Diet & Supplement help

Be careful about self-medicating with supplements during treatment as some have an impact on chemo drug effectiveness. Even dieting is a concern during treatment because they really don't want your weight to change during radiation and what you eat can have an impact on how you handle digestive issues like heartburn, diarrhea, and/or constipation during active treatment. That said, they're are some things that are helpful, but you really should at the very least alert your doctors before you add to what they know you are taking. I took/take Vitamin D, B12 (as well as having monthly B12 shots) and a multi-vitamim besides metformin and a diuretic. OTC's I used were Pepcid-AC for heartburn, Miralax 2x/day to prevent constipation, Ibuprofen for bone and muscle pain (Claritin did nothing for me). I had an RX for nausea, but never used it...the Pepcid worked better for me. The way I felt during chemo, I was glad not to have to down more pills! For neuropathy, hypothermia slippers and mittens helped and still help me a lot. And water....lots of water!

Mmpeterson

Although your question might sound like a simple one, it is actutally very complex.  There are absolutely things you can do to support yourself through treatment and beyond. The tricky thing is that there is no cookie cutter recipe for anyone with cancer and not even anyone with a certain type of cancer.  Each patient comes to a cancer diagnosis with their own, personal collection of issues that helped lead to their situation.  

Therefore, what is good advice for one person may not be good advice for another.  There are definitely general things that one can do that will likely be of benefit. But it is very specific to the drugs you are receiving.  Personally, I would not embark on self treatment with supplements without the advice of a professional and by that I mean someone trained in that art, like a naturopath or functional medicine doctor or integrative oncologist.  A regular oncologist will likely have little knowledge about diet and supplements and due to the lack of education in this arena, as well as licensing restrictions, will likely advise against using much of anything unconventional.  One the bright side, a practitioner skilled in integrative treatments would be a wealth of information.

Although I personally discourage anyone from trying this on their own, there are a number of resources out there that can help with information related to diet and supplements for cancer patients.  One good resource is the Cancer Fighting Kitchen Cookbook.  It contains recipes for healthy dishes as well as information about which recipes address specific side effects and how to tweak the recipes to appeal to your affected taste buds.  There is research, by Dr. Valter Longo, that indicates that a strict Ketogenic diet may actually weaken cancer cells.  This diet is being used for brain cancers and is at the research phase for other cancers. There is currently a clinical trial for ovarian cancer patients.  My naturopath recommends it for nearly all of her cancer patients.  In the same arena, patients are showing a drastic reduction in side effects from chemo if they fast for the days around treatment.  But this is something that should be done under the advice of an integrative practitioner or you should at least research it before jumping in.

One resource that is informative with regard to supplements is the book "The Definitive Guide to Cancer" by Lise Aluschler.  She is a natruopathic oncologist and her book can guide you to supplements that are safe to take with the drugs you are receiving for chemotherapy.  Here is her website.  http://www.drlise.net/

Please know that there are a number of things you can do to support yourself through this journey that will help with side effects and may, in fact, make the treatments you are receiving more effective.  But cancer, as you know, is a very big deal, and it is wise to rely on someone trained in the use of integrative treatments to help guide you.

Good luck