Leukemia is a common blood cancer that affects adults and children alike. Several tests are performed to determine the type of leukemia and the degree of progress, including blood tests, a bone marrow biopsy, and other types of tests; based on the results obtained and also considering the age of the patient, it is defined which treatment to implement.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Undergo Chemotherapy
Step 1. Take the medications in the form of pills
Chemotherapy is a chemical treatment that works by killing cancer cells. One method of administration is the patient taking tablets. Although the pill may seem more "innocent", it actually contains the same active ingredients as other chemotherapy methods. Follow the instructions given to you by your doctor or pharmacist very carefully.
- For example, many of these pills need to be taken at regular times that you shouldn't change; it is necessary that the concentration of the active ingredient in the body remains at certain levels, which you must maintain through administration at fixed times; it may be necessary to undergo regular chemotherapy cycles to allow healthy cells to regenerate.
- If you use a pill organizer, you also need to make sure you keep them separate from other types of medications you are taking.
- Usually, chemotherapy in tablets is given to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and the active substance is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
Step 2. Learn about intravenous therapy
This is another form of administration, which takes place through the veins; it is usually used to treat almost all types of cancer, although your doctor may decide to prescribe pills as well if you have a chronic form of cancer.
- To receive this type of treatment, you must go to a hospital; the drug is injected into the vein via a drip and each treatment lasts several hours or days.
- At each session, a cannula is inserted into your hand or arm; alternatively, a central venous catheter is implanted directly into a main vein (jugular, inguinal or axillary) or peripherally through a vein in the arm; these latter venous accesses can be left in place for a long time. Another long-term option is to implant a port-a-cath.
Step 3. Undergo intrathecal chemotherapy
This is another modality of injecting the drug into the spinal fluid and brain rather than the blood system. This form of treatment is usually given if the tumor has invaded the nervous system, since traditional chemotherapy is unable to reach this part of the body.
- Usually, it is necessary to lie down for a while after the injection to give the drug an opportunity to reach the appropriate area.
- However, this is a rather rare procedure when compared to other types of chemotherapy.
Step 4. Manage side effects
Chemotherapy causes several unpleasant side effects, due to the fact that it also destroys or damages normal cells, as well as cancer cells; in particular, it affects those of the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, mouth and hair. Because of all of this, it can lead to some significant adverse effects, which you can consider managing through traditional and naturopathic medicine.
- Major side effects include sexual dysfunction, hair loss, mouth ulcers, nerve damage, nausea, taste disturbance, heart weakness or damage, fatigue, and decreased hematocrit count.
- You should make some lifestyle changes, such as finding pleasant tasting foods to counteract the altered sense of taste and learning some exercises to help you with fatigue.
- You should also take medications to combat nausea and the reduction of white blood cells, as well as supplements against cardiotoxicity.
- To manage hair loss, sexual dysfunction, and nerve damage, you should develop a routine with the help of a naturopath and therapist who also takes care of the psychological as well as physical aspects.
- Chemotherapy for oral use can also cause hand-foot syndrome, which causes pain and swelling in the extremities of the limbs; if you experience these symptoms, your doctor may be able to change the dosage to reduce the effects.
Step 5. Understand the stages of a typical leukemia treatment
Leukemia is generally treated in three stages: induction, consolidation, and maintenance. During the inductive phase, the doctor focuses on bringing the cancer into remission, through chemotherapy or other treatments. The containment phase is a little more intense and generally lasts 1 or 2 months. It involves more chemotherapy, aimed at reducing the number of diseased cells still present in the body. If the cancer remains in remission after these two stages, you will enter the third stage: maintenance. This could last for 2-3 years and may require taking oral medications daily along with some even more intense treatment.
Part 2 of 3: Using other Types of Treatment
Step 1. Learn about radiation therapy
This type of treatment uses X-rays or other means to irradiate the body with the aim of killing cancer cells; the therapy can be localized to a specific part of the body or involve the whole organism.
- The side effects are very varied: you may feel tired, have abdominal problems, skin irritation, or even develop multiple infections.
- The severity of the adverse effects depends on how long you have been undergoing the treatment and how many parts of the body are affected by the treatment.
Step 2. Ask your doctor for more details on targeted therapy
This treatment is often combined with other forms of treatment, it offers the advantage of specifically targeting the diseased cells and consequently managing the tumor; it is often given in the case of chronic leukemia, such as chronic myeloid.
- Like chemotherapy, this treatment also causes several side effects, first of all a sense of exhaustion and an increased risk of infections.
- You may also experience fever, rashes, headache, nausea, or shortness of breath.
