eli5: Why cant they anesthetize chemo patients so they don’t feel the pain from chemotherapy?
In: Biology
My wife had breast cancer and you do not feel pain from Chemotherapy itself. Any pain being felt is a direct result of the cytotoxics being administered as well any supplement treatment such as injections for white and red blood cells, etc. Over time your white and red blood cells become less and less and this can have incredible effects on your body. Many platinum based chemotherapies also cause insane allergic reactions and so often they test a little bit to see if its fine and also give you a antihistamine dose. It really depends on the drugs but most people dont feel pain from the administation itself. In countries with good healthcare like Germany, the system automatically inserts a port, so it goes directly over the heart, which makes things even easier.
Additionally, the pain can also just be related to cancer progression itself.
Anaesthesia is also not perfect. My wife was put under anaesthesia when her cancer recurred, because the pain she had from her cancer was restricting her ability to receive radiation treatment properly. She never woke up from the anaesthesia. It was just all too much for her system. She was in a coma for 2 days before we eventually said good bye to her.
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