Metastatic Breast Cancer: Ways to Ease Treatment

如您所知，MBC的诊断意味着癌症已超越您的乳房转移到身体的其他部位，被认为是无法治愈的。“治疗是基于肿瘤特征，激素受体状态，HER2状态以及遗传信息。您的医生会建议口服和静脉化疗，免疫疗法，靶向药物以及抗激诺昔芬或Faslodex等抗激素药物的某种结合。这些治疗大多数都具有副作用，包括疼痛，恶心，疲劳，腹泻和更多的。

Know that your doctor will continually prescribe new treatments. “The hallmark of MBC is that cancer will—at some point—outsmart whatever drug they throw at it,” says Judith Mayer, of San Francisco, CA, who was diagnosed in 2018. “This is my fourth line of treatment and my second clinical trial. And yes, side effects are different with each.” Thankfully, when one treatment quits working, “there are a multitude of options” to switch to, says Dr. Ziegler: “I offer patients options with similar efficacy but different side effects—it gives them some control in choosing which side effects they find more acceptable.”

Some side effects can be short-term, while others last and may even appear after treatment ends, says Dr. Mortimer. There are药物您的医生可以开处方，但许多患者也想尝试其他方法使其忍受。印第安纳州升天圣文森特·埃文斯维尔癌症中心的医学肿瘤学家和血液学家Sheryl Ziegler，D.O。Sheryl Ziegler，D.O。说：“目标是使人们的寿命更长并具有生活质量。”向您的文档询问这些选择。

• Nausea:Green tea, pressure point bands, acupuncture
• 热闪烁：Black cohosh herbal supplements
• 失眠：褪黑激素
• 神经病：维生素b
• Fatigue:步行和瑜伽

Channeling some inner grit helps Casey cope: “I promised my kids that I will fight every day for the rest of my life—for them, for me, and to find things that can help those who come after me.” She currently takes numerous medications including dailyCDK抑制剂和激素治疗药，以及两次每月注射。“副作用起伏。有好日子和坏处，但每个人都值得为之奋斗。”她说。“我感谢上帝为该领域的医师，研究人员和先驱者，他们正在努力使MBC成为慢性而不是终端状况。”

Mayer面临MBC药物的疲劳，恶心和便秘。某些食物有帮助。她说：“我的to是扁豆汤，樱桃和便秘的蓝莓。”“确定有效的方法是反复试验。”她在知道这将是一个问题的日子里积极进食。她说：“要处理恶心，我喜欢姜：生姜啤酒，生姜茶，硬姜糖果。”齐格勒博士建议患者为食物添加柠檬，为了打击可能由化学疗法引起的金属味。“此外，最近令人着迷trial显示出非处方probiotics帮助大脑雾。”她说。

梅耶建议，要找到解决症状的好技巧，请问姐妹会。您可以从那些在私人Facebook组中经历相同症状的MBC患者收集建议，包括Living Metastatic One Day at a Time。通过加入专门针对MBC患者的同伴支持小组，发现对他人有用的东西，例如metavivor，被称为转移性乳腺癌研究，支持和意识的组织。有很多人与MBC一起生活了多年other patients to know。

Casey proactively syncs her self-care to her treatment regimen. While she experiences side effects including back pain, acid reflux, and fatigue, “it’s the dry mouth and eyes which have been most challenging, causing severe discomfort for seven to 10 days per month,” she says. (Low blood counts and fatigue are also worse seven to 10 days after conventional chemo treatment, Dr. Mortimer says.) UsingRefresh gel eye dropshelps during that time—as does aloe vera juice. “I drink it on days 14 to 21 of my treatment cycle when dry mouth and mouth sores start to appear,” Casey says.

“有证据表明冥想can lessen stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and improve sleep during treatment,” says Dr. Ziegler. “And physical activity helps more than anything to fight fatigue. Simply walking or doing yoga increases endorphins.” The worst side effect for Liz Pronold, of Waukesha, WI, has been diarrhea. Along with Imodium and ginger tea, “I use a microwavable heating pad while watching TV,” Pronold says. “It relaxes me without any medications and lets me rest.” Meditation helps her fall asleep. “I use visualization to see the cancer cells leaving my body and healthy cells replacing them,” she says.

Anticipate what’s coming.学习Ziegler博士说，已经表明，如果患者得到通知并可以预期某些副作用，则通常会更容忍。Pronold说：“自2017年被诊断出来以来，我一直在治疗日记和癌症的身体影响。”“我每天都会绘制自己的感受和任何副作用。”她知道早晨腹泻更为普遍，她计划在清晨或午后进行活动。她说：“这可以帮助我控制自己的生活和处理生活的现实，而不会错过我想做的事情。”