No anti oxidents during radiation?

Sam999
Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
My docotor said i have to limit foods with anti oxidents during radiation as it can interfere with it. She said you could eat foods as whole but dont take any concentrated amount e..g i take acai berry juice and green juice bought from costco, but that has higher amount of anti oxidents so should not be taken during radiation.

Did your doctor say the same thing?

Any other foods we should not be eating during radiation?

She did say i am allowed to have 1 cup for fruite-veggie juice made at home

Comments

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    I read that somewhere on the net...
    and immediately stopped taking all my vitamns (B,C,D, E, and Fish Oil).

    Then when talking to the radiology nurse she explained why....Antioxidents help build and strengthen DNA. The body's DNA is "smart", and can repair itself pretty darn good...antioxidents help the body rebuild DNA. Cancer cells are dumb, once radiation hits their DNA, they have an awful time trying to repair themselves, and therefore die off. That taking antioxidents during rads, is giving the cancer cells little cheat sheets in repairing themselves....so therefore, we don't help them out by taking antioxidents.

    Once rads are over, go back to the antioxidents, to help your body get thru the chemo...

    I thought that was a great "laymans" version for why we stay away from our vitamins :).

    I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to what I'm eating, just making sure I do..plus supplementing with Ensure and Instant breakfast etc. Waffles for breakfast, lots of butter, lots of syrup (never allowed myself this little pleasure in my healthier days :)) I'm eating shepherds pie, vegitable soup, etc. Cooked, veggies lose a lot of the potency...I figure one month of just eating, and not worrying about what is good for weight...I wouldn't get to nervous about cooked veggies...

    p
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member

    I read that somewhere on the net...
    and immediately stopped taking all my vitamns (B,C,D, E, and Fish Oil).

    Then when talking to the radiology nurse she explained why....Antioxidents help build and strengthen DNA. The body's DNA is "smart", and can repair itself pretty darn good...antioxidents help the body rebuild DNA. Cancer cells are dumb, once radiation hits their DNA, they have an awful time trying to repair themselves, and therefore die off. That taking antioxidents during rads, is giving the cancer cells little cheat sheets in repairing themselves....so therefore, we don't help them out by taking antioxidents.

    Once rads are over, go back to the antioxidents, to help your body get thru the chemo...

    I thought that was a great "laymans" version for why we stay away from our vitamins :).

    I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to what I'm eating, just making sure I do..plus supplementing with Ensure and Instant breakfast etc. Waffles for breakfast, lots of butter, lots of syrup (never allowed myself this little pleasure in my healthier days :)) I'm eating shepherds pie, vegitable soup, etc. Cooked, veggies lose a lot of the potency...I figure one month of just eating, and not worrying about what is good for weight...I wouldn't get to nervous about cooked veggies...

    p

    avoid anything with higher risks of being tainted
    Lunch meats and deli foods, salad bars, farm stand sales, your aunt Martha's home made zucchini bread, anything that could have possibly been prepared outside of standard safe food preparation protocol. You just don't need the risks right now.
  • Tonsil Dad
    Tonsil Dad Member Posts: 488
    vitamin C
    Hi Sam999, my Onc told me not to take high doses of Vitamin C or any anti-oxidents
    As that will interfear with the radiation treatment,
    Radiation and chemo put free radical into the body to kill the cancer, tumor etc..
    Super anti-oxidents kill free radicals so it would defeat the object of trying to
    Cure the cancer. Once treatment is over and you've gone through the "cooking period"
    Then it is ok to take, but still consult your onc to be sure.
    And while I'm on the subject I have said before that I take alternative products, and I
    Have heard so many times on this board about people's immune system being run down,
    sluggish, depleated well I don't want to get blacklisted or thrown of the board for solisitation
    but if Anyone would like to know about what product I take please contact me through the
    CSN email or my personal email on my profile page for more info.
    I was scc T20N0M a 3.7cm tumor of the tonsil, dx Nov and in Mar, ct scan done before
    Treatment and tumor was still 3.7cm no significent change in size.

    Please feel free to contact me and I will answer all questions.

    God bless
    Tonsil Dad,

    Dad.
  • Sam999
    Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member

    vitamin C
    Hi Sam999, my Onc told me not to take high doses of Vitamin C or any anti-oxidents
    As that will interfear with the radiation treatment,
    Radiation and chemo put free radical into the body to kill the cancer, tumor etc..
    Super anti-oxidents kill free radicals so it would defeat the object of trying to
    Cure the cancer. Once treatment is over and you've gone through the "cooking period"
    Then it is ok to take, but still consult your onc to be sure.
    And while I'm on the subject I have said before that I take alternative products, and I
    Have heard so many times on this board about people's immune system being run down,
    sluggish, depleated well I don't want to get blacklisted or thrown of the board for solisitation
    but if Anyone would like to know about what product I take please contact me through the
    CSN email or my personal email on my profile page for more info.
    I was scc T20N0M a 3.7cm tumor of the tonsil, dx Nov and in Mar, ct scan done before
    Treatment and tumor was still 3.7cm no significent change in size.

