Medical Archives - Page 3 of 6

The Benefits of Paleo

As far as diets go, paleo is both very new and very old. At first, this may seem like a contradiction, but people have been eating in this fashion for millions of years, ever since the first hunter-gatherer tribes appeared on Earth. However, it was only just recently that we became aware of the health benefits of this historical way of eating. Whether you are planning on embracing the paleo lifestyle or just curious about the health benefits of this type of diet, then this article is for you. Here we will outline the health benefits of paleo so that you can decide whether it is for you. Paleo, for this article’s purposes, is the act of eating as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did. This means that you are allowed to eat foods which could be gathered from the ground or pulled from trees as are free-range, grass-fed animals. Gluten is prohibited, as are all processed foods as much as possible. This more natural way of eating of course promotes a number of health benefits.

Real Food Vs. Processed Food

Processed foods contain a lot of additives, preservatives, colorings, sodium and hidden sugar. These chemicals are not good for our bodies, causing everything from allergic reactions to sluggishness to high blood pressure. If you eat a paleo diet, which contains only whole, organically produced foods and some natural but packaged sauces and ingredients, you eliminate a large number of toxins from your body as well as the salt which raises your blood pressure and the hidden sugar that can increase your risk of diabetes and becoming overweight. Eliminating additives, preservatives and other unnecessary chemicals from your food also helps you feel much better, both mentally and physically, helping your body work at peak performance.

Get Your Nutrients

Along with the benefit of removing preservatives, the paleo diet also removes nutrient-void carbs. People eating in this manner tend to replace the filler carbs with fruits, vegetables and healthy fats. In fact, a person eating a paleo diet can get all the required nutrients for a day from plant-based foods, meat and fish. They eliminate grains and legumes, which also leads to increased gut health. Increased gut health, in turn means that their bodies digest food much more efficiently.

Weight Loss

Paleo diets promote a long-lasting weight loss and muscle growth when paired with a healthy lifestyle. Better stress management techniques as well as an improvement in sleep and a good balance of Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids help to burn off stored fat. Also, eating a paleo diet will increase your energy, which will allow you to exercise longer without tiring.

Lose the Bloat

Many people eating a Western-style diet find themselves experiencing chronic bloat and gas which can be very uncomfortable. Eating a paleo diet reduces these symptoms, as paleo diets contain a lot of fiber. Fiber allows waste products in the body to be broken up more effectively and carried away, thereby eliminating constipation which can lead to much worse issues such as compaction. Those on paleo diets also drink an adequate amount of water and decrease their sodium intake. This both flushes out the waste and prevents water retention, which can lead to bloat.

Avoid Blood Sugar Crashes

If you have ever been in an important meeting at work and have suddenly found your mood plummeting as you got hungrier, then you have experienced a blood sugar crash. Eating a paleo diet can be very helpful in preventing these crashes and the accompanying spikes that occur when we eat because they are very rich in protein, fats, and slow-digesting carbs. Meals with a lot of protein and fat are very energy-dense and satisfying. This means you feel full sooner than if you were eating something like a bag of chips that was unbalanced. Carbs all raise your blood sugar a bit, but slow-digesting carbs do not raise it nearly as much. Nor do they let it drop as quickly. Slow-digesting carbs take a long time to be metabolized. This means that you will become hungry more slowly and without the irritabality and mood swings you might normally experience.

There are many benefits to a paleo diet. These are only a few. Paleo diets are rich in healthy fats, proteins, fruits, vegetables and slow-digesting carbs. This makes them the exact balance of the foods your body needs and people have been eating this way for millennia and still do in other parts of the world. These people are living happy, healthy lives, free from most of the health problems that face the Western world. Would it not be nice to live a life in which you had less of a risk of most of those problems? If you agree, then paleo just might be the right lifestyle choice for you.

