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Symptoms and Side Effects

Coping with the symptoms of cancer and side effects of treatment

Cancer treatment issues go hand-in-hand with quality of life issues. We believe the most successful treatments are the ones that impact everyday living the least.

Not every cancer patient will have side effects from their treatment. For those that do have symptoms or side effects, the impact on their quality of life is often personal to them.

What are side effects of cancer treatment?

Cancer treatment of any kind can cause side effects. Some may be short term, for instance, changes to your appetite. Others may be long term, such as fertility loss.

If you find that you are having side effects, let your cancer team know. For most symptoms and side effects, the care team can help.

Side effect treatment options available at Rogel Cancer Center

In addition, we offer Cancer Nutrition Services to help patients who are having issues around nausea, constipation, changes in the way food tastes and other concerns related to eating. For more information, please see the Cancer Nutrition Services webpages; or call for an appointment: 734-539-5006.

For those patients experiencing pain, our cancer teams work in concert with Anesthesiology and Physical Rehabilitation to give them relief. Learn more on the Cancer Pain webpages or call 734-647-8902.

Although many people aren’t diagnosed with cancer until later in their lives, for those that are in child-bearing years their cancer treatment will impact on their fertility. To learn about options, please see the Fertility Preservation webpages or contact the program at 734-232-9710.

One very common side effect from cancer treatment is hair loss. While some patients may find it a very minor inconvenience, others may not. To learn more about how we support our patients, please see our Hair Loss and Body Image webpage.

Side effect treatment using alternative medicine

Many patients are interested in non-traditional ways of dealing with the side effects of cancer. We’ve gathered information on the alternative methods that either have proven beneficial through research or have proven to be harmless. Learn about this topic on the Alternative Medicine webpages.

Programs available at Michigan Medicine

Learn more about specific side effects

Mind, Body and Side Effects is an archive of articles focused on cancer side effects, such as:

In addition, the American Cancer Society has an A-Z list of cancer treatment side effects.