Breast cancer in itself is hard enough to go through for any woman.
Treatment can be quite invasive, and riddled with side effects.
One of these side effects is weight gain.
Although this is a common symptom of treatment, it does not have to be inevitable.
Women with breast cancer who are going through treatment are more susceptible to gaining weight if they are premenopausal and are receiving chemotherapy as part of their treatment regimen.
Women who are postmenopausal, and those who are only receiving radiation as their treatment are not as likely to put on weight throughout treatment.
Why Women Can Gain Weight Through Cancer Treatment Studies have been conducted to determine whether or not chemotherapy is to blame for some women's weight gain through cancer treatment.
These studies concluded that women who received chemo as part of their treatment gained twice as much weight as those who did not receive chemo.
In addition, women under the age of 55 were more likely to gain as opposed to women over the age of 55.
It isn't quite known why premenopausal women are more likely to gain weight than older women.
Some experts have speculated that it may be due to the possibility that chemotherapy can actually induce premature menopause.
Since menopause slows down the metabolism, this can be a great cause of weight gain.
Instead of going through natural menopause - which can last up to 10 years - and gaining weight slowly over these years, premenopausal women can gain all this weight much quicker as a result of prematurely induced menopause.
Lifestyle Factors Which May Also Cause Weight Gain in Breast Cancer Patients A healthy lifestyle generally induces a healthy weight.
Proper diet and exercise helps a person maintain a healthy weight, and can prevent weight gain.
Some studies have shown that many of the women who did gain more weight throughout their cancer treatments were actually less active than their thinner counterparts.
This, coupled with the chemotherapy, can result in more weight gained throughout treatment.
Breast cancer treatment is very invasive and exhausting, so it is no wonder why women who are going through this have no energy to exercise and stay active.
In addition, many of these women may become depressed, which further creates a sedentary lifestyle.
Any depression drugs may cause even further weight gain.
Breast cancer, like many other cancers, is a tough disease to go through.
Sometimes the treatment can be worse than the disease itself.
It's important to have a good support team behind you, that can keep your spirits up, and hopefully encourage you to stay as healthy as possible.