Most patients that undergo chemo tend to feel fatigue, the most common side-effect of the treatment. Nausea and vomiting is another common result of chemo that can be easily treated with new drugs. The drugs that are used during chemo may damage nerves, cause mouth sores, headaches, muscle and stomach pains. Most patients fear the fact that they might end up losing their hair, which most do, but not all the drugs cause hair loss. Chemo can also reduce the amount of red blood cells the marrow makes, thus leading to anemia. So many more complications exist that to list them all would result in a lengthy list. .
Radiation therapy, also called "radiology,"" can lead to skin problems. New studies have shown that Biafine, a cream that is used to enhance the healing in burned patients, reduces the risks of these skin problems (Harrison).
Herbal cures have existed for quite some time, and have been passed down from generation to generation. Some cures have only been around for about half a century, such as Essiac, an herbal remedy for cancer that was discovered in 1922 by a Canadian nurse. There are no serious complications with most cures, but there is not always a guarantee that it will successfully work. There is, however, a few herbs that may cause risks during surgery. Echinacea, gingko biloba, garlic, Saint John's wort and valerian are some of these herbs. They have been proven to slow or speed up the heart rate, prevent blood clotting, change the immune system and also change the effects and duration of the anesthesia ("Herbal Remedies may cause surgical risks"). .
There are benefits to using herbal cures. The average chemotherapy patient pays over forty-six thousand dollars over a five-year period ("Participants in Chemotherapy Trials Incure Minimal Excess Cost"). That is more than three-thousand, eight-hundred dollars a year. The average price for nine, four-ounce bottles of Essiac, enough for five months, is one-hundred dollars (Welcome to essiac-herbal.
