Oral Chemotherapy

By Kate Savage

Chemotherapy is also called as chemo and is used to kill cancer cells. There are various ways to give chemotherapy in order to treat cancer. Oral chemotherapy is one of them used to give chemotherapy. Oral chemotherapy treatment may depend on the kind of chemotherapy you need. When the chemotherapy medicines are taken via mouth then it is called as oral chemotherapy.

The medicines are found as pills or capsules. Your caregiver or doctor may decide or tell you how many to take and when to take. It is very important to take your medicines as per your doctor's instructions. Duration or period of your chemo depends on the type of cancer you have and also depends on type of chemotherapy, medicine, stage of cancer, and current health of a patient. Your caregiver needs to administer you until you feel comfortable using oral chemotherapy.

Oral chemo is given by every day, week or twice a month and it may be several times a day. Combination of different medicines is also used in chemotherapy for better results. Taking combination of medicine helps you to decrease the number of times the medicine needed.

If your cancer is having serious stage then you have to take medicines for several months or longer. Sometimes doctors or caregivers use to take breaks in treatment to regain power. This helps your body to grow new healthy cells.

There may be side effects due to oral chemotherapy and infection that is one of the most serious side effects. During chemotherapy our immune system becomes so weak to fight with the infections. If there is any serious infection then you have to hold up your treatment or need to lower the dosages of drug.

There may be difficulty in eating that causes to nutritional deficiencies. Oral chemotherapy bitters the food taste because of effect on the tongue and taste buds. You can consult with your doctor to prevent oral problems before treatment even starts.

You may see a dentist before chemotherapy begins. Some dental exam of mouth and gums, cleaning, dental X-rays are done there and provides instructions on how to care for your mouth and teeth. Oral problems are temporary and usually go away once the treatment ends.

Oral chemotherapy is one of the type of chemotherapy used to treat cancer and to know about more types of chemotherapy click here

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