can be caused in several ways. The treatment depends on what stage it is diagnosed. Sometimes the doctors have to take immediate actions to battle the disease and if diagnosed in early stages, they treat the patient with one step at a time.
Cancer can be treated in number of ways, all thanks to the medical advancement in the field. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, the doctor or the oncologist would explain the patient about the treatment process. But even before that, he or she must share various treatment options. There are four ways or methods to treat cancer – Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery and biological therapy. However, the best doctor would choose the treatment method according to the type of cancer. Along with the treatment process, the cancer specialist will also share the extent of the disease and how much time it would take to cure. Hence, it is important for any patient to find best cancer specialist doctor in Delhi, to get the best treatment plan. The actual goal of the doctor as well as the patient should be to remove cancer without any side effects on the body.
Fears Associated with Chemotherapy
One of the methods to cure cancer is chemotherapy. Patients are often concerned or scared when they hear they have to undergo chemotherapy because many patients fear of the pain they have to go through. They usually have questions in their mind like will it affect emotionally with physical torture? There are ample amount of thoughts that comes to mind when a patient has to go through chemotherapy or when one of your loved ones has to undergo. The fear of chemo is quite frustrating and distressing. Below are some common fears associated with chemo:-
- Loss of Hair– One of the most common side-effects of chemotherapy is loss of hair. In this kind of treatment, toxic cancerous cells are destroyed, including the healthy ones. Though most patients suffer from complete hair loss, but in some patients it may only lead to hair thinning. It totally depends on dosage and medication. The hair loss in chemotherapy can be quick or it can be a slow process.
- Side-Effects– Every cancer specialist must inform their patients about the side-effects of chemotherapy. Some of the side-effects might vanish after the treatment, while some may stay for years. Nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite are some common side-effects. Different patients experience different effects. The patient’s cancer specialist doctor in Delhi should be able to share the information about the long-term and short-term side-effects.
- Painful– Undoubtedly, chemotherapy is a painful treatment method. What patients must know is that some of the pains can be treated with the help of medication. It is seen in many cases that pain caused is usually psychologically because the thought of chemotherapy can bring anxiety in patients. The physical pain is usually not that chronic as it is assumed.
Dealing with these fears is easy if you have a good cancer specialist and your loved ones near you. No wonder, chemotherapy is a tough fight. All it takes is determination to get through the process.