Is chemotherapy for breast cancer painful?

Breast cancer is a type of cancer. Nowadays, its incidence rate among women is getting higher and higher, and the age of onset is getting younger and younger. Breast cancer requires timely treatment, and chemotherapy is one of the treatments. Chemotherapy for breast cancer is still painful and can also cause a significant decrease in a person's immunity. Below, we will introduce you to the relevant knowledge about breast cancer chemotherapy in detail!

1. Is chemotherapy for breast cancer painful?

Chemotherapy is quite painful. During the process of chemotherapy, a person's immunity will decrease. While the cancer cells in the body are killed, the body's immune cells will also be killed. Therefore, during the chemotherapy process, there is no way to completely filter out good cells and bad cells, so the cells will be killed together. In this case, a person's immunity will become extremely poor.

2. Damage to the body caused by breast cancer chemotherapy

1. Local damage. When patients receive intravenous or intramuscular injections of chemotherapy drugs, drug extravasation occurs, which commonly causes subcutaneous or venous sterile inflammation, dry necrosis, skin ulcers, and keloids.

2. Systemic injuries. Many chemotherapy drugs can cause dizziness, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, bowel and bowel disorders, sweating, weight loss, malnutrition, etc.

3. Digestive tract damage. Many anti-tumor drugs can cause gastrointestinal reactions of varying degrees. Almost all patients using chemotherapy have experienced this. Generally, they appear earlier than bone marrow suppression. The initial reaction is dry mouth, followed by loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, and even bloody diarrhea. It usually occurs within 1 to several hours after taking the drug; it causes reactions in the entire digestive tract mucosa, including stomatitis, gastritis, enteritis, and in a few cases, esophagitis. The most common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, stomatitis, and oral ulcers.

How to relieve pain during breast cancer chemotherapy

1. Drink more water: During chemotherapy, patients need plenty of water. Drinking more water helps with urination and detoxification, and chemotherapy is effective in alleviating the patient's pain. Patients are advised to drink more warm water and less juice, coffee, tea and other beverages.

2. Nutritional supplement: For patients, the weaker the body is, the stronger the reaction to chemotherapy will be. Therefore, during chemotherapy, you should eat more nutritious foods so that the body can absorb more nutrients and become healthier, which will reduce the reaction to chemotherapy.

3. Appropriate exercise: Exercises such as walking, Tai Chi, aerobics, etc. are more suitable for chemotherapy patients. Exercise can promote blood circulation in the human body and is more conducive to the metabolism of toxins in the human body, which in turn plays a role in chemotherapy and achieves the purpose of chemotherapy response. Patients may wish to give it a try. Many patients will become depressed due to the effects of chemotherapy, which is not conducive to their recovery. No matter how painful it is, we must face life positively and live every day with optimism. In the long run, their physical condition will get better day by day, and a good mood will also help alleviate the reaction to chemotherapy.