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Palliative care can help you manage your illness, particularly pain and symptoms so you can continue to live life as well as you can while dealing with your illness. Palliative care can help at any time from a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness and and sometimes people receive palliative care while they are also accessing curative treatment for their illness. Palliative care will help you manage the journey of a life-limiting illness to maximise your quality of life until death. The amount of time on this journey will vary from person to person.

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Losing bone strength or bone density is common as we age. The cells that rebuild bone aren’t replaced at the same rate, causing bones to become thin and full of tiny holes. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones lose mass or density and the bone tissue breaks down. As bones slowly become weaker, more brittle and less dense, they can fracture or break easily.

Treatment for cancer, especially head and neck cancer, can causing changes to your hearing. Hearing loss may start slowly in first few years after treatment.

Some chemotherapy drugs and targeted cancer drugs can make your eyes very dry and sore. They might feel gritty, as though there is something in your eye. This is because the drugs cause a reaction on the inside of your eyelids. Or you may not be making enough tears.

Travelling to treatment can be challenging, especially when away from home or for treatment that lasts weeks or months. Depending on your circumstances, you may need to find other ways to travel to the hospital for treatment and appointments. It helps to know your options and where you can get support.

Something you may be worried about, during your cancer treatment and beyond, are changes to your weight. Some cancer treatments, side effects or lifestyle changes can cause you to gain or lose weight. Minor weight changes are natural and should not cause concern. However, a bigger weight loss or gain can impact on your general health and wellbeing.

Getting a cancer diagnosis and its treatment affect all areas of a person’s life. This may include being able to work, earning an income; where you live, the type of accommodation you live in, and benefits that you may be entitled to.

Nausea is the uneasy and uncomfortable feeling in your stomach that may lead to vomiting. It is a symptom many people worry about experiencing whilst on cancer treatment but it doesn’t affect everyone, and there may be different levels ranging from mild nausea to vomiting.

Many people receiving cancer treatment report that food doesn't taste the same. Changes to taste and smell can have a big impact on your ability to eat and drink.

Sex and sexuality are important parts of everyday life. Some people may experience changes to intimacy and sex during and after cancer treatment. These changes may affect the person with cancer as well as their partners of carers.