A Guide to Vegetarianism

The choice to go vegetarian is a personal one. Sometimes it is for medical reasons, sometimes ethical, sometimes both and sometimes neither. Whatever the reasons for your choice to go vegetarian, you

The choice to go vegetarian is a personal one. Sometimes it is for medical reasons, sometimes ethical, sometimes both and sometimes neither. Whatever the reasons for your choice to go vegetarian, you will have to make some very large changes and to pay much more attention to the foods you eat. Would it not be great if there was a guide to help you through the change, a road map of sorts that you could use to point the way? Well, now there is. This article will serve as your tool kit and provide the information you need in order to make the transition to vegetarianism easier.

What Is A Vegetarian Anyhow?

Before you choose a vegetarian diet, you need to answer this simple question. What kind of vegetarian diet are you going to follow? In the broadest sense, a vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat, poultry or seafood. But in reality, that definition is not nearly so clear-cut as it seems to be. There are several types of vegetarian diets. Lacto-ovo vegetarians will not eat meat but will eat eggs and drink milk. They will also consume cheese and other dairy products. This is the most common type of vegetarian. Ovo vegetarians eat only eggs, but do not consume dairy products or eat any meat. Lacto vegetarians consume dairy products but do not eat eggs or any type of meat. Vegans will not consume any dairy, eggs or meat. They will not also wear leather or use any other animal products whatsoever. Research is the key here. Read up on the types of vegetarian diets. Pick the one that best fits your needs. Talk to your medical professionals. Your doctor may know of reasons that a vegetarian diet would not work well for you, and they will most assuredly have information on how to more effectively transition from your normal diet to a vegetarian one.

Make Menus and Find Recipes

Going vegetarian is not easy if you do not have a game plan. To these ends, making menus can be very helpful. A menu works as a road map of sorts. It provides a framework with which you can build the week’s meals. Be sure to check your grocery store to find out what vegetables and fruits are in season, as well as if they have vegetarian-friendly versions of your favorite products. For example, there are delicious tofu-based versions of many meat-based dishes, for example hamburgers, chicken nuggets and deli sliced turkey. These foods can make your adjustment to the vegetarian lifestyle far easier. Also, good recipes are a must-have. There are many vegetarian cookbooks out there. Chances are your local library or bookstore stocks these cookbooks. The Internet is also another good source of recipes. Aim to try a new recipe once weekly. That way your pool of vegetarian-friendly foods is always increasing and you will feel far less burned out.

Make Substitutions

Just because you are embracing a vegetarian lifestyle, it does not mean you have to give up your favorite foods. As mentioned above, there are a number of vegetarian options for dishes in most supermarkets. If your supermarket does not have these vegetarian options, they could very easily stock them for you. Many vegetarian versions of meat-based dishes are made with tofu. Tofu on its own is pretty flavorless. However, the lovely thing about it is that it soaks up the flavors of anything you cook with it. This means if you like spicy foods or sweet foods you can simply season the meat alternative you choose as you would normally and the tofu will suck up all the flavors. As a bonus, many of the vegetarian tofu products have almost the same consistency as meat. Chances are, you may not even miss meat at all.

Start Out Slowly

When adjusting to vegetarianism, it is important to start slowly. Cutting out red meat first is probably the best place to start. Of all the kinds of meat out there, red meats such as beef are the most unhealthy. Clearing these out of your diet will drastically improve your health as well as making the rest of the adjustment process easier. When you have grown accustomed to the lack of red meat, you can wean yourself off of other types of meats as well.

There are many reasons to become a vegetarian, some medical and some personal or ethical. Whatever your reasons are, a vegetarian diet can be much healthier than a diet which contains a lot of meat. No matter which vegetarian diet fits your needs best, there are still several steps you need to make to adjust to being a vegetarian. Now, with this article as your guide, you are fully ready to embrace your new, exciting lifestyle and all the challenges and rewards that come with it.

