When to Stop Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy is the treatment for cancer. It helps in treating and eliminating the cancer cells from the body’s system. Chemotherapy is believed to slow down the growth of cancer cells. But it is vital to know as to which is the perfect time to stop the chemotherapy treatment. There is the time in chemotherapy treatment when you come to know that now there should be a full stop to the treatment. But when does this time come?

Stopping chemotherapy depends on many factors. The duration and the kind of chemotherapy treatment actually depend upon on type of cancer and overall health condition. Chemotherapy is a good way of treating cancer. But there are many factors that one must understand while dealing with chemotherapy as a means of treatment. Many people have several side effects of chemotherapy and these include memory loss, hair loss extreme tiredness, chronic weakness, and so on. While doing chemotherapy on the patient it is important to note that several factors like age factor of the patient, health status etc. are considered. Before starting chemotherapy the patients must consider the positives as well as the negatives of the therapy. And then only he/she must consider it as a viable option.

But when you feel that the chemotherapy is very strong and you would not like to take such treatments for prolonging life but deteriorating the quality of life then in that case palliative care is what is considered by many patients. In this the symptoms of the problem are discussed with the doctor. And the doctor tries his best to relieve you from the symptoms as much as possible.

In palliative care the main aim of the healthcare provider is to give you relief from shortness of breath, nausea, pain and fever. However, all these decisions must be mutually taken with consultation of the family as well as the doctor.

The doctor as well as the patient will have to discuss the things out in connection to stopping the chemotherapy. This is because chemotherapy has good results but to some people it is quite painful and unbearable. And in such cases, people will want to depend on other treatment options. The side effects can deteriorate the life quality which may not be acceptable to many people. It is therefore vital to take the final decision about whether you really want to get rid of this or not.

Many chronic illnesses can ruin your life. And cancer is one such disease that is deadly in nature. Thus, the treatment that one needs should be special enough.