side affects to gymzar

Im in my 10th year of ovarian cancer. I've many reacurrances. listen hair 5 x. i have a very positive attitude most of the time.

Comments

  • Alnik
    Alnik Member Posts: 56
    first time
    Just found out i have stage three phaseB ovarian. I can barely handle the third of six treatments Please tell me there is hope that it wont keep coming back Im only 43 and my whole life is so differant now. how do you find the strength to keep going forward. I dont think i even have any more tears to shed and i know this is not even close to being over yet
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    Alnik said:

    first time
    Just found out i have stage three phaseB ovarian. I can barely handle the third of six treatments Please tell me there is hope that it wont keep coming back Im only 43 and my whole life is so differant now. how do you find the strength to keep going forward. I dont think i even have any more tears to shed and i know this is not even close to being over yet

    Everyone handles cancer
    Everyone handles cancer differently. No one can promise us anything. All I know is that if I'm still breathing, I'm still alive and I'm grateful for that.

    I've been told that I have the gift of being able to find a silver lining on every dark cloud. Surely this is a very dark cloud yet I am grateful that I did not get a cancer that was extremely disfiguring or gave me tumors all over my face. If you met me on the street, you would never guess I was a cancer survivor who was told I'd never be cured.

    Your cancer is stage IIIb, it could still be worse. You have an 80% chance of getting into remission. Keep your eye on the prize. The hell you are going thru is temporary.

    By the way, I don't know what I was thinking when I posted that I was gonna fast for a few days before the next chemo! I didn't last 18 hours--lol! I'm just going with the vegan diet. Ugh!
  • Tethys41
    Tethys41 Member Posts: 1,382 Member
    Alnik said:

    first time
    Just found out i have stage three phaseB ovarian. I can barely handle the third of six treatments Please tell me there is hope that it wont keep coming back Im only 43 and my whole life is so differant now. how do you find the strength to keep going forward. I dont think i even have any more tears to shed and i know this is not even close to being over yet

    Chemo is Temporary
    Alnik,
    I can so relate. Treatment for me was miserable. I was drugged out on three pain killers for the duration, and my body did not deal well with Taxol.
    On the bright side, I'm two years out from chemo and life is better than ever!
    My chemo nurse told me of a study which showed that the third and sixth chemos are the hardest for many people. I, personally, did not find that to be so, but I did notice that some were worse than others.
    I find strength by being proactive. I worked with a naturopath during treatment and she helped keep my body as healthy as possible during treatment. Even though I felt miserable, That same chemo nurse told me she saw me looking better and better each time I came in for treatment. I'm doing everything I can to prevent this beast from coming back. If you have not read the book "Anti-Cancer," I would highly recommend it. It is full of hope for cancer survivors.
    Take care,
  • 2timothy1 7
    2timothy1 7 Member Posts: 345
    Alnik said:

    first time
    Just found out i have stage three phaseB ovarian. I can barely handle the third of six treatments Please tell me there is hope that it wont keep coming back Im only 43 and my whole life is so differant now. how do you find the strength to keep going forward. I dont think i even have any more tears to shed and i know this is not even close to being over yet

    Hi there. I'm 44 . Found out
    Hi there. I'm 44 . Found out I had stage3c December 2011. Just had part of my 2nd round of cisplatnin and taxol. Will have treatment again through my IP port next week to complete my second round of chemo. Home health came this time to give me fluids and zoforan.
    This helped me not to get dehydrated and so weak . You might want to see if your insurance will cover this. It helped me a lot. Hang in there. Praying for you! Im new to all this too. Here lately I try to think of all I have to be grateful for as or before I get out of bed. Helps to refocus my mind. Love and prayers to you!
  • JoWin615
    JoWin615 Member Posts: 150 Member
    carolenk said:

    Everyone handles cancer
    Everyone handles cancer differently. No one can promise us anything. All I know is that if I'm still breathing, I'm still alive and I'm grateful for that.

    I've been told that I have the gift of being able to find a silver lining on every dark cloud. Surely this is a very dark cloud yet I am grateful that I did not get a cancer that was extremely disfiguring or gave me tumors all over my face. If you met me on the street, you would never guess I was a cancer survivor who was told I'd never be cured.

    Your cancer is stage IIIb, it could still be worse. You have an 80% chance of getting into remission. Keep your eye on the prize. The hell you are going thru is temporary.

    By the way, I don't know what I was thinking when I posted that I was gonna fast for a few days before the next chemo! I didn't last 18 hours--lol! I'm just going with the vegan diet. Ugh!

    Diet
    Carolen, I hope I'm not getting off the subject of the thread here, but I spent several hours this weekend researching the links you posted about low-methionine and vegan diets. Pretty interesting stuff - thanks. What do you eat for breakfast? I need specifics! Also, I'm glad you nixed the fasting. That sounded harsh (!). I appreciate your expertise and wisdom.

    Jo
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    JoWin615 said:

    Diet
    Carolen, I hope I'm not getting off the subject of the thread here, but I spent several hours this weekend researching the links you posted about low-methionine and vegan diets. Pretty interesting stuff - thanks. What do you eat for breakfast? I need specifics! Also, I'm glad you nixed the fasting. That sounded harsh (!). I appreciate your expertise and wisdom.

    Jo

    Jo
    I eat steel cut oatmeal

    Jo

    I eat steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. I just make a big pot of it & reheat small portions.

    Tethys pointed out to me that the article said glutathione was chemoprotective also. It seems like if something protects YOU from the platinum chemo side effects, the cancer will use it also to protect itself. So it is kind of confusing if you are trying to figure out which way to go as far as boosting your glutathione level. I think this information could be helpful for those people who are told that they are "platinum resistant."
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    Good for you!
    I found some info that fasting for 3-4 days before chemo reduced the side effects & increased the efficacy of chemo.

    I found out that cancer uses sulfur to resist platinum chemo. Animal sources of protein are full of sulfur based amino acids. It might be a good idea to follow a vegan/low sulfur diet for a week after carbo. All this could bring on neuropathy but maybe not.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/14585259/
  • whiterose
    whiterose Member Posts: 89
    Alnik said:

    first time
    Just found out i have stage three phaseB ovarian. I can barely handle the third of six treatments Please tell me there is hope that it wont keep coming back Im only 43 and my whole life is so differant now. how do you find the strength to keep going forward. I dont think i even have any more tears to shed and i know this is not even close to being over yet

    Someone told me
    Someone told me at the start of this that it was going to be a "journey". And it has been. You have to take every day as it comes and deal with it. If you start to think of this in terms of weeks and months it can become overwhelming. I try to do something positive every day to defeat this terrible disease. It's my way of being proactive. I've recently gone back into the gym (first time in 10 months!) and I feel and sleep better. Try to take your life back into your own hands. And I would second the poster who mentioned getting the book "AntiCancer by Dr. David Servan Schreiber. It's very empowering.....