Treatment for Breast Cancer
Thousands of women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Though doctors have not yet found the cure or the way to prevent this from happening, there are ways to treat this before it spreads any further.
A lot of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer were only discovered in the later stages. This means that the doctors have no choice but to perform surgery. This could be cutting a certain portion of the breast, losing one or at worse both breasts.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, patients really felt badly after this experience. Luckily, doctors can now replace these with artificial ones.
Surgery doesn’t mean that all the cancer cells were eliminated. This is why follow-up treatment is needed to make sure these do not recur.
One of the most commonly used treatments for those that have breast cancer is chemotherapy. Doctors know that the disease is caused by an overgrowth of the cells. Chemotherapy comes into play by stopping this from continuing.
This is can be administered using an injection, in pill form or can be applied to the skin. The length of treatment varies per patient depending on the type and stage of the disease in the body.
When the patient hears of chemotherapy, the cost is sometimes is too much for the person to shoulder. The only time that chemotherapy becomes expensive will really depend on the kind of medicine given and how often this has to be taken.
Luckily, some insurance firms cover this. There are also agencies that can help those in this situation.
Chemotherapy has side effects. The person will lose hair, may develop skin rashes, and experience soreness in the mouth, nausea and an upset stomach. There are some drugs that can be prescribed to counter this but this all depends on a per patient basis.
Radiation therapy is another treatment that can be given to a patient. The nice thing about this is that it is fast and painless. The person can go in the morning and be out by lunch. High energy rays similar to those used in X rays are used on the body which is ideal for those who had undergone surgery.
Hormone therapy is also another option. Not everybody can do this and the patient can only qualify once a sample of the cancer cells has been extracted and examined.
A lot of patients who had to undergo surgery go through hormone replacement therapy. The person will be given an estrogen receptive drug called Tamoxifen which has to be taken for the next 5 years.
Even this drug has side effects. These include hot flashes, vaginal discharge and weight gain. Other patients have complained of uterine cancer, blood clots and strokes.
Doctors are now trying another drug called Aromatase inhibitors which are used to reduce the supply of estrogen into the body and can only be used to those for those who have had menopause.
Breast cancer can be treated in many ways. The person should remember that removing the breast without therapy puts the patient at risk for the recurrence of the disease.
Breast cancer is not a laughing matter. The doctor should explain all the treatments and after weighing the pros and cons, decide on the right kind that will prevent this cancer from ever happening again.
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