Dividing Cells
Cells in your body usually grow and die in a controlled way, but cancer cells keep forming and dividing without control. Chemotherapy drug therapy has the ability to stop the cancer cells from multiplying. But it can also harm healthy cells in the process. The side effects of harming healthy cells include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, pain and hair loss. These effects gradually go away as the healthy cells recover after chemotherapy. Depending on the dose or type of chemotherapy, the patient may have a few side effects or have none at all. The treatments, which may include drugs administered by mouth, in a shot or intravenously, may be given daily, weekly or monthly, according to the National Cancer Institute. The therapy is done in a way to help your body have a chance to build new healthy cells while getting rid of the cancer cells.
Stages
Cancer cells divide more often than normal cells, threatening to grow tumors or form lumps. But cells that are in the process of dividing have a greater chance of being damaged by chemotherapy treatment. Chemotherapy attacks part of the control center inside each cell that makes cells divide, explains Cancer Research UK, or it may interrupt the chemical process involved in cell division, so the invading cells die. In order to make new cells, the genes inside each cell have to be copied exactly each time a cell divides. Sometimes a combination of chemotherapy drugs will be used to attack the cells at different stages. Some chemo drugs attack the genes at the nucleus of the cells just at the point of splitting. Other drugs damage the cells as they are making copies of the genes before they split. The combination gives the chemotherapy a way to kill more cancer cells.
Grow Cells
Many normal cells are at rest and are less likely to be damaged by chemotherapy but normal cells are still damaged when they divide to grow more cells in skin tissue, hair follicles, the lining of the digestive system and in the bone marrow. This can result in the side effects of chemotherapy. Fortunately, the normal cells can replace the healthy cells that have been damaged. Doctors look for the best chemotherapy treatment for each individual to bring about a quick treatment and recovery with as few side effects as possible. More than half of all people diagnosed with cancer receive chemotherapy, which has treated cancer effectively for millions of cancer patients.
