If you have cancer, you may get side effects from your treatment. You might also have symptoms from the cancer itself.
A short description of each symptom is given below. You will find a link to a Symptom Management Guide from Ontario Health-Cancer Care Ontario as well as extra materials to further support you.
OH-CCO has created guides to help you, and your loved ones manage your symptoms. The guides are filled with easy-to-follow tips for what you should do to help manage your symptoms. They also can help you decide when to seek help from your healthcare team.
Remember – these guides are a starting point to help you manage your symptoms. You should always let your cancer team know about changes to your health.
Anxiety is the feeling of fear, dread, or uneasiness that can happen as a result of stress.
Constipation happens when your poop becomes hard to pass. This might mean your poops are harder than normal or happen less often than normal.
Diarrhea means having loose, watery, or liquid poops.
A common metal health disorder that includes feelings of sadness, despair, loss of energy, or having a hard time dealing with normal daily life.
Extreme feelings of tiredness or lack of energy. This can interfere with your usual daily routine or life.
When your body temperature rises above normal (38.3 degrees C or higher at any given time or 38 degrees C or higher for at least one hour).
When you do not have feelings of hunger or interest in food.
Nausea is an upset or queasy stomach that makes you feel like you may throw up (vomit). Vomiting is “throwing-up” the food and liquid in your stomach through your mouth.
Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that helps your body fight infections. Neutropenia is when you have a low number of neutrophils in your blood. When your neutrophils are low, your body can get infections very easily and you may get very sick.
Pain can be thought of as physical hurting, or suffering, from an illness or injury. This pain may come and go or be constant.
Shortness of breath is the feeling of not having enough air to breathe.
Nearly half of all people with cancer have trouble sleeping at some point during treatment and recovery. This resource goes over the key symptoms of having trouble sleeping, and how you can get better sleep.
More symptom management guides and resources can be found on the OH-CCO website under “Managing Symptoms”
When your healthcare team knows about your symptoms, they can give you advice to help manage them.
Your Symptoms Matter (YSM) is a tool used by Cancer Care Ontario and our healthcare team to assess the 12 most common symptoms that cancer patients go through.
When you fill out YSM you are tracking your symptoms each and every time you have a visit. Over time, you can start to see trends or patterns in your symptoms.
Filling out YSM can help you and your healthcare team to:
Keeping track of your symptoms can help treat them early on.
Your Symptoms Matter (YSM) is a tool used to tell your healthcare team how you’re feeling. When your healthcare team knows about your symptoms, they can help you manage them. You can use YSM before, during, and after your cancer treatment. Keeping track of your symptoms during your cancer care will help you catch, and treat, them before they become worse.
Some symptoms can be difficult to describe or rate. Here are some other ways to say:
Ontario Health-Cancer Care Ontario has an online version of Your Symptoms Matter. You can fill it out the day before you are booked to see your healthcare team. Your answers are electronically sent to your healthcare team right after you fill it out.
Please note that your healthcare team will be looking at your YSM results just before your booked appointment. If you have any serious symptom related issues to discuss or urgent healthcare needs please:
In addition to English and French, you can now electronically share your symptoms and experiences with your care team in:
More languages will be added in the future.
To complete ‘Your Symptoms Matter’ or ‘Your Voice Matters’ in any of these languages, you can select it in the top right-hand corner of the ISAAC patient portal.