Cancer Treatment Options Forum - August 13th, 2010 - 9 Comments
Does cancer make you ill or is it the chemo?
Does cancer itself make you look really ill and like you’re dying or is it the chemo/radiation? Does cancer itself make your hair fall out or have you throw up non stop, weak, pale etc? Or is the reason why people are like this because of the chemo?
There are more than 200 diseases called cancer and even more chemo drugs and combinations. I have seen patients who come into the ER feeling like they are dying diagnosed with cancer and others have no idea there is anything wrong. Cancer does not cause hair to fall out chemo does. Some people are very ill due to chemo others have few problems. It depends on the patient and the drugs used.
You look bad while you are being treated with chemo. Without the chemo, you die.
Chemotherapy side effects are hair loss and nausea and vomiting, among MANY others. The side effects of chemo are often horrible and usually cause the symptoms you are describing. Some people have cancer without any side effects while others have cancer with side effects. Cancer can cause weight loss, pain, decreased appetite, and fatigue. Basically, chemo causes the most noticeable side effects but end stage cancer can leave a person looking really ill as well.
Well losing a lot of weight is a big cancer warning sign-so if that starts happening without any explanation and you don’t already know you’ve got cancer-get down to the doctors!
Cancer can be growing for years without having any noticeable effects-but as soon as it is found you will most likely be given chemo for it (not always) and that will make you suddenly look ill as your hair MAY fall out (depends what type of chemo you are given) feel sick etc. As for radiation-a family member has had that and didn’t get any bad effects at all from it.
When cancer is advanced you can look really weak, thin, frail etc. but if you previously looked healthy, then it’s the chemotherapy making you look so bad. It destroys your immune system for a while-kills the cells, which is why your hair falls out.
I’m not sure if I’d want to put myself through chemo but then I don’t have cancer so I can’t say.
Chemo can make you feel like crap, depending on the type of chemo and how you tolerate it.
Cancer kills!
The symptoms you describe are more likely from chemo. Cancer is when a cell starts dividing in an uncontrolled manner. The mass of cells that are formed are called a tumor. Chemo tries to kill cancer cells while not killing as many normal cells. Many kinds of chemo attack fast-replicating cells. Chemo isn’t perfect, and fast-growing cells can be killed along with the fast-growing cancer. Hair follicle cells grow very quickly, so chemo often kills them. The weakness and pallor is from the chemo attacking other parts of the body, including the bone marrow cells that divide quickly to create red blood cells. The lining of your stomach is constantly replacing itself, and this fast replication makes chemo affect your stomach.
The symptoms of the cancer vary depending upon where the tumor is. If the tumor is malignant, this means that the out-of-control replicating cells are spreading to other areas of the body. If a tumor is benign, it means that the replicating cells are staying within the local tumor. If you have a tumor on your brain, as it grows, even if it is benign (not spreading to other areas of your body) it still will quickly squeeze out healthy brain because there is limited space inside your skull.
If you have a benign cancer on your skin, you could live with it forever if it stays benign, but if it gets big enough, you’ll have it removed just to get it out of the way. A tumor in your digestive tract can quickly start squishing your digestive organs, making it hard for your body to absorb nutrition.
So, to summarize, cancer can make you sick and kill you, but the hair loss, vomiting, and weakness are usually from the chemo.
Your comparison is faulty.
Chemotherapy does make you feel ill (although it can also be controlled with medication). Chemotherapy only makes a patient feel rotten for as long as they are being treated. Once the treatment is stopped the patient starts feeling better and often you cannot even tell they are a cancer patient. Some types of chemotherapy cause hair loss . . but not all. Some patients can undergo chemo treatment and it doesn’t bother them at all, while others have a far more difficult experience.
The other part of your question is if cancer makes you ill or sick . . yes, it can . . when the cancer becomes metastatic and advanced a patient will begin to lose weight rapidly as the dying process begins. With untreated cancer, depending on the type, grade, and stage of disease the patient will be dying . . the body is beginning to shut down. And, yes, the patient will look severely ill . . tumors may have broken through the skin, the body may have ulcers or lumps or large black and blue marks on the body, blood can seep from the nose, eyes, and pores of the skin. It is a nasy disease.
The following is difficult to see, but does show the nasty progression of disease in a young child. The majority of these images the child is not taking any treatment at all.
A Mother’s Journey: 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Photojournalism
http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/swf/april07/mother/
Chemotherapy treatment is a walk in the park compared to dying from untreated cancer.
mostly the chemo.. but it depends on the type of cancer.. stomach cancer might feel like that..
i think its the chemo that makes them sick