The treatment of cancer with chemical drugs that are conveyed to all body tissues and attack the rapidly dividing cancer cells wherever they flourish. Unfortunately they also attack normal cells as in the alimentary canal, bone marrow and elsewhere reducing white blood cells, thus exposing the patient to infection.
Symptoms include: soreness of the mouth and throat, loss of appetite, etc.
For inoperable cancer chemotherapy is often deemed first choice of treatment. To some people this therapy is an endurance test. Many wear wigs because their hair has fallen out. Nausea and vomiting are common side-effects which may have an adverse effect upon moral and physical well-being. Often there is loss of quality of life.
Severity of the vomiting may be increased by defective function of kidneys, liver and pancreas; natural treatments are aimed at strengthening these organs with a possible improvement in a patient’s well-being and quality of life.
Teas. To rid the sickening taste, smell of sour brine and copper, and to dispel nausea: German Chamomile or Black Horehound. Anti-neoplasms – Vinca rosea herb or Violet leaves. 2 teaspoons to each cup boiling water; infuse 15 minutes. 1 cup freely.
Powders. Formula. Echinacea (to strengthen immune system) 2; Blue Flag root (anti-neoplasm) 1; Black Horehound (anti-emetic) 1; Ginkgo (anti-depressive) 2. Dose: 500mg (two 00 capsules or one-third teaspoon) every 3 hours with water or Violet leaf tea.
Liquid Extracts. Formula. Echinacea 2; Blue Flag root 1; Black Horehound 1; Ladyslipper 1. One 5ml teaspoon in water every 3 hours.
Vincristine. Dosage as on marked product.
External. For irritable skin rash: packs steeped in Castor oil, Aloe Vera gel or juice, or Houseleek juice. Note. Sips of Ginger ale have been known to relieve symptoms.
The term that usually describes the use of drugs to treat cancer but which may also describe the use of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases.
Chemotherapy works by destroying bacteria or cancer cells or by preventing them from multiplying.
Cancer chemotherapy drugs may also have effects on normal tissue such as bone marrow, the intestinal lining, the hair follicles, the ovaries and testes, and the mouth, sometimes causing severe side effects.
The use of chemicals/pharmaceuticals to treat disease.
The prevention or treatment of disease by chemical substances. The term is generally used in two senses: the use of antibacterial and other drugs to treat infections; and the administration of ANTIMETABOLITES and other drugs to treat cancer. The discovery by Paul Ehrlich in 1910 of the action of Salvarsan in treating syphilis led to the introduction of sulphonamides in 1935, followed by PENICILLIN during World War II, which revolutionised the treatment of common infections. Many ANTIBACTERIAL DRUGS have been developed since then: these include CEPHALOSPORINS, cephamycins, TETRACYCLINES, AMINOGLYCOSIDES, MACROLIDES and CLINDAMYCIN as well as antituberculous drugs such as STREPTOMYCIN and METRONIDAZOLE. Unfortunately, overuse of chemotherapeutic drugs in medicine and in animal husbandry has stimulated widespread resistance among previously susceptible pathogenic microorganisms. Chemotherapy also plays an important role in treating tropical diseases, especially MALARIA, SLEEPING SICKNESS and LEPROSY.
Recently chemotherapy has become increasingly e?ective in the treatment of cancer. Numerous drugs, generally CYTOTOXIC, are available; great care is required in their selection and to minimise side-effects. Certain tumours are highly sensitive to chemotherapy
– especially testicular tumours, LEUKAEMIA, LYMPHOMA and various tumours occurring in childhood (e.g. Wilm’s tumour – see NEPHROBLASTOMA) – and may even be cured.
n. the prevention or treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances. The term is increasingly restricted to the treatment of cancer with antimetabolites and similar drugs (see cytotoxic drug) in contrast to *radiotherapy, but is also still sometimes used for antibiotic and other treatment of infectious diseases.
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