Step 3. Learn about biological therapy
It is a treatment that uses the body's own defenses to fight leukemia. In theory, the body is able to recognize cancer cells as abnormal, harmful and should destroy them; however, by the time the cancer develops, it means that the organism has failed. For example, diseased cells find a way to hide from the immune system or inhibit part of its response. Biological therapy seeks to "awaken and reactivate" the immune system against cancer cells.
- One type of biological therapy uses a drug or chemical that "tells" the immune system what to do.
- Another option is to extract some immune system cells from the body to "train" them in the laboratory to fight the diseased ones, after which they are reintroduced into the body in an attempt to destroy cancer cells.
- The third alternative is to force cancer cells to show themselves to the immune system; more precisely, if the diseased cells use certain signals to hide by activating or deactivating, the therapy modifies these signals so that the immune system is able to recognize them.
- However, most biological therapies are still in the clinical trial phase and you should therefore be a trial patient in order to receive them. Ask your oncologist about these trials or do some research in major hospitals to find out if there are any clinics in your area that perform them.
Step 4. Consider stem cell transplantation
This is a particularly aggressive form of treatment, which is usually done after chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments that have destroyed the diseased bone marrow. Healthy stem cells are inserted into the body - in some cases your own cells, but in other cases those from donors - which are supposed to help create a healthy new bone marrow.
- If your treatment involves using your own stem cells (autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation), these are collected and stored before undergoing chemotherapy. If, on the other hand, those of another person are used (allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation), they must first undergo tests to ensure that they are compatible.
- Once the transplant is performed, a period of convalescence is required, usually a few months, and you may likely experience bone pain, as well as suffer some neuronal damage, which leads to numbness. Other complications that can arise include graft-versus-host disease, heart disease, infections, and secondary cancers. See your doctor to manage pain and reduce the risk of developing other diseases.
- Bone marrow transplants that expect to receive another person's healthy bone marrow are similar to stem cell transplants; however, this latter solution is now more common.
Step 5. Learn about new treatments
A new treatment that doctors seem to find particularly promising cures a mutation in the FLT3 gene. If you've just been diagnosed with leukemia, ask your doctor about this new cure and also about other new treatments, such as gene therapy.
Step 6. Join the clinical trial
It is sometimes suggested when other types of treatment are unsuccessful. In order to participate in the trial, patients must meet certain criteria, such as having a certain type of leukemia or being relatively healthy. Ask your oncologist for more details or do some research online to find clinics and hospitals that provide this form of scientific research.
Part 3 of 3: Diagnosing Leukemia
Step 1. Look for symptoms
Among the main ones are a greater propensity for bleeding and bruising, as the disease affects the ability of the blood to clot. You may also experience stomach pain, unexplained fever, constant tiredness, as well as pain in the joints or bones.
- Other symptoms are swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleen or liver, and weight loss.
- You may find that you sweat more at night, develop more frequent infections, have petechiae on the skin (small red spots).
Step 2. Go to the doctor
If you have a combination of these symptoms, you should be examined; however, many of these signs could also refer to other diseases, some much less serious. If you have any of these symptoms, you shouldn't immediately think that you have leukemia.
- If doctors suspect that it is indeed this tumor, they may check for some physical symptoms, such as tenderness in the lymph nodes and sometimes in the abdomen.
- He may also decide to do a complete blood count (complete blood count) to evaluate the values.
- If tests reveal that there is a possibility that it is indeed leukemia, your doctor may have other tests, such as biopsy, spinal cord, x-ray, MRI, computed tomography, and / or ultrasound.
Step 3. Know the main types of leukemia
The most common forms are myeloid and lymphatic, which can be acute or chronic. Therefore, the four main diagnoses are acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic myeloid.
- By "chronic" we mean that leukemia does not act as fast as acute leukemia; in the latter case, the tumor attacks the developing cells and is therefore more aggressive.
- The terms "myeloid" and "lymphatic" indicate the type of cells that are affected.
Step 4. Be prepared to cooperate with the medical team
Once the disease is diagnosed, you must actively cooperate with the doctors and specialists who care for you, including the oncologist (cancer specialist), the pathologist (tissue disease specialist) and the hematologist (disease specialist). blood); it may also be helpful to consult a psychologist, nutritionist, and hospital specialist nurse. You can also contact a naturopath who can help you with alternative medicines to manage side effects, such as nausea.
Step 5. Prepare to undergo pre-treatment exams
They are obviously necessary to establish the severity and type of leukemia, but they also serve to understand the general state of health. Since many therapies are quite aggressive, you must be in good health to be able to undergo them; if you are not healthy enough, your doctor may consider other forms of treatment.
- You will likely be given a blood test to see if your kidneys and liver are able to withstand chemotherapy.
- You may also be subjected to an ultrasound to define the starting situation before therapy.
