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1- What's herspiten?
Herceptin (trastuzumab) is a immunological therapy. It’s an antibody prepared in the laboratory and has the ability to go to the cancer cells and binds to the surface antigens on the cancer cells to stop or delay their division
(for more information click on the drug name)
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What is tamoxifen?
Tamoxifen is a drug taken as oral tablets. Used to treat breast cancer for males and females for more than 30 years. It acts by inhibiting the hormone estrogen, but does not inhibit it's synthesis from the ovaries or adrenal glands (estrogen is a hormone secreted normally in all females, it is considered a stimulant of cancer cells growth in females with genetic predisposition)
(for more information click on the drug name)
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Question: What are the side effects of chemotherapy and what are some ways of dealing with them?
Answer: The side effects of chemotherapy are different for different people, different drugs, and different drug doses.
Some people may not be able to tolerate one particular drug, but do quite well on another. A lot depends on finding the right dose that will be effective against the cancer but still be tolerable for each person. This is something your doctor will monitor. Fortunately, a number of effective medications are available to manage side effects.
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Breast cancer treatment can affect the hair on your body in different ways. Your hair may change colors, become very thin, or fall out completely.
The following breast cancer treatments can affect your hair:
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Fatigue is hard to describe. You feel like you don't have any energy and are tired all the time. But there's not a specific cause, such as doing errands all day, working out, or other exertion. When you're tired from exertion, if you get enough sleep that night, you usually feel better the next day. With fatigue, you feel generally tired all the time and lose interest in people and the things you normally like to do.
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When you vomit, your stomach muscles contract and push what's in your stomach up your esophagus and out your mouth. Vomiting is usually the result of nausea.
Breast cancer treatments that can cause vomiting:
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Nausea can be a side effect of the following breast cancer treatments:
• chemotherapy
• radiation therapy
• hormonal therapy:
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Diarrhea is a condition where you have loose, watery stools more than 3 times in 1 day. You may also have cramps, bloating, and nausea, and feel like you urgently need to have a bowel movement. Diarrhea happens when the water in your intestine is not being absorbed back into your body.
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Infection happens when harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi enter a site in the body and reproduce. If you're being treated for breast cancer, your immune system may not be functioning at full strength, so you may be at higher risk for infection. Once you're done with treatment, your immune system returns to functioning normally and your risk of infection also returns to normal.
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Mouth and throat sores, also called mucositis, look like ulcers and can be red and swollen. Pain from these sores can affect your ability to eat, drink, chew, swallow, and talk. If your immune system is suppressed, you may be more likely to get an oral yeast infection. Oral yeast infections can cause mouth and throat sores and can make any sores you have worse. An oral yeast infection looks like you have a coating of cottage cheese inside your mouth.
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Certain medications can change the way the receptors in your mouth and nose tell your brain what you're tasting or smelling. Some foods may taste bitter, rancid, or metallic. Foods that used to be your favorites may taste different while you're getting treatment. This condition usually only lasts as long as treatment does -- in most cases, your will senses will return to normal a couple months after you're done.
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Anemia means you have a low red blood cell count or your red blood cells don't have enough hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. If you're anemic, you might experience the following:
• weakness
• feeling tired/fatigued
• cold
• dizziness
• crankiness
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Most doctors define infertility as not being able to become pregnant after 1 year of trying or not being able to maintain a pregnancy.
At some point in their lives, most people think about having children. While not everyone decides to have kids, most people want the option. Some treatments for breast cancer can cause temporary infertility or make it harder for you to get pregnant after treatment ends. Other treatments cause permanent and irreversible menopause, which means you are permanently infertile.
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Menopause is the time in a woman’s life when hormone production levels drop to a point where she stops getting her period (menstruating). Some treatments for breast cancer can cause treatment-induced menopause. Depending on your age and specific situation, treatment-induced menopause can be permanent, or your hormone levels and monthly cycles can return after treatment is done. Other breast cancer treatment side effects can mimic menopausal symptoms but don't actually cause menopause.
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