Folfox and supplements?

vinny3
vinny3 Member Posts: 928 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi gang,
Just had the first day of the first Folfox treatment and no problems so far but I am a rookie and know they will come. I'm wondering if people have had good luck with any supplements. My oncologist told me to take B6- 100 mg 3 times a day but says that is for the foot/hand problem that comes with 5-FU (which I did have with the prior 5-FU treatment. I have also started taking some magnesium. Any suggestions are welcomed. There are more good ideas on this site for this type of problem then in the medical sites.

****

Comments

  • lfondots63
    lfondots63 Member Posts: 818 Member
    #2
    Hi Vinny,

    Glad the first treatment is going good. I would say B complex for the oxiplatin tinglies. That is better then the other B vit. I also take a very good natural multi vitamin. I'm taking iron too because I have become enemic with the chemo. You might want to make sure the multi vit has iron. Another good supplement since it is hard to eat veggies with the chemo diarehea is a "Green" supplement. There are a lot out there. Did you get the book from Patrick Quinlan "Beating Cancer with Nutrition"? It will help you with what should be in the Green supplement. I good drink to detox the liver is lemon in water. This shouldn't interfer with the chemo. Also just try to eat as healthy as possible. I know it is hard when on chemo because nothing sounds/tastes good. Ginger in warm water is good for naucea. Hope this helps. Take care and keep us posted how you are doing.

    Lisa
  • Kanort
    Kanort Member Posts: 1,272 Member
    #3
    Hi ****,

    Congratulations on getting one treatment of Folfox behind you. It has been almost two years since I finished Folfox for stage 3 sigmoid colon cancer. There has been much debate on whether taking supplements during chemo is harmful or helpful. I personally took a strong multivitamin while on treatment, but you will probably hear from others whose oncologist advised against it. Keep us posted on your progress.

    Hugs,

    Kay
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #4
    As Kay says, there is some controversy here. My oncologist asked me to let him know what I was taking (in advance!). I took B6 for the neuropathy (didn't start till later -- wish I'd started sooner). Tried magnesium -- didn't work so well for me, but no harm. My onc had me on a multivitamin which had a lot of vit C.
    Good luck with the folfox. I had no problems the first few cycles. Best wishes.
  • ade7682
    ade7682 Member Posts: 31
    #5
    taraHK said:

    As Kay says, there is some controversy here. My oncologist asked me to let him know what I was taking (in advance!). I took B6 for the neuropathy (didn't start till later -- wish I'd started sooner). Tried magnesium -- didn't work so well for me, but no harm. My onc had me on a multivitamin which had a lot of vit C.
    Good luck with the folfox. I had no problems the first few cycles. Best wishes.

    Standard practice on this subject?
    My husband's oncologist at Duke said this:
    "The fact is that there are inadequate studies to determine what supplements are truly safe with chemotherapy and there are proponents and detractors for every one of them.

    There is a small amount of data for some like Glutamine, but the results in my opinion are inconclusive."


    Does anyone know of a website with information on what is standard practice for oncologists on this subject? Like an oncology board or something?

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