    Please feel free to contact me and I will answer all questions.

    God bless
    Tonsil Dad,

    Dad.

    Phrannie, your explaination
    Phrannie, your explaination was reallly nice:)

    Do you take any vitamins at all or no?

    Tonsil dad, i am big fan of natural stuff and have sent you pm to get more details on your exp.

    Thanks,
    Sam
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    Sam999 said:

    Phrannie, your explaination
    Phrannie, your explaination was reallly nice:)

    Do you take any vitamins at all or no?

    Tonsil dad, i am big fan of natural stuff and have sent you pm to get more details on your exp.

    Thanks,
    Sam

    No Sam....I quit taking everything....
    I only took antioxidents before, so quit everything until treatment (or at least radiation) is done.

    p
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    I was told by my med onc not
    I was told by my med onc not to take any supplements during treatment especially anything that destroys free radicals ie antioxidents. In a normal situation we want the body to protect DNA by eliminating free radicals, to treat cancer we need to destroy DNA to stop cell division. Chemoradiation is designed to create free radicals to destroy the DNA and taking antioxidents is counterproductive. Unfortunately we also sacrifice some good cells in the process.
  • Sam999
    Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
    jtl said:

    I was told by my med onc not
    I was told by my med onc not to take any supplements during treatment especially anything that destroys free radicals ie antioxidents. In a normal situation we want the body to protect DNA by eliminating free radicals, to treat cancer we need to destroy DNA to stop cell division. Chemoradiation is designed to create free radicals to destroy the DNA and taking antioxidents is counterproductive. Unfortunately we also sacrifice some good cells in the process.

    Thanks for all the replies.

    Thanks for all the replies. I will stop all multi vitamins starting today. Doctor told me about anti oxident but not mukti vitamins, not sure why.


    It would be good if they just list out all this things in their information booklet.

    Sam
  • Mrs. Sarge
    Mrs. Sarge Member Posts: 206 Member
    Sam999 said:

    Thanks for all the replies.

    Thanks for all the replies. I will stop all multi vitamins starting today. Doctor told me about anti oxident but not mukti vitamins, not sure why.


    It would be good if they just list out all this things in their information booklet.

    Sam

    Talked to my nutritionist yesterday
    and she told me to immediately quit the vitamin E and only take 1/2 dose of fish oil (I had been taking 4 capsules) and no Vitamin C. She said my Silver Centrum was fine. I forgot to tell her about my Prisolec so I will ask about that next week. The antioxident sounds reasonable, tho my nutritionist liked the idea that I was fixing "green" smoothies, so guess they all don't agree on things???
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    Amifostine
    This is also an antioxidant but often prescribed for people going through chemotherapy.
  • Sam999
    Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
    jtl said:

    Amifostine
    This is also an antioxidant but often prescribed for people going through chemotherapy.

    I thought amifostine is a
    I thought amifostine is a medicine given to save salivery glands. Also it is not approved by all centers. I am taking my treatmeng at memorial sloan ketttering and they do not offer this. I do not why. I would do anything to save my salivery glands.
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    Sam999 said:

    I thought amifostine is a
    I thought amifostine is a medicine given to save salivery glands. Also it is not approved by all centers. I am taking my treatmeng at memorial sloan ketttering and they do not offer this. I do not why. I would do anything to save my salivery glands.

    It is prescribed for that
    It is prescribed for that purpose but it is also an antioxidant. So does it make a difference in the effectiveness of RT? Who knows, just another crap shoot.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    Amifostine
    My chemo MD prescribed Amifostine for me during concurrent chemo/rads to help minimalize the thick phlegm that some get during this time, with the added possibility that it might help recovery of salivary glands.

    For me, I never had the phlegm issues, and now three years post treatment I have around 95% of my saliva back, and 100% of taste.

