Radiotheraphy treatment,and smoking? -
Radiotheraphy treatment,and smoking? -
my sister is due to start her treatment next week,6 weeks of radiotheraphy,she still cant stop smoking im so worried about her because since her diagnose of tongue cancer in jan,(shes had to wait till now for the treatment)the cancer seems to have gone bigger,she tells me do you think the effects of radiotheraphy will put her off the fags?Her throat will be very irritated and it will be very painful if she tries to smoke.She wont feel like eating ,let alone smoking.The biggest concern would be trying to keep her from smoking after she has healed from the radiation.The side effects of radiotherapy would be enough to put anyone off. However, smoking causes multiple problems during and after treatment.1. It may slow the healing process from side effects
2. Continued smoking may make radiotherapy less effective at curing her cancer
3. She will continue to put herself at risk of second cancers of the head-neck/lung if she-s cured of this tumor
4. She will have a higher risk of stroke after radiotherapy and smoking will only make it a higher risk.
I always encourage people to quit smoking, but it-s hard enough to get through radiotherapy that I don-t usually badger my patients, and too much family pressure to quit may be counterproductive at a time that she needs your support. If she-s motivated to quit, great. If she can cut back, good. If not, then onwards to treatment and hope for the best.She probably won-t feel like smoking. Chemo and radiation therapy are very draining on the body. If they are doing focused radiation therapy on a tumor on the tongue, the smoke may cause additional irritation, resulting in her to decrease or cease her smoking habit.Radiation treatment may cause mouth sores, difficulty swallowing, and a metalic taste. She needs to to quit smoking, try the gum or the patches or hypnosis, or all of them.In a recent study, 72% of participant-s mouth cancers were caused by the STD called HPV, not smoking. HPV is the virus that also causes cervical cancer and is thought to be connected to most anal cancers. It has been found that the majority of mouth/throat cancers are caused by the STD HPV, especially the HPV strain 16 and 18, although there are many others dangerous strains of HPV.
Smoking, alchohol and smokeless tobacco can irritate the area making it take longer to respond/heal, but the majority of the cancers there are not caused by smoking, alchohol or smokeless tobacco.
During the roughest part of treatment she will not be able to take much of anything by mouth, including cigs. If there-s no physical contradictions, her doctors can prescribe a medication called Chantrix that will end her smoking if she doesn-t stop after treatment is over.