Chemo question

Different drugs will have different answers regarding time spans overall. The best people to talk to would be the oncology pharmacist and the oncologist, but you have to ask a precise question or it may be misunderstood and they may answer a different question to the one you have in mind. I would start by asking exactly how the specific chemo drug or drugs you are interested in work against cancer, and go from there.

However, to give you a pointer now, generally speaking, some chemo drugs work by inhibiting certain aspects that are needed for cancer cells to survive. It will then take that cancer cell a while to die. Other drugs inhibit the ability of those cells to divide, so while growth is stopped, the cells may still be going through their own "natural" life cycle and may take a while to die undivided, and if a cell was not dividing right when chemo was given but started showing signs of doing so while the chemo drug was still active, it too will be attacked, but now it's lagging a bit behind the others, and so on. Some drugs work by making our immune system "wake up" and do the job, so it may be that the system is already awake and "looking" thanks to the drugs, but now it may take a while for it to actually do the job. (I am only giving here broad approximations and none of this is authoritative.)

Sometimes the pros don't have all the answers at their fingertips, but a lot of them are willing to look specific things up.

Thank you   

I've haven't studied the science behind it but 7 weeks on from finishing 6 cycles of chemo I still have some side effects including the occasional hot flush (which I didn't have before) so I assume the drugs are still having some effect on my body. 

Xx

There is a difference between the after-effects and the actual primary effect. The efficacy of the chemo drugs on the tumour will last a certain amout of time. While that is happening, the drugs also affect other systems. Let's say for the sake of example, that a particular drug, while treating the cancer, also affected the gut. The chemo drugs is now gone, no longer active on the tumour, but the gut now needs to heal and get back to its previous state, and while this is happening, the patient may still experience gut issues such as constipation, pain, issues with digestion, and so on.

And so, you are right in saying that the drugs are still having some effect on your body, but this is now not a direct effect of a still-active drug. It seems there is a lot more accurate information regarding the time spans of direct efficacy as that can be observed directly and separate from the patient, whereas the time spans of coming out from the after-effects are individual to the patient and are dependant on factors that are not just resulting from the drug itself, but from the patient's body.

Glad you’ve finished your chemo , sorry your still having the side effects , I think they can last quite a long while after treatment finishes can’t they ?

Im interested in the science part , even to just get a different view of things and get outside of the panic of having the disease ‍♀️ 

love L xx

Thanks.  The side/after effects are nothing as bad as during chemo. I'm used to be very active and frustrated trying to get going again

I tend not to Google tye science stuff much even though I'm a nurse , it makes me feel worse and I'm not sure the experts fully understand it. I come in my own bubble much of the time.

I have surgery tomorrow for a second excision to try to clear the margins following chemo so I just hope it's worked 

Best of luck xx

You’re  probably right you know , just trying to find ways of getting through the day sometimes 

All the very best for tomorrow xx