What causes chronic headache and giddiness after a chemotherapy?
Patient: hi  my father has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment .he had undergone a total gastrectomy surgery 3 months back.he was on his third chemo session when his total blood count dropped down to 1000.he is being given injection to raise the bloodcount..but sincethe past 3 days he is suffering from chronic headache and giddiness.the headache goes on for 5 minutes and this countinues as a cycle every half another or more frequent.is this because of low blood count? the doctors say the headache is not attributed to chemo treatment.has taken ct scan, mri scan chest xray..everything seems normal.chemotablet used is Xeloda 500mg.(taking 2000mg per day on a 14 day couse in a 21 day cycle) Doctor: Hi,Thanks for writing in.Chemotherapy is a stressful event and patients might have certain side effects after taking chemotherapy. It is possible that your father is still having low hemoglobin and anemia because of which there is regular headache. The doctors probably intend to say that the headache is not a direct result of chemotherapy but due to hemoglobin. Since CT scan and MRI scan have shown normal findings therefore it is unlikely to be due to any bleeding or infection in the brain. However headache due to anemia might be occurring. Right now focus should be on increasing his nutrition and giving him a daily diet of 2200 kcal is recommended. These might be as foods which he likes and water and fresh juices are to be given in adequate amounts. Please protect him form any infection by taking precautions. Please do not worry.