Author: Molly Lindquist
Guest post by Mike Linn. Opinions are those of the author. Medically reviewed by Dr. Doug Blayney on July 22, 2024.
Cancer is inherently about change.
Our cells do, and then our lives follow suit.
Going through cancer treatment is not easy, and it often leaves us physically different with wide-reaching side effects both during and after. Everyone is familiar with the sterile visual of an emaciated patient with no hair as a result of chemo, but weight change and hair loss are just some of the concerns for patients.
Luckily, if you are aware of the potential side effects before encountering them, you can often work to prevent or mitigate them. We’ll talk about how our bodies change, and how to work through or around these changes during cancer treatment.
Read more from Mike: Workouts for Cancer Patients During Treatment
Cancer and Body-Related Identity Issues
Before we address specific changes your body might go through, it’s important to address the mental health component of our affected physicality.
Cancer and the side effects of treatment can be unnecessarily cruel with nobody to blame. It can be easy to become upset or sad at what you see in the mirror once some damage has accumulated; after all, there isn’t any upside to being diagnosed - this isn’t a short-term sacrifice we’re making to do anything other than try to get back to our prior lives.
Due to this, it can feel like an out-of-body experience - especially when cancer or the treatment for it causes our bodies to do things we never imagined they would. As a sturdy lifelong athlete, I never imagined that I would lose 20 percent of my body weight in 3 weeks, and yet I found myself looking in the mirror asking “How is this my body?”
Fun!
It’s not all doom and gloom, though; I gained the weight back, and am learning how to navigate my new set of physical variables as I continue to deal with advanced disease.
It is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all set of expectations for cancer types or their treatment. Each case is highly individualized, and the best advice on dealing with side effects and physical changes should likely come from your oncologist or a specialist.
However, it’s still valuable to hear about what patients can and have gone through.
These are some of the most common cancer treatments:
- Surgery.
- Chemotherapy.
- Radiation Therapy.
- Targeted Therapy.
- Immunotherapy.
- Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplant.
- Hormone Therapy.
Because the mechanisms and durations of these treatments vary, it’s important to learn more about what specific changes your body might undergo.
For example, if you are solely doing a surgical excision, most of your side effects will be localized to the spot where you have surgically removed the cancer. For more systemic treatments such as chemo or immunotherapy, there can be full-body side effects with variable onset.
Most Common Side Effects From Cancer Treatment
Using drug-based therapies as a baseline for common side effects seems to make the most sense to me. Surgery certainly has its risks, but they are too specific to the location and an individual to list them all here.
While on chemo, immunotherapy, radiation, or targeted therapy, you are likely to encounter:
- Nausea and vomiting: One of the most debilitating side effects, but antiemetics have helped reduce the risk in recent decades
- Fatigue: Energy levels may fluctuate as toxicity builds or leaves your body.
- Joint Pain: Many of the more modern cancer treatments cause autoimmune side effects, including joint pain.
- Hair loss: Chemotherapy predominantly affects hair follicles, skin, and bone marrow cells - but radiation can affect these as well.
- Diarrhea and constipation: Common among most types of cancer treatment, integrative medicine may have options to help treat these side effects.
- Infection: Cancer treatments can damage cells lining the gastrointestinal tract, making patients more susceptible to infections.
- Nerve problems: Such as peripheral neuropathy, numbness, tingling, and pain.
- Skin and nail changes: Such as dry skin and color change - make sure to consult your oncologist or GP if you notice drastic changes quickly.
- Cognitive changes: Also known as "chemo brain", this can affect concentration and focus. Through multiple cancer treatments, my memory has been adversely affected every single time.
- Fertility issues: Can affect men and women, especially during the first three months of treatment.
Dr. Blayney adds: Many chemotherapy treatments are targeted to kill or damage fast growing cells, including the main target, the cancer cells. “Bystander” or “off target” effects occur on normal fast growing cells in the body, including the bone marrow cells, hair follicle cells, finger nails, and cells that line the gastrointestinal (gi) tract from the mouth to the anus. This bystander effect is responsible for some of the side effects mentioned above.
Read more: Can Claritin Help With Joint Pain From Breast Cancer Treatment?
This is just a portion of the possible side effects, but it is relatively comprehensive as a baseline for the most likely side effects you might encounter.
Part of the pros and cons of modern medicine is that there are new therapies to try, and long-term data often lags significantly behind implementation. As someone who developed osteoarthritis from the combination of immunotherapy and steroid exposure, I wish there was better data, but will have to settle for being part of the early data set that future patients benefit from.
How to Prevent and Treat Potential Side Effects
Reiterating that every case, treatment, and set of side effects is individualized, there are still general ways we can prevent and mitigate many of these side effects.
I view cancer treatment as a full-time job - or at least the primary focus for someone undergoing it. This means we should be taking a look at properly calibrating:
- Diet during cancer treatment
- Proper hydration daily
- Consistent and adequate sleep
- An exercise routine that is sustainable
- A team of doctors who can advise you about side effects
When it comes down to it, certain side effects cannot be prevented, and unfortunately, there are some that cannot be mitigated. For most others, it’s a matter of short-term damage control and giving yourself the ability to be resilient through the tougher stretches when side effects are most prevalent.
As cancer patients, we are put into an unenviable position, but it doesn’t mean we have to compound it by ignoring the potential side effects of our treatment. Become educated, be proactive, and hopefully, you can give yourself a better chance to thrive through treatment and beyond.
Read more: How To Lose Weight On Letrozole?
Our team “gets it”
The Manta Cares team is composed of cancer survivors, caregivers and oncologists - so we truly understand the challenges that come with a cancer diagnosis because we’ve been there. We are here to walk with you as you go through your own cancer experience. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and check out our free resources like our Chemotherapy Checklist for Caregivers, Financial Checklist for Cancer Treatment and more. We also put out a bi-weekly podcast called the Patient from Hell to educate, empower and hopefully inspire you as you go through this crappy experience. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Dealing with cancer as a patient or caregiver can feel really lonely. Just know that you are not alone in this experience.
About the author: Mike Linn is a writer, athlete, business owner, and now a cancer patient advocate. He was first diagnosed with stage 3c metastatic melanoma at the age of 30 and had a stage 4 recurrence in 2023 at 35. In a better effort to understand the mental health side of being a cancer patient, he began posting content to social media and support groups and has yet to stop talking about his cancer experience both personally and professionally. Mike also loves candy and is determined to dispel the notion that sugar specifically feeds cancer - or he is at least hopeful that research will prove this.
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