Sixteen percent of women who underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer experienced serious adverse effects requiring emergency care or hospitalization, according to a new study supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Most of the adverse events were related to serious complications caused by the toxicity of the drugs. These complications, which included anemia, dehydration, and reduced production of white blood cells, also augmented the costs of care.
The odds of experiencing a serious adverse effect increased by 20 percent per month for each additional month of chemotherapy administered to women after their initial breast cancer diagnosis.
“The study highlights the importance of studying how drugs affect people in everyday medical care,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. “It is important to know the impact of interventions such as chemotherapy so that patients can make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of their treatment options.”
The study is the first to analyze the risks of serious adverse effects from intravenous chemotherapy in women under age 65 since medications to treat the complications of chemotherapy became more available, the report’s authors said.
More than 8 percent of the women who had chemotherapy were seen in the emergency room or were hospitalized for infection and fever. The proportion of women treated for other chemotherapy-related problems included:
- Neutropenia or thrombocytopenia—disorders that reduce the production of white blood cells or platelets—5.5 percent.
- Electrolyte disorders such as dehydration—2.5 percent.
- Nausea or diarrhea—2.4 percent.
- Fatigue, dizziness and related conditions—2 percent.
- Deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism—1.2 percent.
- Malnutrition—just under 1 percent.
The researchers, who were led by Michael J. Hassett, M.D., with the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
– Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on chemotherapy treatment for cancer has greater complications.
To review, this article it is important to understand that 60% of the women who underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer experienced serious adverse effects as the studies shows requiring emergency care or hospitalization. Interesting is these women exhibited anemia and dehydration and reduced productions of white blood cells. Why? because chemotherapy is poison in the body. And when we put poison in the body, the body reacts. The white blood cell count goes down and this is vital because you need the white blood cell count to go up to fight the cancer. The odds of experiencing adverse effects increase by 20% per month for each additional month of chemotherapy administered to women after initial breast cancer diagnosis. Other interesting studies apart from this study, have shown that in 96-98% of cancers, chemotherapy does not eliminate the disease.
And in the vast majority of cancer such as breast, colon, and lung cancer, they are barely even touched by chemotherapy. Also in additional studies they showed that typically an anti-cancer drug is found to cause a response which is to find as a 50% or greater shrinkage of measurable tumors from one month or more. But this shrinkage of tumor is not the same as extending lives. In case after case, shrinkages are shown not to increase median overall survival. This shrinkage of the tumors, does increase median overall survival when the shrinkage is found in natural methods with the diet and lifestyle changes and other alternative cancer treatment methods.
Chemotherapy suppresses your immune system. Tumor shrinkage has absolutely no correlation with the cure of cancer and the extension of life according to Dr. Ralph Moss. A new study confirmed that some women with breast cancer who received chemotherapy in addition to surgery and radiation have a 28 times greater chance of developing leukemia, than those who avoid such drugs. So to sum this up, the choice is yours but you have to know the risk that is involved when we you put chemicals and toxins and chemotherapy into your body. And also you have to understand that your decisions of what therapies to do should always be lead by the faith of what God puts into the heart instead of the fear that the world system and the medical system puts into your mind.
The next is to be still and wait on God, wait until He confirms your direction of therapy whether it be alternative, whether it be standard conventional chemotherapy, radiation and surgery or whether it be a combination of the two. Again if you follow your heart, the peace will come. And usually that peace does not initially have a peace in the mind because the heart and the mind are usually opposites. So, if a person has a peace in their heart to do alternative therapies then they should do that and do it with all their being.
And if a person has a peace doing standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, they should at least do alternative therapies with to soften the devastation of the poisons that are being put into the body. Standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery especially the chemotherapy destroys cancer cells but also destroys your immune system as the study showed a 28 time greater chance of developing leukemia, cancer of the blood. So if you are going to destroy the body, you need to at least build it back up. So the choices really should be either alternative therapy only, or alternative therapy and standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery
