One of the ways to treat cancer is chemotherapy. While undergoing chemotherapy a patient may face certain side effects.
Anemia is one of them. Chemotherapy leads to anemia and anemia reduces energy level and may affect the patient’s ability to get the maximum benefit from the cancer care and treatment that he/she is undergoing.
Anemia means to have lower-than-normal number of red cells in the blood. Red blood cells are important because of their role in carrying oxygen from the lungs to all the cells in the body.
And since when cancer cells have started to multiply the RBC is not able to handle oxygen supply properly.
Some of the primary signs of anemia are shortness of breath, generally feeling week and dull and fatigue, pain the chest, headache, inability to concentrate, dull skin, loss of sex drive etc.
This condition of anemia leading to fatigue and sluggishness can be effectively managed with one of several treatments, including blood transfusion if necessary. There are several other ways to manage red blood count.
Knowledge about cancer will give you the power to manage it more effectively. So it becomes important that you acquire as much as knowledge as you can about all aspects of the disease and its treatment. As of now let us concentrate on a side effect called anemia. Some of the effective ways to manage anemia can be worked out by pursuing one or combination of the following:
You should consult your cancer specialist doctor and ask if exercising will help you strike a balance in blood count.
Also ask him/her which type of exercise will benefit and which ones are particularly to be avoided.
Prefer to start exercising under the guidance of a fitness expert to begin with and then go ahead on your own.
Follow the diet chart as prescribed by your dietitian. Include the fiber and fluids as directed by your doctor or physician.
Remember your exercise routine will also have been worked out keeping your diet in mind and they are closely related so you go casual on either of them the second thing gets affected adversely automatically.
Always keep the things you need often or may need during a likely emergency within reach of family members. If possible keep everyone informed of it.
Jeep a diary about your general well being. The situation when you feel particularly tired or short of breath etc. Keep your doctor informed about the changes you notice in your day-to-day life.
If anemia is treated casually or left unattended, it can result in red blood cell transfusions.
However, a treatments are available to help specifically chemotherapy-related anemia is called red blood cell boosters.
These boosters stimulate red blood cell growth that can treat chemotherapy-induced anemia. However, people with high blood pressure should avoid these boosters.
Inform you doctor if you have hypertension so that he can work out a plan to increase your blood count level at a safe pace.
Blood count rising at a rate faster than your body can cope can lead to blood clots and can complicate the already worrying issue further.
Your knowledge on the various issues related to cancer gives you power to control anemia induced by chemotherapy.
Read. Ask your doctor as many questions as required to make you feel comfortable with the situation you are into. You cannot undo it. Just try and get out of alive and safe.
For this you will have to take control. Before cancer kills you, kill cancer! Try overtaking. Everything is fair in love and war – against cancer.