    Amifostine is a pharmacological antioxidant used as a cytoprotectant in cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is thought to protect normal tissues relative to tumor tissue against oxidative damage inflicted by cancer therapies by becoming concentrated at higher levels in normal tissues. The degree to which amifostine nevertheless accumulates in tumors and protects them against cancer therapies has been debated. Guidelines have been published that direct its use in chemotherapy and radiation, taking into consideration the concerns of tumor protection. In this article, clinical studies of amifostine appearing since the publication of the most recent set of guidelines are reviewed. Randomized and nonrandomized trials of regimens involving chemo-therapeutic agents (chemotherapy, chemoradiation, conditioning regimens for bone marrow transplant) are discussed. Nineteen studies showed positive effects for amifostine reducing the level of side effects of these regimens, while 9 showed no effect and 1 had a questionable result. Clinically relevant levels of amifostine toxicity were observed in several studies, but subcutaneous administration may reduce such toxicity. Amifostine showed protection against mucositis, esophagitis, neuropathy, and other side effects, although protection against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity was not observed. No evidence of tumor protection was observed. Amifostine may enable populations unable to tolerate conventional cancer therapy to receive treatment of their cancers, even if some degree of tumor protection is eventually discovered. The authors discuss the implications of this research for patient populations seen in integrative cancer care centers and for research on phytochemical antioxidants such as vitamins and carotenoids. ,

    JG
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    Skiffin16 said:

    Amifostine
    My chemo MD prescribed Amifostine for me during concurrent chemo/rads to help minimalize the thick phlegm that some get during this time, with the added possibility that it might help recovery of salivary glands.

    For me, I never had the phlegm issues, and now three years post treatment I have around 95% of my saliva back, and 100% of taste.

    Amifostine is a pharmacological antioxidant used as a cytoprotectant in cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is thought to protect normal tissues relative to tumor tissue against oxidative damage inflicted by cancer therapies by becoming concentrated at higher levels in normal tissues. The degree to which amifostine nevertheless accumulates in tumors and protects them against cancer therapies has been debated. Guidelines have been published that direct its use in chemotherapy and radiation, taking into consideration the concerns of tumor protection. In this article, clinical studies of amifostine appearing since the publication of the most recent set of guidelines are reviewed. Randomized and nonrandomized trials of regimens involving chemo-therapeutic agents (chemotherapy, chemoradiation, conditioning regimens for bone marrow transplant) are discussed. Nineteen studies showed positive effects for amifostine reducing the level of side effects of these regimens, while 9 showed no effect and 1 had a questionable result. Clinically relevant levels of amifostine toxicity were observed in several studies, but subcutaneous administration may reduce such toxicity. Amifostine showed protection against mucositis, esophagitis, neuropathy, and other side effects, although protection against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity was not observed. No evidence of tumor protection was observed. Amifostine may enable populations unable to tolerate conventional cancer therapy to receive treatment of their cancers, even if some degree of tumor protection is eventually discovered. The authors discuss the implications of this research for patient populations seen in integrative cancer care centers and for research on phytochemical antioxidants such as vitamins and carotenoids. ,

    JG

    I never had to take the
    I never had to take the stuff but studies say it does help. I never had much of a saliva issue, even at 6 months post I never have to take anything at night for dry mouth. However there are some foods that are more problematic like white chicken which to me is very dry without some type of sauce. Still not 100% on the taste, hopefully that will improve but if not I can live with it all things considered.

    John
  • Sam999
    Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
    jtl said:

    I never had to take the
    I never had to take the stuff but studies say it does help. I never had much of a saliva issue, even at 6 months post I never have to take anything at night for dry mouth. However there are some foods that are more problematic like white chicken which to me is very dry without some type of sauce. Still not 100% on the taste, hopefully that will improve but if not I can live with it all things considered.

    John

    I wish they do more study on
    I wish they do more study on drugs like this that are aleady approved and available. For all i know, i could find out 5 years later that taking this medicine would have really helped
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    Sam999 said:

    I wish they do more study on
    I wish they do more study on drugs like this that are aleady approved and available. For all i know, i could find out 5 years later that taking this medicine would have really helped

    Who Knows
    It seems that some on here have been just as successful without it....

    JG
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    Skiffin16 said:

    Who Knows
    It seems that some on here have been just as successful without it....

    JG

    I hope amifostine is all it's cracked up to be....
    I've been doing the deed for almost 4 weeks now.......and I call it a "deed" because it isn't the most pleasant part of my day. I'm hanging in there, but I can tell you that the smell of everything surrounding the shot make me gag...

    p
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member

    I hope amifostine is all it's cracked up to be....
    I've been doing the deed for almost 4 weeks now.......and I call it a "deed" because it isn't the most pleasant part of my day. I'm hanging in there, but I can tell you that the smell of everything surrounding the shot make me gag...

    p

    I'm An Advocate...
    I do feel that it helped me...if nothing else with the phlegm issues alone that I read about.

    I use to hate having the port flushed, I could taste alcohol every time. Not sure if the taste was in my mind from them cleaning it, or something they used to flush it with.

    But as soon as they started injecting the solution, I could taste it.

    JG