I am going to be starting chemo treatment next and I have read that some chemotherapy drugs can cause additional cancers later(especially the kind that has been prescribed for me to take). This really terrifies me alot. Whether I don’t take it, it can come back and whether I do take it, it can come back. It seems like no matter what decision I make I am still at risk for cancer coming back. What should I do?
And serious answers only please. We are talking about my health here.

this article for example:

http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/conventional-cancer-treatments.htm

In short – chemotherapy is effective only on some cancers, but ineffective against the majority of cancers… Yet it is being used as treatment in most cancer cases…
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Now, let us cut the crap – is this true/false?

If this is misinformation, then where can i see the correct statistics?
If this is true, then why the hell is it being used so often if it’s more damaging than helpful?

I don’t know the answer – this could be either truth or a lie, but I lack enough reliable information to conclude one or the other…. In addition, I despise conspiracy theorists and would hate to become one myself (i need reliable data)…

Are there are cancers/disease that chemotherapy treats just by itself? Not used with other treatment methods like radiation therapy?

If any at all, what diseases and or cancers will anemia bring on?

i have a relative who used to have lung cancer. he fought in vietnam and got lung cancer after. for a couple years, he hasnt been doing well. but recently, ive been hearing of him with a bad throat. he feels like its closing up, he cant talk much. he’s also mentally worn out. and has some other problems. relatives dont tell us much of what doctors say. anyone know whats going on???? cancers gone, so this doesnt make much sense

My friend loves to drink and drinks almost every weekend. He also smokes like about 2 packs a day. And he does drugs as well (mostly weed, he did cocaine once). He’s only 24. What are his risks for getting cancers (especially lung cancer) and for getting liver damage. If he continues this lifestyle, at what age should diseases hit him because of his current lifestyle?

I don’t really try to tell him to change because I’m in no position to tell him how he lives his life, but I’d like to know for myself

It is the same question for any other kind of cancer. My question is if when you have metastasis you have differente kind of cancers or only one in different tissues. If you have different kinds of cancer, must they be treated sepately?

At my school everyone always wears pink and stuff for breast cancer but no one cares about prostate cancer or other cancers. Is it cause men are less important than females.

For anyone who may use gemcitabine chemotherapy, brand name: Gemzar, which is used to treat metastatic breast cancer, ovarian, lung, pancreatic, and other cancers. I started a yahoo group with info and medical journal articles on a little known side effect called TMA that is deadly but preventable and treatable.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Gemcitabine_induced_TMA

My mother lived for six years after being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. She still had a good quality of life, and required only a relatively low dose of pain medication. She didn’t die of her cancer, but of a little-known side effect of her chemotherapy, gemcitabine-induced TMA. This side effect occurs more frequently than thought, and is diagnosable and treatable. All gemcitabine patients should now monitor for gemcitabine induced TMA, especially older women who are having difficulty tolerating gemcitabine, like my mother.

How can I share this information with the people who need it?
There are dozens of articles about this on pubmed. There is no simple definition of the problem to search for. If you search pubmed.com for "Gemcitabine" together with "thrombotic" or hemolytic or vascular toxicity or TTP or HUS or TMA, you will find dozens of articles. One recent article by Izzedine et al. reviews previous literature on the subject, and gives info how to monitor for this side effect. Another article on TTP and plasmapheresis by Vesely et al. shows how to treat it. The highest rate reported is 2.2%, however this may be higher as doctors may not be diagnosing it at all. One article cited in the Izzedine article reports 29 cases in one institution alone. The belief that this is so rare is part of the problem. Doctors are not aware of it, are not looking for it and don’t know how to treat it. That is why patients on gemcitabine should be made aware of it as soon as possible, so they share this info with their doctors and know what to look for themselves.
It would be sad if there are patients unnecessarily dying from a treatable side effect that is never diagnosed, and the death attributed to their cancer, whether it is years, or a year or only a day of quality life that is unnecessarily taken away. Some percentage of gemcitabine patients, 2 or more out of every hundred, develop a side effect called TMA or TTP or HUS that is deadly if not diagnosed and treated. This TMA side effect is diagnosable, and treatable to full recovery (of the TMA side effect, not of the cancer). Gemcitabine has been used in thousands of patients. Copies of these articles are available at my yahoo group:
Humphreys et al., Gemcitabine-associated thrombotic microangiopathy. Cancer. 2004 Jun 15;100(12):2664-70.

Izzedine, et al., Gemcitabine-induced thrombotic microangiopathy: a systematic review. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2006 Nov;21(11):3038-45

Walter et al., Gemcitabine-associated hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Am J Kidney Dis. 2002 Oct;40(4):E16

A friend of the family may have it and she is only 43. She started smoking when she was 20. Isn’t that really young to develop lung cancer, even for a smoker? What are her chances of survival if it is caught in time?
I know it doesn’t look so good for her because it is one of the worst cancers someone can get. I feel so bad for her and she has 3 young grandbabies. :( so sad. I hope she beats the odds.