Tag: nausea

Many women being treated for breast cancer suffer from severe treatment side effects even when they don’t receive chemotherapy, a recent study suggests.

For the study, researchers surveyed 1,945 women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer about the severity of seven treatment side effects: nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, pain, arm swelling, shortness of breath and breast skin irritation.

Overall, 45 percent of participants reported severe or very severe forms of at least one of these side effects. When women got chemotherapy, the odds of severe side effects were twice as high, though the side effects were just 30 percent more likely when chemo was paired with radiation.

Women may experience small benefits with a drug approved last year in the U.S. to treat low sexual desire in women, but at a high risk of experiencing unpleasant side effects, according to a new analysis.

The findings "suggest that the benefits of flibanserin are marginal," given that "one in three women experience side effects, of which the most common ones include dizziness, sleepiness, nausea, and tiredness," said lead author Dr. Loes Jaspers, of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.