Fats: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Stop! Put down that donut. Unhand that candy bar. Before you take another bite, there are some things about fats you need to know. Did you realize that not all fats are bad for you? Some fats, eaten in the proper proportions can help keep your body healthy. If you did not know this small but important fact, do not worry. Many people do not know. It is far easier to think of all fat as evil that needs eradicating, but this article will disprove that notion. We will discuss the difference between good fats and bad fats, and the ways both affect your body, as well as steps to help you make better choices in what types of fats you eat. We will also clarify some of the tricky terminology surrounding the subject of fat, giving you a road map forward. If you are curious, then please keep reading. Oh, and you can pick up the donut now.

The Good

It is a common misconception that all fats are bad for you and go straight to your hips. This is completely untrue. Some fats, in healthy quantities pose a benefit to the body and are actually necessary for good heart health as well as other bodily functions. However, not all fats are created equal. Unsaturated fats are known as good fats, and they come in two types, mono unsaturated and poly unsaturated, based on their chemical composition. These types of fats help protect your heart, lower blood cholesterol and help insulin work more efficiently, which is particularly useful if you have Type II diabetes. As a bonus, unsaturated fats are really easy to add into your diet. Chances are good that you already get your recommended daily allotment of these fats, especially if you like any of the following foods: avocado, olives, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, natural peanut butter, fatty fish such as tuna, salmon and mackerel and pumpkin seeds. There are also unsaturated oils. However, be careful with these. There are two types of unsaturated oils. The first type are cold-pressed oils such as peanut, sesamae and extra-virgin olive oil. These oils have been used in Asian cooking for hundreds of years and support your good health. The other type are more recently developed industrially manufactured oils such as soybean, corn, canola and safflower. These oils are manufactured generally using genetically modified crops and in a way that damages the fats, turning them into dangerous trans fats.

The Bad

As we have discussed before, not all fats are created equal. Just as there are good fats, there are also bad fats. These fats are saturated fats and trans-fats. These are the fats which do all the bad things that people have attributed to fats in general for so many years. They clog your arteries, add to your waistline and cause heart disease. Perhaps surprisingly, even a good fat can become a bad fat if it is damaged. Some fats, such as flax seed oil, must be stored in the refrigerator in an opaque container. If they are not properly stored, they will turn into saturated fats, and nobody wants that. Also, if you are going to use nuts and seeds, please be careful. Never eat or cook with nuts or seeds after they start smelling rank or tasting bitter.

The Ugly

We have briefly touched on the effects of bad fats, like the ones found in a lot of donuts, candy bars, and potato chips, but we feel it is a good idea to discuss these effects in greater detail. Saturated fats and trans fats can cause plaques to build up in the arteries. These plaques are sticky like super glue, and they actively haul in proteins, more fats, and other types of molecules. Eventually, a plaque could even rupture, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke as the blood vessel holding the plaque will be blocked. These bad fats can also lead to fat deposits around the waistline. These fat deposits, in turn decrease the efficiency of insulin which may lead to Type II diabetes or worsen it in those who already have it. In short, saturated fats and trans fats can make your health vastly worse than it would otherwise be.

Fats are very important to your health. However, they are not equally healthy. Unsaturated fats can benefit the body in a number of ways such as improving the health of your heart as well as increasing insulin efficiency for Type II diabetics. Saturated fats, however, will damage your body in various ways and can undo your healthy choices. Think of that before you eat your next donut.

Nutrition 101: Getting Started

Going to the supermarket can feel like walking into a car dealership if you are trying to eat nutritiously. Every item on the shelves claims to be nutritious in one way or other, even things that you likely know blatantly are not, such as candy bars and potato chips. Every product is screaming at you from the shelves like a used car salesman hawking his wares, using all the buzz words. Every food claims to be low fat, low carb, high in protein, low in trans fat. If you do not know what these words mean, or the names of the chemicals you are shoving into your mouth, it will be hard to make the important, healthy choices you need to make. This article will serve as your guide through the labyrinth. We will discuss everything someone just starting out on this journey of healthy eating should need to know in order to not be duped by all the sales claims. This way you will know what nutrients you need, what quantities you need them in, and you will not overspend on the latest fad. If you are just beginning on the journey of healthy eating, just stick with us, and we will get you out the other side.

