The prospect of chemotherapy can be frightening. This is not surprising, seeing as how the side effects have been portrayed so horrifically in the popular press. Word of mouth hasn't helped either. Everyone seems to know an uncle of a friend of someone at work who had just a terrible time. But the side effects are usually not nearly as bad or troublesome as your friends may have told you or as you may have read about or seen on TV.
Many people tolerate chemotherapy very well and have few negative reactions. The person who visits the doctor's office, gets a shot for colon or breast cancer, then goes home or back to work and functions fairly well rarely appears on television or gets written up in the papers ( see Coping with Treatment ).
Taking the Right Approach You should bear in mind that more than 50 drugs are used in cancer chemotherapy. Some produce very few side effects and are easy to take. Others have major problems that have to be combated with appropriate medications. It is also important to remember that some of the most active drugs against cancer are also the ones that provoke the most side effects.
You should try hard to put any fears behind you. Fear of treatment and fear of side effects is a major problem, for anxiety can make the reaction worse. Supportive care, counseling and anti-anxiety drugs may became vital to making sure therapy continues. A more relaxed attitude toward chemotherapy may well lead to fewer bad experiences.
