Cancer cells do not stop growing and dividing. They rapidly multiply and divide and they …show more content…
There is no drug out there that just kills cancer cells. Because the chemo is killing cancer cells, it also kills active cells in the body. Also, the chemotherapy cannot completely kill cancer cells in vivo. In time the cancer cells will relapse or metastasis (cancerlive.net). Going along with chemotherapy, there can also be a lot of short term and long term side effects. Because chemotherapy works on both cancerous cells and active cells, it can destroy active cells including cells in your blood, digestive system, hair follicles, and mouth. The side effects happen when the chemotherapy damages these healthy cells. Different drugs cause different side effects. Certain types of chemotherapy have certain side effects for the specific drug. Most of the time though, it depends on how that specific person’s body reacts to the drug. There are a lot of common side effects to chemotherapy. These include: fatigue, which is feeling tired or exhausted all of the time during the person’s treatment. Pain in muscles, stomach, or from the nerve damage, such as burning. Pain from nerve damage also includes shooting pains, usually in the finger and toes. Some of the nervous system or muscles symptoms include tingling, burning, weakness or numbness in the hands, feet, or both, loss of balance, shaking or trembling, and weak, sore, tired, or achy muscles. Some people have permanent nerve damage up to