Leukopenia during cancer chemotherapy: How to eat to avoid infection?

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Cancer patients are often treated with chemotherapy. This is a method that helps destroy growing cancer cells in the body. However, this approach results in leukopenia resulting in susceptibility to infection in cancer patients. So what can cancer eat to avoid infection? This is a question that many patients are concerned about.

1. What is leukopenia?

Leukopenia is a blood disease that manifests as a decrease in the number of white blood cells in the blood. These cells play a very important role in helping to protect against the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms.
Leukopenia during cancer chemotherapy is a common consequence of chemotherapy and increases the risk of infection in cancer patients.

2. Causes of leukopenia during cancer chemotherapy

During the treatment, the patient must use drugs that destroy cancer cells. Besides, they can also destroy normal healthy cells, including white blood cells.
In addition, these chemicals also act on bone marrow cells to damage these cells. When bone marrow cells are damaged, the ability to produce blood cells, including white blood cells, is reduced. At this time, the body's immune system is weakened, so it is easy to catch infections in cancer patients.

3. How to recognize leukopenia?

Patients with agranulocytosis may have symptoms of fatigue. However, there are also cases where the patient does not have any symptoms. Patients are often diagnosed with the disease during routine physical examination or when there is an infection. Therefore, people need to have regular health check-ups and blood tests to assess the condition of the body.
In patients with leukopenia during cancer chemotherapy, even a mild infection needs to be taken with care. It can easily become serious, life-threatening.

4. People with a high probability of having agranulocytosis

People at risk of leukopenia include:
People over 70 years old People with certain diseases that cause immunodeficiency such as: HIV / AIDS, organ transplant ... After chemotherapy about 7 to 12 the day the patient will begin to have neutropenia. This time may vary depending on the dose of chemotherapy drugs and the individual condition. Doctors will tell patients about the possibility of leukopenia during chemotherapy for cancer that they may have. Patients should pay attention to the symptoms and notify the doctor when discovered.

5. Clinical symptoms of infection

In patients with agranulocytosis, even a mild infection requires caution. It can easily become serious, life-threatening. People with leukopenia often have some of the following symptoms:
Fever above 38 degrees Celsius Chills or sweating. Sore throat or mouth pain, nausea and vomiting. Nasal congestion, difficulty breathing. There is pain when urinating, urinating a lot. Change in vaginal discharge, vaginal dryness. There are symptoms of swelling, redness, pain in the wounds Abdominal pain, diarrhea, rectal pain.

6. Some measures to help prevent infection

In addition to treating the symptoms of the disease, the prevention of infection in cancer patients is very important.
Clean hands and feet. Avoid going to crowded places, if you must, wear a mask. Limit contact with people who are sick if not necessary. Do not share personal items with others. Daily personal hygiene. Termites should wear protective clothing when working. Use a soft toothbrush to brush your teeth to avoid mouth ulcers and gum ulcers. Clean house, clean surroundings. Get a flu shot before each pandemic season.

7. Cancer eat what to avoid infection?

Cancer patients are very susceptible to infections. Therefore, they need a special diet to limit the infection.
Do not use rancid, expired, moldy foods. Store food in the refrigerator, should not be stored for too long, it is best to use fresh food. Food after being removed from the refrigerator and defrosted should be processed immediately. After cooked food, it should be stored in the refrigerator within 2 hours and stored for a maximum of 24 hours. It is best to eat food while it is still warm. Eat cooked, drink boiled Should choose products that are packed into small packages for long-term use, avoiding mold. Do not eat raw vegetables, buffer, salad With the above sharing, hope has answered readers' concerns about leukopenia during cancer chemotherapy. In addition, it also helps readers know more about cancer what to eat to avoid infection. Thereby, the patient can come up with a suitable diet for himself.

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