Treatment Side Effects of Chemotherapy and Your Rights to Long Term Disability Benefits

If you have been diagnosed with cancer and your treatment involves chemotherapy, you may physical, emotional and psychological side effects from this treatment. Common chemotherapy side effects include:

– Fatigue and anemia: fatigue, extreme tiredness is one of the most common side effects of cancer and cancer treatment. You may have difficulty concentrating or thinking clearly. Anemia happens when the chemotherapy decreases your bone marrow ability to make red blood cells resulting in a reduced amount of oxygen transported to all parts of your body.
– Pain: Pain is a common side effect of cancer and can be caused by a tumor pressing on nerves, bones, organs, or sometimes even with your treatment.
– Constipation: during your treatment you may experience constipation. These changes in your bowel habits can be caused by your cancer treatment, change in your diet and even pain medication.
– Nausea and vomiting: Not every person treated for cancer has nausea and vomiting but for those that do the level of discomfort can be vary from person to person, drug to drug and can last for days.
– Mouth and throat problems: Chemotherapy affects the healthy lining of your mouth, throat and tongue. That can cause difficult in swallowing and you can lose your appetite and develop mouth sores and infections.
– Infections: Chemotherapy can cause reduction in your white blood cells making it more likely for you to develop an infection. It’s important that during treatment you take precautions to prevent infections.
– Anxiety and depression: anxiety and depression during treatment is not uncommon.
– Nerve and muscle problems: chemotherapy can sometimes effect the muscles and nerves causing you to experience tingling, burning and numbness in the hands and feet or loss of balance or clumsiness.

Unfortunately, many long term disability carriers don’t take these side effects into consideration in determining entitlement to long term disability benefits. In fact, many long term disability carriers will stop the payment of long term disability benefits once the chemotherapy has stopped despite the continuing side effects.

If your claim for long term disability benefits as a result of cancer or chemotherapy has been denied, contact Nancy Cavey who can help you get the disability benefits that you deserve regardless of where you live in the United States.