Improvements in treatment over the years have significantly reduced the severity of side effects of prostate cancer treatments. It is still important to understand how and why these side effects occur, and to how to minimize how they will affect daily life. There are six major categories of side effects that are normally associated with prostate cancer treatments: urinary dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, ED, loss of fertility, effects due to the loss of testosterone, and side effects of chemotherapy. Depending on the treatment strategy pursued some or all of these side effects might be present. It’s also important to realize that not all these symptoms are normal, and that some require immediate care.

Urinary Dysfunction encompasses both urinary incontinence, which can range from some leaking to complete loss of bladder control, and irritative voiding symptoms, including increased urinary frequency, increased urinary urgency, and pain upon urination. For men undergoing prostatectomy, incontinence is the main urinary side effect. Bowel Dysfunction includes diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and the inability to control bowel movements. All of these side effects are more common following external beam radiotherapy. During prostatectomy, damage to the rectum is unusually rare, and the bowel changes noticed in the first few weeks following surgery are likely the result of the body adjusting to the increased abdominal space due to the loss of the prostate. Radiation therapy can cause significant damage to the rectum, resulting in some or all of the symptoms listed above.

ED is experienced by nearly all men for the first few months after treatment. The reason for this is simple: the nerves and blood vessels that control the physical aspect of an erection are incredibly delicate, and any trauma to the area will unfortunately result in changes to the natural order. Fertility is always a problem after prostate cancer treatment. It is nearly impossible for a man to retain his ability to father children through sexual intercourse after the initial treatment. The loss of semen following surgery makes ejaculation impossible, so the sperm cannot physically leave the body to reach the woman’s egg for fertilization.

Hormone Therapy side effects: Testosterone is the primary male hormone. Side effects of testosterone loss is lengthy and includes hot flashes, decreased sexual desire, fatigue, ED, osteoporosis, weight gain, decreased muscle mass, anemia, and memory loss. Chemotherapy drugs available today work in a slightly different fashion, and it’s hard to predict what sorts of side effects any one person will experience. Check with your doctor for reported side effects for your treatment.

For more information visit: Prostacet

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Product Description
Cancer patients are plagued by the undesirable, and often unbearable, adverse effects of radiation therapy, chemotherapy and other treatment modalities. Many patients report these side effects to be just as, if not more, intolerable than the cancer itself. The focus of this book is on how to use modern diagnostic methods and Chinese medical treatment to address this problem. The author of this book, Dr. Zhang Dai-zhao, is a well-known oncologist in China and is the one of the leading authorities on the usage of integrative medicine to relieve the side effects of cancer treatment.

Features:

1. Includes the theories, principles and clinical practice of integrative medicine to prevent and alleviate the side effects of cancer radiation & chemotherapy
2. Details clinical approaches of integrative medicine to ten common cancers
3. Syndrome differentiation and treatment with herbs & acupuncture
4. Clinical experiences and case studies of famous physicians
5. Presents dietary therapies, nursing, mental health care & self-exercise qi-gong

There are few books on this subject available on the market, which makes this an invaluable resource for all clinicians who are involved in the management of cancer.

Alleviating The Side Effects Of Cancer Treatment


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100 Questions & Answers about Cancer Symptoms and Cancer Treatment Side Effects

11/02/10

100 Questions & Answers about Cancer Symptoms and Cancer Treatment Side Effects


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Brain Cancer Treatment Side Effects

21/01/10

The author related the story of Ken’s battle against cancer. Brain Cancer Treatment Side EffectsKen was the founder of an all-Indonesian advertising company after having been inspired by Joe Darion’s “The Impossible Dream.” In short, he was a successful businessman who built this empire from scratch after having dreamt a dream.

“To dream the impossible dream,

To fight the unbeatable foe,

To bear with the unbearable sorrow,

To run where the brave dare not go.”

Ken’s battle against the “unbeatable foe” started shortly after Chinese New Year 2004, when he suddenly fell ill. The doctors in his country did not know what had gone wrong with him. Ken and his wife went to Singapore and after two weeks of intensive investigations, Ken was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma. It was said that this cancer was rather unique, since it only attacked his backbone leaving other organs intact. Ken underwent chemotherapy in Singapore and within six months he was said to have conquered his cancer. “Cancer-free”, Ken returned to his country feeling satisfied and grateful.

However, the victory was short-lived! Two months later Ken suffered a relapse and he needed his oncologist again. The next option for Ken was to undergo bone marrow transplant (BMT). He was made to understand that BMT is the state-of-the-art procedure – the most modern of medical technology against cancer! Elated, Ken agreed and underwent a high-dose chemotherapy in preparation of his BMT. Unfortunately, the BMT did not cure him. Ken suffered a second relapse. The author said that Ken had to sell his first house to pay for his medical treatment in Singapore. A second BMT was recommended and Ken again agreed to it.

