Potent Drugs And Add-On Therapies To Treat Chemotherapy Side Effects – Part III

Certain Chemotherapy medications cause varying levels of nausea as they trigger the nausea points in the brain, while certain others might have effect on the esophagus, stomach or even the intestines. Majority of nausea curbing drugs obstruct the chemical triggering that lead to the symptoms.

There was major advancement in the former part of the 1900s with the unravelling of the 5HT3 antagonist drugs like Anzemet (dolasetron), Kytril (granisetron) and Zofran (ondansetron). The two novel intravenous drugs namely, Emend (aprepitant) and Aloxi (palonosetron), a 5HT3 antagonist belonging to the second generation are proving to be of immense assistance. The skin patch Sancuso (granisetron) is yet another antagonist that helps avert nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy sessions.

More than a decade ago, the drugs available were incapable of suppressing nausea effectively with several people needing to be admitted to the hospital during Chemotherapy due to the severity of nausea and vomiting. But, there is a drastic change in the present situation with majority of the chemotherapy performed on an outpatient manner partially because of the latest batch of antiemetics.

Some adjunct therapies alongside certain medications do assist in controlling nausea and vomiting that comprise of going in for Acupuncture, Acupressure, Hypnosis, unwinding and relaxing the muscles using guided imagery. There is no looming problem  on the use of adjunct therapy as long as the associated risk are miniscule and there is no form of intake of any herbs or supplements that are actual drugs which could interfere with one’s medication.

There has been a long-lasting debate on the role of marijuana that has the capability to ease nausea. The man-made version of the potent component present in it – THC is present in the prescription medicine available in the name of Marinol (dronabinol). Though the use of marijuana tends to accelerate certain legalities in majority of states, one also needs to observe the safety risks when one in ingesting a certain substance with unidentified purity and strength at a time when one’s immunity is already in a state of jeopardy. If one ends up inhaling the fungal agent, one’s immunity might not be strong enough to combat it. Though, marijuana could be an effectual treatment for nausea and vomiting due to its swift and potent drug release system, it is not ideally prescribed to patients.

Read more at : Potent Drugs And Add-On Therapies To Treat Chemotherapy Side Effects – Part II

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