Too Much, Too Little

Multivitamins can be very useful in enhancing the amount of those nutrients you get too little of in your regular diet. However, taking more than one multivitamin can lead to overdoses of some of them. This overdose can lead to illness as your body attempts to cope with the excess. Furthermore, some vitamins are rendered useless if they are not in a harmonious balance with others. That is why it is so important to make sure that your nutrient intake is in balance as much as you can. There are many ways to insure a correct balance of nutrients. Do not take more than one multivitamin. Make sure to always pick foods from the five food groups at every meal. Check for your serving size based upon your height, weight and activity levels.

Balancing Act

There are five food groups. It is very important to eat a good balance of foods from each group to maintain good health. Many diets insist that you cut out or cut down on certain nutrients such as protein or carbs. However, this is not a good idea. If you cut down on carbs or protein or any other form of nutrition, then chances are likely that the only thing you will succeed in doing is unbalancing your metabolism. The key is balance and moderation. Each food group requires a person to eat different amounts of foods from that group.

Drink Water

The last helpful nutrient is water. Water is necessary for every single process within our bodies. It cools us off, carries nutrients throughout the body, is a major component in most of our organs and cells and helps flush out waste. Humans can live for a couple of weeks without food. However, it is impossible to live more than a few days without water. Some water comes from the foods we eat. However, that water is not nearly enough to power all your body’s processes. To gain the necessary water to maintain healthy, it is important to drink enough of it during a day. The average person needs six to eight glasses of water per day. Many of us, however, do not drink nearly that much and instead fill up the defecit with sugary soft drinks and coffee which can lead to dehydration, issues with blood sugar, and weight gain.

Watch Out For Refined Sugar

Many foods contain refined sugar. It is very important to look out for this sugar in your diet as it can lead to a lot of problems in the long-term. Perhaps the biggest of these problems is diabetes which, if untreated can be fatal. There is no cure for diabetes, and treating it may involve several painful needle pricks a day on top of the needle pricks necessary to test your blood sugar. One would think refined sugar would be easy to spot if you avoid candy, soda, cakes and pies but that isn’t the case. Refined sugar exists in every sort of food from fried rice to potato chips.

Good nutrition is very important. If your nutrition is poor, your health will suffer. Poor nutrition also leads to several diseases, including heart attack, heart disease, stroke, various cancers and some forms of Diabetes. These conditions, though they can be managed are incurable. This means if you are diagnosed with one, you will have it for the rest of your life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those whose health is bad report symptoms as diverse as chronic fatigue, irritability and bloating. This is just scratching the surface. Now, however, you have the keys you need to unlock good nutrition and change this grim prognosis. It is never too late to make healthier choices. And you do not even have to make all the changes at once. Every small change you make has a cumulative effect on your health and can make you happier and less ill. With these simple keys, you might even shut up the used car sales talk of the choices at your local supermarket.

Placebo Effect: Fact or Fiction?

You may have heard of the “placebo effect” before, but what is it, exactly? Is it real? And what is a placebo? When it comes to medical terms, terms and definitions can get blurry quickly—especially for one used so much in pop culture as the placebo effect.

Let’s set the record straight.

What’s a Placebo?
A placebo is a pill or medical treatment that has no active substance for treatment. In other words, it looks like medical treatment, but it does not offer any real medical benefits. Examples include sugar pills and saline solutions.

What is the Placebo Effect?
The “placebo effect” is a phenomenon in which a person takes a placebo instead of a real treatment, but still exhibits signs of improvement to his/her condition due to the expectation that the treatment will be helpful.

And, yes, the placebo effect is real and scientifically proven.

How Does the Placebo Effect Work?
A person’s expectations play a big role in how much of an effect a placebo has—the more a person believes the treatment will benefit him/her, the more likely it is that person will experience a benefit.

