How To Stop Chemotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer

According to information from the Mayo Clinic, lung cancer is characterized by symptoms such as persistent coughing, coughing up blood, chest pain, and headache. Symptoms of advanced lung cancer can include unplanned weight loss and pain localized within the bones, as the cancer metastasizes throughout the body. Occasionally, you will want to halt chemotherapy treatment, either because you are unwilling to put up with the side effects or because the treatment is failing to work as intended.

Instructions

• 1

  Consult with your supervising doctor about the possibility of stopping chemotherapy treating, inquiring as to what that will mean for your overall prognosis. When the cancer is advanced and has metastasized throughout the body (the general threshold for advanced cancer) the five year survival rate is just 2.1 percent. Ask your physician whether stopping chemotherapy is going to make a substantial difference in your overall survival rate, asking how much less time you will have to get a better idea of whether it is worth abandoning treatment.

• 2

  Speak with other doctors about alternative treatments in lieu of chemotherapy. Discuss the viability of radiation therapy or enrollment in a clinical trial. Even if your cancer is deemed "incurable" by your physician, you can still potentially give something back to future cancer sufferers by participating in a clinical trial to test out new and upcoming therapies.

• 3

  Simply tell your doctor you want to forgo chemotherapy if you are convinced that it is the best option for your particular case of lung cancer. No one can compel you to continue receiving unwanted treatment, so stand firm if refusal of chemotherapy treatment is your final decision on the matter. Before reaching that conclusion, however, take time to consider the impact of your decision on your family, friends, and loved ones, lest you make a choice you might later regret.