teriw Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Thought I'd post a link to this article that came in the CancerCompass newsletter. The title speaks for itself, "Nutritional Supplements Safe And Beneficial For Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy And Radiation Therapy." http://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-new ... 1003:5:1:2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 You may want to take a look at Dr. West's Onctalk.com website where this article is discussed. http://onctalk.com/bbPress/topic.php?id=273&replies=6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernrol Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Teri, I would not comment on that article. There is so much about this subject both ways that it is hard to come up with a good conclusion. I only know what I did and took and what my results have been so far. I have noticed about 4 other people so far that have had similar results and are taking supplements and herbs. I have contacted one I am putting together a spread sheet that will compare what each has taken. So far in the one person I have contacted there are at least a half dozen items that we take that are similar or exactly the same. As I get more comparisons I will share them. I realize how few people this will be, but there is no drug company going to pay for research on supplements. I personally talk to a vice president of Genentech and she did not think too much of supplements even though I had such a good result with Tarceva. I will keep everyone posted as I learn more. There will be nothing scientific about this. It will be just a few people and what the results have been. It will just be a few very interesting stories. The one thing I do see wrong with the article is that there are some supplements that do interfer with chemo, surgery or radiation. Like Dr. West says it seems a little too general. Stay positive, Ernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teriw Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 Great idea, Ernie. I look forward to seeing the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilb Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I'm particularly interested in hearing about people who are taking Melatonion and Astragalus, where I think the evidence is that they may help and can't hurt (studies are almost universally positive but not well-done by US medical science protocols), as well as Shitake or Maitake mushroom mixtures where there seems to be little evidence (again, this is just one patient's read of things) that they hurt but maybe not much evidence that they help. And the one that has me in a quandry is Curcumin, where there seems to be some preliminary excitement, but it could also hurt, but I don't have time to wait for the clinical studies that come out in five years. I certainly agree that the idea that we should lump all supplements together doesn't make much sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alisa Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 My feeling is - "When in doubt, leave it out!" I personally wouldn't take certain antioxidants while undergoing chemo and I'm a big fan of integrative care. But not enough is known yet. There have been studies about a few, and I did take them while on chemo and that is: reishi mushroom; astragalus and Co-enzyme Q10. Studies show it enhances the chemo, protects good cells without protecting the cancer cells. Do a pubmed search. Personally, I think megadoses of any antioxidants/vitamins is risky when undergoing treatment. I would wait until there are more studies ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.