Starting chemotherapy for the first time? If you are new to this common cancer treatment, you're probably wondering how chemotherapy works, if you'll lose your hair or even if chemotherapy hurts.

To learn more, we spoke with Mariela Blum Murphy, M.D., a medical oncologist who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers. Here’s what she had to say.

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, you may experience pain during treatment. This pain may be either acute or chronic. Acute pain lasts for six weeks or less. Chronic pain lasts longer, typically up to nine weeks.

Peripheral nerve pain affects the nerves throughout the body. For patients seeking alternatives to oral pain medications due to potential side effects, an outpatient procedure known as peripheral nerve stimulation...