For example, newer anti-nausea drugs can reduce the severity of vomiting. The hair loss is only temporary. Your hair may grow back finer and curlier than it was, but it should gradually return to normal. Other side effects of chemotherapy include mouth ulcers, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, weight loss or weight gain. Bleeding, infection and cystitis can occur, but they are rare.
Some people having chemotherapy also develop an intense fear of attending for treatment.
You should discuss these problems with your doctors and carers. They should be able to help. Women having anthracyclines have a small risk of developing heart failure. In the longer term, women who have unusually high cumulative doses of cyclophosphamide have a slight risk of developing leukaemia. There is good evidence that chemotherapy is more effective if it is given over several months, but no evidence that courses of 12 to 18 are more effective than those lasting a few months.