But the placebo effect isn’t only psychological—people have exhibited measureable physiological effects from taking a placebo. In one study, subjects told a placebo was a stimulant experienced correlated physiological symptoms including a faster pulse, increased blood pressure and improved reaction speeds. When a second group of subjects was given the same placebo and told it would help them sleep, subjects exhibited the opposite effects.

People can experience negative side effects from placebos, too—called the “nocebo effect.”

How is it Used?
Because of placebos’ ability to create real physiological changes, the placebo effect can make it more complicated to tell the difference between the placebo effect and the real impact of a new medical treatment.

To make sure treatment makes a difference, researchers divide test subjects into two groups—one receives a placebo, the other the real treatment—and compares the results.

The Placebo Effect is Fact

The placebo effect is a scientifically proven phenomenon that can trigger real, physiological changes in a person—it’s even changed how medical research is done. The effects of a placebo seems to be significantly tied to how much a person expects the pill to have an impact.

Fainting: When to Seek Medical Advice

If you have fainted before, you know that moment of blackout can be confusing, disorienting or even scary. But how do you know if you need to seek medical advice?

Fainting can be an indicator of a serious medial problem. Let’s take a closer look into what fainting is and what it means.

What is fainting?
Fainting is defined as a brief loss of consciousness due to temporary shortage of blood flow to the brain. The medical term for fainting is “syncope.”

It is serious?
Most of the time, a single fainting incident is not a serious concern. These non-serious fainting episodes can be caused by a couple of different things.

One is the vasovagal reflex. The vasovagal reflex can be triggered by everyday events like fear, pain, stress, holding your breath, coughing, or even urinating. Because of its link to a trigger, this cause for fainting is usually easy to identify.

Another non-serious cause of fainting is orthostatic hypotension. This refers to a sudden drop in blood pressure, triggered by a change of position. Common causes for this include standing up too fast, becoming dehydrated, or taking certain medications.

However, fainting can be a sign of very serious medical conditions, so experts advise that any fainting incident be treated as a medical emergency.

These conditions include heart or blood vessel issues like heart disease, a blood clot in the lungs, or a heart vale problem. It can also be a sign of a nervous system problem like a seizure, stroke or transient ischemic attack (or TIA—also known as a mini-stroke).

What to do
If you feel faint, lay down or sit and put your head between your knees. This can restore blood flow and prevent a blackout.

But if you do pass out, always get medical attention. Experts recommend that any loss of consciousness like fainting be treated as a medical emergency.

Always Seek Medical Advice

As many as 4 in 10 people will faint at least once in their lives, according to Patient. Though it’s usually nothing to be concerned about, fainting can be a sign of a serious medial problem, so you should always seek medical advice following an episode.

The Skin Cancer Prevention Guide

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, according to the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention. Over 2 million cases are treated in the country each year—that’s more cases than breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer combined. In 2004, treatments for non-melanoma skin cancers alone cost $1.4 billion.

Although some skin cancer risk factors can’t be changed, there are a lot of ways to can protect yourself and reduce your risk. Just take care of yourself by following these prevention tips.

Know your natural risk factors.
There are certain risk factors that are out of your control. For example, people with fairer skin are at higher risk than those with darker skin, and men are at greater risk than women. You’re also at greater risk if there is a history of skin cancer in your family, or if you’ve had skin cancer before yourself.

Protect from UVs
One of the best ways to avoid getting skin cancer is to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays. When you go outside, cover up with clothing and hats as much as you can.

Whatever skin isn’t covered, be sure to apply sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 for every day, and SPF 30 for extended periods outside. Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going outside, and reapply sunscreen every two hours, or after getting sweaty or wet.

Stay in the shade
Even better than protecting yourself when you’re in the sun, just stay out of it whenever possible. This is especially important during the hours when the sun is the strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you’re not sure how strong the sun is, just look at your shadow—if it’s taller than you are, get inside.

