Safety measures to take when your child is using mitomycin
Your child will receive medicine to prevent upset stomach or throwing up caused by mitomycin.
Your child may develop blue or purple colored bands on nails. This is a rare side effect of mitomycin. The blue or purple bands will grow out once your child is finished treatment.
Your child may lose their hair. It will grow back once your child is no longer receiving mitomycin. Its colour and texture may change. Use a gentle shampoo and a soft brush.
Mitomycin can lower the number of white blood cells in the blood temporarily, which increases your child's chances of getting an infection. Your child can take the following precautions to prevent infections, especially when the blood count is low:
- Avoid people with infections, such as a cold or the flu.
- Avoid places that are very crowded with large groups of people.
- Be careful when brushing or flossing your child's teeth. Your doctor, nurse, or dentist may suggest different ways to clean your child's mouth and teeth.
- You and your child should not touch her eyes or inside her nose without washing your hands first.
- Your child's nurse will review with you what to do in case of fever.
Mitomycin can lower the number of platelets in the blood, which increases your child's risk of bleeding. You can take the following precautions:
- Be careful not to cut your child when using fingernail scissors or toenail clippers.
- Be careful when shaving or waxing.
- Your child should avoid contact sports where bruising or injury could occur.
- Before your child has surgery, including dental surgery, inform the doctor or dentist that your child is taking mitomycin.
- Your child should not receive a permanent tattoo or any kind of body piercing.
Your child should not receive any immunizations (vaccines) without your child's doctor's approval. Your child or anyone else in your household should not get oral polio vaccine while your child is being treated for cancer. Tell your child's doctor if anyone in your household has recently received oral polio vaccine. Your child should avoid contact with anyone who has recently received this vaccine. Other live vaccines that your child should not get include measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), and chicken pox.
Mitomycin may cause sores in the mouth. Rinse your child's mouth with a mouthwash made from baking soda to help keep it clean. Your nurse or pharmacist can review this with you. Avoid store bought mouthwash as it may sting and cause dry mouth.
There is a chance that mitomycin may cause birth defects if it is taken at the time of conception or if it is taken during pregnancy. If your child is sexually active it is best that she use some kind of birth control while receiving mitomycin. Tell the doctor right away if your child may be pregnant.
Check with your child's doctor or pharmacist before giving your child any other medicines, such as prescription, non-prescription, herbal, or natural products.