In early September 2004, the author had an opportunity to visit Ken in Singapore where he was still undergoing medical treatment. Ken invited the author to the “Top of the M”, a revolving restaurant in a famous hotel. At that time Ken was fitted with a state-of-the art “chemo-pump” which he carried around with him, Ken proudly told his friend: “This is the mother of chemotherapy” that he was wearing! While dining, Ken expressed his vision that one day, in the years to come, he would like to publish a bulletin giving information about how patients can fight this cancer war. Now that he had himself gone through this “fight” and had learnt a lot. Ken figured out that it would be of great help to others if he shared his experience. In this way, others too could follow his “path.”

Two days after this “great and wonderful” dinner at the posh restaurant, Ken had to be admitted to the CCU (critical care unit). Ken died soon afterwards.

Comments: The song above was only half sung. There are many more meaning lines to the lyrics.

“To right the unrightable wrong

This is my quest, No matter how hopeless, no matter how far

To fight for the right without question or pause

To be willing to pass into hell for a heavenly cause

And the world will be better for this.”

Lung Cancer Secrets Revealed Click here

Ken went into battle against cancer seemingly “to right the unrightable wrong, to fight the unbeatable foe.” I dare suggest that he had been misled. To me, the metaphor used in this adventure was and is wrong. Take a pause and ask these questions: In any war, be it Vietnam or Iraq, who or where is the winner? Who died? What are being destroyed? What is the net result? Cancer that dwelled in Ken’s body is not a foe. Cancer is a process that tells us that something had gone wrong in our body over the years, possibly due to a constant, long-term abuse – again, I say, it is never a foe. “To right that unrightable wrong” is not to fight with highly poisonous drugs or to use the killing technology of war. These are too destructive. At the end of it all, patients die because of the treatment rather than the cancer. This is not only true in the case of Ken, but also many numerous other cases which I know or have come across.

Randall Fitzegerald (in: The hundred-year lie) wrote: “Effective natural-health solutions DO exist. But unfortunately for many people who grew up by and dependent on technology and the laboratory drugs of Western medicine, breaking free of that paradigm, … requires a leap of faith.” This is especially true with the many so called educated or rich. To them only science and technology have the answers to all human ills. In the book, Hope or Hype – the obsession with medical advances and the high cost of false promises, Professors Richard Devo and Donald Patrick, of the University of Washington, USA, wrote: We develop “our own blind trust in a medical establishment that preys on our deepest fear, all the while purporting to ride to our rescue with miracle cure. The combination of industry greed, media hype, political expediency and our own techno-consumption mindset is leading more and more often to a reliance on costly treatments that are marginally effective at best – and sometimes downright dangerous.”

Guy B. Faguet, medical doctor and researcher of 28 years and author of more than 140 peer-reviewed articles, wrote (in: The War on Cancer: An Anatomy of Failure – A Blueprint for the Future): “ The objective analysis of cancer chemotherapy outcomes over the last three decades reveals that, despite vast human and financial expenditure, the cell-killing paradigm has failed to achieve its objective … and the conquest of cancer remains a distant and elusive goal.” The bullet of this war is inefficacious and highly toxic and its model is “ based on flawed premises with an unattainable goal. Cytotoxic chemotherapy in its present form will neither eradicate cancer nor alleviate suffering. Recurrent announcements of breakthrough in the War on Cancer is designed to impress the public but little progress has been made in the treatment of cancer since 1971.”

Three doctors in Australia – Graeme Morgan, associate Professor and radiotherapist at the Royal North Shore Hospital; Robyn Ward, senior specialist in Medical Oncology and Associate Professor of Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital; and Michael Barton, Research Director Associate Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes Research and Evaluation, wrote this in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: The “overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA. Chemotherapy has been OVER SOLD and the responses of the treatment have been EXAGGERATED.”

Clifton Leaf, CEO of Fortune Magazine, suffered from Hodgkin’s Disease but fortunately survived the ordeal. In an article, The War on Cancer: changing the way we think about cancer (March 2004), he pointed out that the mass media all too often come out with reports of “medical breakthroughs” – Avastin, Erbitux, Gleevec… these are touted as “wonder” drugs that fight cancer. The question is: “are we truly winning the cancer war?” Leaf said: “We’re not. We are far from winning the war against cancer.”

A respected magazine in Germany, Der Spiegel of 4 October 2004, had this article: Giftkur ohne Nutzen (The Useless Poisonous Cures). This article said: “Increasingly sophisticated and expensive cellular poisons are being given to seriously ill patients … patients do not actually live a day longer.”

Let not the death of Ken be yet another meaningless death. Let this message lives on and let us hope that many others who are in a similar situation can learn a lesson from the above episode, if at all they have eyes to see, ears to hear and brain to think. Cancer is better handled by a natural, holistic way of healing, not through waging a war! Is this not what righting “the unrightable” wrong is all about? The whole world needs to know this lesson.

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“>http://www.curedisease.info/2009/07/lung-cancer/”>
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Cervical Cancer Treatment Side Effects

19/01/10

However, there are more deaths from this form of cancer each year in the United States than from endometrial cancer and cervical cancer combined. Cervical Cancer Treatment Side Effects The lifetime risk of developing spontaneous ovarian cancer is about 1.7%. Epithelial ovarian cancer was expected cause 15,520 deaths in 2008. Mean age at diagnosis is 60. There has been a significant improvement in the five year survival rate for patients with ovarian cancer. This is likely a combination of better tumor debulking surgeries and better chemotherapeutic options.

