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Chemotherapy - what to ask your doctor

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What to ask your provider about chemotherapy

You are having chemotherapy. This is treatment that uses medicines to kill cancer cells. Depending on your type of cancer and treatment plan, you may receive chemotherapy in one of several ways. These include:

  • By mouth
  • By injection under the skin (subcutaneous)
  • Through an intravenous (IV) line
  • Being injected into the spinal fluid (intrathecal)
  • Being injected into the abdominal cavity (intraperitoneal).

Your health care provider will need to follow you closely while you are having chemotherapy. You will also need to learn how to care for yourself during this time.

Below are questions you may want to ask your provider.

Questions

Am I at risk for infections?

  • What foods should I avoid so that I do not get an infection?
  • Is my water at home OK to drink? Are there places I should not drink the water?
  • Can I go swimming?
  • What should I do when I go to a restaurant or public place?
  • Can I be around pets?
  • What immunizations do I need? Which immunizations should I avoid?
  • Is it OK to be in a crowd of people? Do I need to wear a mask?
  • Can I have visitors over? Do they need to wear a mask?
  • When should I wash my hands?

Am I at risk of bleeding? Is it OK to shave? What should I do if I cut myself or start bleeding?

What over-the-counter (OTC) medicines can I take for headaches, the common cold, and other illnesses?

Do I need to use birth control?

What if I think I may be pregnant?

What should I be eating to keep my weight and strength up?

Will I be sick to my stomach or have loose stools or diarrhea? How long after I receive my chemotherapy before these problems may start? What can I do if I am sick to my stomach or have diarrhea often?

Are there any foods or vitamins I should avoid?

Are there any medicines I should keep on hand?

Are there any medicines I should not take?

Will my hair fall out? Is there anything I can do about it?

How do I take care of my mouth and lips?

  • How can I prevent or treat mouth sores?
  • How often should I brush my teeth? What type of toothpaste should I use?
  • What can I do about dry mouth?
  • What should I do if I have a mouth sore?

Is it OK to be out in the sun? Do I need to use sunscreen? Do I need to stay indoors during cold weather?

What can I do about my fatigue?

When should I contact my provider?

Review Date: 10/14/2024

Reviewed By

Warren Brenner, MD, Oncologist, Lynn Cancer Institute, Boca Raton, FL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

References

American Cancer Society website. Chemotherapy side effects. www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/treatment-types/chemotherapy/chemotherapy-side-effects.html. Updated May 1, 2020. Accessed November 7, 2024.

Collins JM. Cancer pharmacology. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Kastan MB, Doroshow JH, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 25.

National Cancer Institute website. Chemotherapy and you: support for people with cancer. www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/chemo-and-you. Updated January 2024. Accessed November 7, 2024.

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The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language.

© 1997- A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

All content on this site including text, images, graphics, audio, video, data, metadata, and compilations is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view the content for personal, noncommercial use. Any other use requires prior written consent from Ebix. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, publish, reverse-engineer, adapt, modify, store beyond ordinary browser caching, index, mine, scrape, or create derivative works from this content. You may not use automated tools to access or extract content, including to create embeddings, vectors, datasets, or indexes for retrieval systems. Use of any content for training, fine-tuning, calibrating, testing, evaluating, or improving AI systems of any kind is prohibited without express written consent. This includes large language models, machine learning models, neural networks, generative systems, retrieval-augmented systems, and any software that ingests content to produce outputs. Any unauthorized use of the content including AI-related use is a violation of our rights and may result in legal action, damages, and statutory penalties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ebix reserves the right to enforce its rights through legal, technological, and contractual measures.
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