Pros And Cons Of Chemotherapy

Cancer is a worldwide disease, affecting thousands of people in various parts of the body. There is no cure for cancer yet, but there are various types of treatments that can be used. Chemotherapy is one of the many types of treatments for cancer, and can be administered in multiple ways. The main objective for chemotherapy is to control the cancer, or kill the cancer cells. It is widely debated on if chemotherapy is a superior or poor method to treat cancer with. Cancer patients should really think about the pros and cons of chemotherapy before making a decision. Chemotherapy can cause more problems than benefits to the body, because along with chemotherapy comes many detrimental side effects. All cells in the body multiply as they grow.
Chemotherapy has long term effects and short term effects just like any treatment. Patients showed that “The most common side effect of chemotherapy is fatigue, or a feeling of tiredness almost all the time” (American Cancer Society). If one feels tired constantly, how is one supposed to get up and live a normal life? Getting up early to go to work and make money may be an everyday struggle. Without working and money, it may be difficult to pay for food, or the necessities needed to live a healthy life; Which can cause a patient to be emotionally unstable. There are many types of pain that can be caused with chemotherapy. “Types of pain chemotherapy can include are headaches, muscle pain, stomach pain, pain from nerve damage, such as burning, numbness, or shooting pains, usually in the fingers and toes” (American Cancer Society). With having pain constantly in the body it would be hard to go out and have a stress free experience. In addition, “Some types of Chemotherapy cause hair loss from all over the body” (American Cancer Society). Losing hair is something that will ruin a patient’s
“...Sometimes chemotherapy will lengthen the life of cancer patients by as much as 50%, but also in many cases, by 1% or less” (Barron). That is a big chance to take, and living with a bunch of side effects that make you feel drowsy and not healthy everyday would get very sickening. Some patients would not want to live like that even if it did extend their life. “ For example, the statistical chances of chemotherapy being helpful with lung cancer are less than 1 in 100…” (Barron). If the chances are that low, is it even worth the risk? The cancer might not even be prevented but the patient might be left with the side effects from chemotherapy. Chemotherapy may make it so you can live awhile longer, but you still may not feel well. This treatment is also not as painful when you are getting it as some other treatments are. When you are all done with chemotherapy side effects may not show up until a while after so you won’t know if you are going to get them. Even though it has a few pros, Chemotherapy has many risks to