Most patients with this type of ovarian cancer do not have signs or symptoms until disease spreads to the upper abdomen. 70% of patients present with advanced disease. Symptoms for early stage ovarian cancer can include nonspecific pelvic discomfort, urinary frequency and constipation which are caused by an enlarging pelvic mass. With advanced disease, patients experience abdominal pain, bloating, anorexia, nausea and constipation.

The best tumor marker for ovarian cancer is CA 125. Minor elevations in CA 125 can also be seen in endometriosis, benign tumors, fibroids and in pregnant and postpartum women. In addition, moderate elevation of CA 125 can be seen in other adnocarcinoma such as breast and endometrial cancer. The sensitivity of CA 125 is 70% to 80% and the specificity is 98.6% to 99.4%. However, in the average risk population with low prevalence of ovarian cancer, the false positive can be unacceptably high.

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The National Cancer Institute recommends screening for ovarian female cancer with known genetic syndromes associated with this disease and for women with strong family history. Routine screening of women without family history of ovarian cancer is not recommended. The known genetic syndromes include hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome associated with BRCA 1, BRCA 2 and Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome (HNPCC). The absolute risk of ovarian cancer in the presence of either BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutation ranges from 16% to 60%. For patients with HNPCC syndrome, the lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 9% to 12%.

Epithelial cancer accounts for about 90% of ovarian cancers. Common histologies include serous, mucinous, endometroid, transitiona and clear cell types. Germ cell tumors include dysgerminoma, endodermal sinus tumor, malignant teratoma embryonal carcinoma or primary choriocarcinoma. Stromal tumors include granulose tumor or Sertoli-Leydig tumor.

Upon initial presentation, surgery is used for confirmation and staging the cancer. Stage I disease is confined to one or both ovaries. Stage II involves one or both ovaries with extension to the pelvic viscera. Stage III is associated with implants on the abdominopelvic wall or the serosal surface of the liver or involves small bowel or omentum. Stage IV disease involves distant metastasis. The 5 year survival for stage IA disease and grade 1 or 2 histology is greater than 90%. For high risk stage I disease and stage II disease, 5 year survival is 80%. For patients with stage III disease after optimal debulking, 5 year survival is 20% to 30%. This reduces to be less than 10% for stage III patients with suboptimal debulking and stage IV disease.

Stage I ovarian cancer with favorable prognostic features can be treated with surgery alone. For women with high risk, early stage cancer (Stage I grade 3 or stage II disease), adjuvant chemotherapy with platinum based agents show an 11% improvement in progression free survival and 8% improvement in overall survival. For stage III and IV disease, the current standard of care include maximal attempt at surgical cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy with platinum based agents.

Optimal debulking is an important part in the treatment of cancer in the ovaries. Retrospective data have shown that survival is better for women who receive chemotherapy in the presence of low volume disease. In the setting where optimal surgical cytoreduction cannot be achieved, an alternative approach is for the patient to receive chemotherapy up front. For patients who have a partial response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, it may be appropriate to attempt surgical removal of macroscopic disease at that time.

As for the standard of care in chemotherapy for advanced ovarian-type cancer, studies have shown that paclitaxel/cisplatin combination is superior to cyclophosphamide/cisplatin combination. Later studies showed that carboplatin/paclitaxel is at least as effective as cisplatin/paclitaxel.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy is an appealing approach for treating a disease that is largely confined in the peritoneal space. GOG 172 which was a phase III clinical trials demonstrated that this regional approach resulted in superior progression free survival and overall survival when compared with the intravenous approach alone. The disadvantage of this approach includes local toxicity, and requirement for intraperitoneal catheter placement.

Because of the high recurrence rate in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, the issue of whether consolidation chemotherapy may improve time to progression and overall survival was examined in a phase III trial comparing 3 and 12 cycles of taxol. Progression free survival favored the 12 cycle arm. However, overall survival was not different between the two arms. Therefore, the oncologist needs to discuss with the patient and allow them to decide whether the improved progression free survival justifies toxicities including peripheral neuropathy and alopecia.

For many patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have an initial treatment response, disease relapses at a later time. The treatment of patients with recurrent disease or resistant disease needs to be individualized. For people with long treatment free interval, similar drugs many be reused. There are also a number of single agent drugs with activity in ovarian cancer. These include altretamine, bevacizumab, docetaxel, etoposide, gemcitabine, liposomal doxorubicin, paclitaxel, tamoxifen, topotecan and vinorelbine.

Radiation can also play a role in the palliation of some patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Symptoms such as pain from growing pelvic mass or bone metastasis can be palliated. Very rarely cerebral metastasis can develop which can also be treated with radiation.

The best treatment of ovarian cancer needs a team approach between the primary care physician, gynecological oncology surgeon, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists. As more chemotherapeutic agents become available and as we further understand the biology of epithelial ovarian cancer, we hope to further improve the overall survival and quality of life of our patients.

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“>http://www.curedisease.info/2009/07/lung-cancer/”>
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