Check your skin monthly
When a case of skin cancer is caught early, it can make a big difference in how serious it is and how easy it is to treat. A quick monthly self-check can help ensure you’re aware of any potential issues before they’re big problems.

All you need to check your own skin is a full-length mirror and a handheld mirror. Take your clothes off and check your skin all over your body, using the mirrors to check areas you can’t easily see on your own. If you find an abnormal mole or other mark, see a doctor.

Get an annual checkup
Even if you don’t find any abnormalities in your self-checks, see a doctor once a year. The doctor will take a medical history, then check your body for signs of skin cancer and note the size, shape, color and texture of any areas in question. If a doctor suspects cancer, s/he may recommend further testing.

Prevention and Early Detection are Key

One in five Americans develops skin cancer at some point in their life, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. But if you follow these steps, you can significantly reduce your likelihood of being one of them. Even if you do develop skin cancer, following these tips will help you ensure you find it early and address it quickly.

The Health Benefits of Having a Dog

Dogs are fun, cuddly and playful. But your pup does much than put a smile on your face. In fact, there are several proven health benefits to owning a dog. So much so, that one insurance company (Midland Life Insurance Company) include dog ownership as a factor in its medical screening for clients 75 years and older.

How can man’s best friend make you healthier? There are tons of ways:

Petting a dog lowers blood pressure and released a relaxation hormone in the body
Playing with a dog boosts serotonin and dopamine levels (brain chemicals that impact happiness)
Even just looking at one’s pet can boost oxytocin, the “feel-good” chemical of the brain
Dog owners are more likely to get regular, mild to moderate exercise
Owning a dog has been shown to help people lose weight and maintain a healthy body mass index
People with dogs have fewer visits to the doctor
Owning a dog can reduce your risk for heart disease
People who have had a heart attack live longer if they own a dog
Owning a dog leads to increased social interaction
Dog owners are less likely to have depression
In some cases, having a dog to care for can be more effective than medication for individuals with clinical depression
Babies who grow up around dogs are less likely to develop eczema
Babies in houses with dogs are healthier too, with fewer colds and ear infections in the first year
Kids with autism relate better to their classmates if there is a pet in the classroom
Alzheimer’s patients with a dog in the house experience fewer anxious outbursts
Dogs can even detect cancer, according to some studies and a growing number of anecdotes
Some canines can also smell it when their owner’s blood sugar drops—and sometimes nudge their owners to eat
Dog owners have been shown to be happier and more trusting, than people without pets

All of this is good news for dog owners, though the news that time spent with your pup keeps you healthy and feeling good may not be surprising to them. And if you’ve been considering getting a dog, these health benefits are a slew of great reasons to take action and bring a new furry friend into your home.

Childhood Cancer Fact Sheet

A cancer diagnosis is always distressing, but it can be especially heartrending when the patient in question is a child. There are some notable differences between cancers in children and cancers in adults.

Here are some key facts about childhood cancer:

Children make up less than 1 percent of all cancer diagnoses each year.

Even so, about 40,000 children are treated for cancer each year.

Cancer is the second biggest cause of death for children, after accidents.

An estimated 10,380 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with cancer in 2015.

The average age of children who are diagnosed with cancer is six years old.

Of the children diagnosed with cancer, 12 percent do not survive.

An estimated 1,250 children 15 and younger died from cancer in 2015 alone.

The rate of childhood cancer diagnoses has been increasing for the last few decades.

More than 80 percent of children with cancer survive 5 years or more.

While adult cancers tend to be related to environmental or lifestyle risk factors, childhood cancers tend to be caused by DNA changes in the body’s cells that take place early in life.

Cancers in children tend to respond better to treatments like chemotherapy.

Children’s bodies also tend to cope better with chemotherapy than adults’ bodies.

Because cancer treatments like chemotherapy can cause long-term side effects, child cancer survivors require careful follow-up the rest of their lives.

