What doesn’t kill makes one stronger: Might not stand true for standard cancer therapies

Every difficult path one chooses might not necessarily make them stronger. This is true for standard cancer treatments that kill the cancer cells but also drain the body of its vital force. While life saving, they come with a price- causing toxicity in the body one has to recuperate from alongside the existing battle with the cancer cells.

Cancer is a debilitating disease and has a complex treatment pathway. It is easier to look at the disease in a linear way- diagnosis, treatment and after care.

However, if one zooms in, they can see the multilayered interaction between the cancer cells and the standard therapies.

Growing science around cancer is becoming open to alternative therapies like immunotherapy and other targeted medicines to overcome the loss of healthy tissues in the process, however, they might not fit all hats and cannot be administered to all.

The traditional treatment to any kind of cancer depends majorly on chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. While highly effective, these treatments are not targeted in nature and don’t differentiate between healthy and diseased cells.

Though irreplaceable, traditional cancer therapies are known to cause toxicity in the body.

As per a study published in the National Library of Medicine, people with advanced cancers, particularly those affecting the lungs, digestive tract and the pancreas, experienced high grade toxicity which caused them to either suspend the treatment, delay the treatment cycle or ask for a dose adjustment.

A big price to pay for life

Chemotherapy is a powerful group of medicines administered to kill the rapidly diving cancer cells. These drugs can be given orally but mostly through intravenous fluids. 

Since such a kind of therapy has to invade the cells and interfere in the already hijacked cell cycle, these medicines are highly aggressive.

Because of their destructive nature, they cannot be administered in continuation.

In most people, the chemotherapy cycle, for instance 6 to 8 cycles, are divided over a span of three months with breaks in between to rejuvenate from their action, said the Healthline.

However, things turn trickier when patients either fail to respond to the therapy or are not able to cope up with the ill-effects. 

Speaking to DH, Dr. Mandeep Singh Malhotra, a senior oncologist and founder of Art of Healing Cancer said: “A lot happens inside the body when a person gets chemotherapy or radiation therapy. These treatments kill the rapidly dividing cells in the body. Cancer cells divide fast, so they get hit but so do the healthy cells.”

As the treatment cycle progresses, the person starts to lose their natural ability to heal itself. In some cases, the treatment cycle has to be delayed or completely stopped.

“White blood cells fall, increasing risk of infections, hemoglobin drops, causing fatigue, platelets crash, leading to easy bruising. Some of my patients need a blood transfusion after each cycle,” said Dr. Malhotra.

He further explained how all the rapidly dividing cells, including those of the gastrointestinal lining, hair lining and bone marrow get a significant hit during chemotherapy.

At this point, the patient starts to fight two enemies: cancer and the injury caused by the treatment itself.

“The gut lining renews every 3-5 days, so it takes a direct blow causing nausea, mucositis and poor absorption. The body struggles to take in the nutrition it needs to recover. Also, the immune system gets compromised, lymphocytes drop, which weakens the body's own ability to keep cancer in check,” added Dr. Malhotra.

As per experts, over medication also affects the organs like liver and kidneys where the damage starts to accumulate.

Scientists are now looking at integrative solutions where traditional treatments can be coupled with supportive therapies that could counter the ill effects of the toxicity caused by the standard cancer treatments.

“Giving chemotherapy without supporting the body is like running a long race without hydrating. You might get through, but the damage adds up. The idea is not to replace chemotherapy but to neutralise its ill effects with supportive therapies,” said Dr. Malhotra. 

*Disclaimer: Treatments like chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are not replaceable and must not be stopped without the instructions of the treating doctor*