Chemotherapy is strong medicine and it can cause damage to a person’s nervous system. This damage can lead to hospitalization for treatment and therapy. Will chemotherapy affect your mental health?  It might. The trauma of having cancer and going through treatments can also cause mental health problems.

In this Mental Health Guide article, you will learn about chemotherapy,  what you can expect when going through treatments and if treatments can cause mental illness issues.

Nervous System Side Effects of Chemotherapy

The chemicals used in chemotherapy attack and kill healthy cells along with cancer cells. They cannot differentiate. Both the cancer itself and the chemotherapy can lead to neurological problems.

The trauma to nerves and the nervous system can include reduced mental alertness, numbness or tingling in the extremities, a burning feeling in the extremities, and in severe cases, seizures. Treatments can also cause changes in how things smell or taste, leading to eating disorders in some patients.

Mental Health Effects of Cancer and Chemotherapy

Many cancer patients may develope depression or have anxiety problems while going through treatments. These are common when fighting cancer. If you are experiencing depression or anxiety, discuss this with your doctor. He or she may be able to prescribe medication for you to alleviate these symptoms.

If your depression or anxiety is severe, you might want to discuss receiving treatment in a mental health facility. These mood disorders might show up at any time, from the time when you begin to suspect that something is wrong, to the first diagnosis, to during treatment, to following treatment when all that has occurred begins to sink in while you’re trying to gain some semblance of normalcy in your life again.

If you have concerns about damage to your nervous system or if you are experiencing anxiety, depression, anger or other mental health problems, don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor. The sooner you make your physician aware of your concerns, the sooner you can be treated effectively.