60 percent of childhood cancer survivors suffer late effects, or side effects from cancer treatments that show up months or even years later. These can include infertility, heart failure and even secondary cancers.

Leukemias (cancers of the bone marrow and blood) are the most common type of cancer found in children, accounting for 30 percent of all cases.

The second most common type of childhood cancer are tumors of the brain and central nervous system, consisting of 26 percent of all cases.

There are about 375,000 adults who are survivors of childhood cancer in the United States.

Sources: American Cancer Society, CureSearch, Keaton Raphael Memorial

Pediatric Cancer: Managing the Side Effects of Treatment

Thanks to great strides that have been made in cancer treatments, more children who get cancer survive now than ever before—more than 80 percent of children survive at least five years, and most are cured.

But cancer in children is different from cancer in adults. Kids’ quickly growing bodies respond to treatment differently, and that means the side effects, near and long-term, can be different, too.

Here is a look at how the most common cancer treatments can affect child patients.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy works by targeting and destroying fast-growing cells in the body. This works to fight cancer because cancer cells tend to grow faster than most other cells in the body, with the exception of blood and hair cells.

But in children’s growing bodies, many different types of cells are growing quickly, which can lead to increased side effects. In chemo, side effects are more likely to affect the whole body, and can include anemia, diarrhea or constipation, fatigue, bruising or bleeding, flu-like symptoms, and hair loss.

It’s difficult to predict how any individual will react, so doctors monitor children undergoing this treatment very carefully.

Radiation
Radiation treatment uses x-rays to target cancer cells and kill them. The x-ray beams must pass through healthy cells to reach the cancer cells, which can lead to side effects.

The most common side effect of radiation is fatigue. Another is radiation dermatitis, which refers to changes to the skin in the area being treated. Radiation dermatitis may make skin feel sensitive, develop a sunburn-like rash, or lose hair in the area treated.

To minimize these symptoms, clean the area daily with warm water and mild soap; avoid lotions, perfumes, or other skin treatments unless approved by your doctor; stay out of the sun; and avoid applying heat or cold to the area, as this could aggravate the skin further.

Other symptoms may vary depending in the area being treated. Learn more here.

Side effects from radiation generally begin within a few weeks of beginning treatment, and should go away within several weeks of ending treatment.

Surgery
Like other kinds of treatment, side effects from surgery can vary significantly depending on many factors. Unlike chemotherapy or radiation, surgery does not attack the body’s cells.

The most common side effects are constipation, headaches, nausea and pain. The younger a child is, the greater the potential affect on him or her following a surgery. This is due to how quickly young children grow.

Late effects
The aforementioned side effects are ones that show up during treatment and go away shortly after treatment ends. However, sometimes cancer treatments can lead to long-term changes in a child’s body, which may not show up until later in life. These are called late effects.

As treatments improve and more children are surviving cancer and reach adulthood, late effects are becoming more common. With this, they have become a more common focus for cancer care and research.

Late effects can be caused by chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. Like other side effects of cancer treatment, these late effects may be mild or very serious, depending on many factors, and can be hard to predict.

Late effects can include damage to the heart, lungs, brain, nerves, kidneys, thyroid gland, or reproductive organs. For some children, there are issues with delayed cognitive development, growth problems, or infertility. Some patients who receive certain kinds of chemotherapy have an increased risk of developing a second type of cancer later in life.

Because of these risks, children who are treated for cancer must be monitored carefully by a doctor throughout their lives.

A Lifelong Fight Against Cancer

Cancer treatment has come a long way. But as more and more child cancer survivors not just beating cancer but living long lives afterward, the side effects of treatment have become a more serious issue.

The specifics of any child’s side effects will be contingent on several different factors including age, cancer type, cancer severity, treatment type, and much more. But because some late effects may not emerge until years later, it’s important to be aware of the potential risks. Child cancer survivors to be monitored closely for late effects throughout their lives.