The most widely used, and by far the most effective way of treating breast cancer is chemotherapy and to aid in this treatment, patients usually take breast cancer chemotherapy drugs. Although chemotherapy is necessary in treating breast cancer, the drugs have side effects. This is because the drugs are made from synthetic substances and since our bodies are meant to ingest organic substances such as those found in the foods we eat, the synthetic substances cause chemical imbalances and other problems in the body and this leads to side effects. Since our bodies are different, these side effects vary from one person to the next, so the fact that breast cancer chemotherapy drugs do not affect one person negatively does not mean they will not affect you. Before taking any breast cancer chemo drug, you should inform the doctor of pre-existing medical conditions because when combined with some medical conditions, some side effects can be fatal.

The drugs taken with chemotherapy for breast cancer work by killing cancer cells to prevent them from dividing quickly and since your blood cells divide quickly too, these drugs effectively lower the number of healthy red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells that you had. This means you will have all effects associated with low blood cells such as likelihood to get infections due to lack of white blood cells, getting tired more easily and likelihood to get bleeding problems such as nosebleeds. You will get mild viral or bacterial infections, but these can be easily treated using antibiotics.

Tiredness or fatigue is by far the most common of the breast cancer chemotherapy side effects. It is important to note that this fatigue will continue even after the treatment has been stopped or ended. Recovery depends on you general health and on the amount of treatment you had in hospital. To make sure you have good health, practice regularly and eat a healthy diet.

The fact is that chemotherapy and breast cancer has some long term side effects. The fatigue or tiredness may never end, the ability of those who had not reached menopause to have children can be in jeopardy, those who were having periods may never have them again after chemo and the drugs, etc. The long term side effects vary from one person to the other.

There are different drugs used with chemotherapy when one has breast cancer and these drugs lead to specific side effects. An example of this is hair loss and thinning and loss of appetite with cyclophosphamide and skin’s sensitivity to sunlight and mouth ulcers with fluorouracil.

Other common side effects are soreness of the mouth, diarrhea, feeling sick or nausea, soreness of the eyes, and some few others. Even with these effects, the fact remains that chemo and breast cancer chemotherapy drugs can add days to one’s life or even cure him/her.