My mum is due to start her first round of chemotherapy next week and she’s been seeing a fantastic naturopathic doctor who’s given her various supplements such as probiotics, zinc and magnesium and homeopathic remedies to support her immune system. I’ve noticed that someone said on here that they couldn’t take their alternative ‘stuff’ while they were having chemo so I wondered if anyone else can comment please? I hear cranial osteopathy is good for re-balancing the body after a chemo session.
Pernilla - can’t see your message!!
However, title very clear… In Bristol we can have a referral to the homeopathic hospital as a matter of course, and there are dedicated practitioners who treat chemo/surgery patients, so I guess homeopathy is fine.
Regarding alternative therapy, I would advise that you ask your oncologist (if you are in that boat) first. My onc said he was quite happy for me to have any alternative therapy. I then found it impossible to find a local therapist to give me reflexology. although several considered it and discussed it with their mentors. same with massage. the theory was that these therapies open up energy channels and the fear was that metastatic cells could in theory be encouraged to move.
Having said that, the Penny Brohn centre is also in bristol (used to be the Bristol Cancer Help centre) and you can get any therapy there…
And have you noticed that all health spas advise that you don’t use them if being treated for cancer? I thought this was daft and went to a spa in July (mid chemo) - I got an awful eye infection which took 3 weeks to clear from the spa water! That’ll teach me!
Hope tihis is what your question was about!
Td x
I’ve heard about Bristol on the grape vine sounds great, I soooooo wish I being treated there as I’m using homeopathy against my onc’s advise but then they’re *so* ignorant about it that they don’t know the difference between herbal and homeopathic and don’t seem inclined to learn anything about it so I’ve had to just get advice elsewhere.
I would advise that you first ascertain whether your onc knows anything about it at all and ask their general opinion that will tell you a lot. Some are more informed than others, mine’s totally ignorant but then he’s an onc not a naturopath. A lot of oncs and nurses take the totally understandable attitude that if they haven’t seen trial data on something they can’t recommend it, which make a lot of sense but as someone who’s mum’s a homeopath and who’s used homeopathy for over 10 years there was no way on this earth I was just going to pump myself full of pain killers etc just because he’s not informed, so in my case I am going against the advice of my onc which a lot of people on here would totally frown upon, but they’re not me and don’t have my experience (or my mums, or her homeopath who’s advising and has treated over 40 patients who’ve had BC and a lot of have done chemo).
So while you say people who couldn’t take alternative stuff… I’m one of them and it hasn’t stopped me.
Herbal is out though, especially st johns wort and herbals that act on the liver.
You’re mum’s immune system is going to take a hell of a battering so she’ll need to be careful in the middle of each cycle. My last dose is next week and I’ve learnt so much about nutrition to help the immune system… another thing my onc says ins’t possible, but what’s the harm in eating things you belive to help eh, even if it is all in the mind (yeah right LOL).
She certainly does have to be careful about viral and bacterial infections though, eg swimming pools are best avoided until well after the chemo and I bought a bottle of Vicks first defence hand foam which kills bacteria for 3 hours, it’s allowed me to do things that would have otherwise been risky.
Because my onc doesn’t approve of homeopathy I have tried to use it only when really necessary, ie when I would have had to use something that certainly would leave a trace like a pain killer (like the liver’s not already doing enough).
Hope this helps, and I hope hers is more informed than mine.
Angie
Hi,
If i want to take anything different I just have to phone in and the hospital dispensary check it out. You do have to be careful as you don’t want things that encourage cells to grow/ get better as any cancer cells you might have lap it up too. I am sure the person knows what they are doing but it does not take long to check if you want to. A personal decision. You have to be very careful about taking vitamins as 2 affect the working of the chemotherapy, they think. One is carotene, forgot the other. I posted another thread, listing the things the American cancer organisation have actually stated should not be used, mostly supplements. Will look for it and bump it up for you. Anything that makes you feel better is good on the other stuff. I have been told not to touch probiotic foods or anything with live bacteria, by the way. The only thing I have been told is dodgy on the therapies, is a full massage if you have had nodes out as they can affect the passage of the lymph so only cancer trained people can do it. Sorry this sounds a bit glum!
hope this helps and lots of luck to Mum
Lily
Oh boy, I’m so confused. Everything you say makes sense but it’s so hard to know what to do for the best. My GP doesn’t believe in anything remotely non-medicinal or homeopathic or whatever, and yet it has done wonders for my little girl, but that’s another matter. Cancer is a different story entirely so I don’t know what I’m dealing with, but the naturopath reckons that it’s hard for cancer to live or thrive in an alkaline body (whereas acid supposedly makes it breed) and so her aim is to rebalance the body and make it strong and alkaline so that the cancer cannot come back. She has this machine called iolife (if you google ‘iolife cancer’ you will find it) which is supposedly fantastic for fighting infection and is recommended during chemo & radiotherapy but I just can’t bear the thought of encouraging her to do anything that might jeopardise her treatment. How on earth is one to know? I suppose at the end of the day it’s her choice. It’s her body. And I have a feeling her oncologist will be someone who doesn’t approve of alternative medicine. Hm.
I would definitely like to see the list from the American cancer organisation - thank you so much - it’s just so helpful to hear what you all think. I thought I was fine about it all but I’m freaking a bit now that it’s all so real. And I feel so gutted for my mum. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat to me about this. It’s a whole new world to me…
Thank you and I will be praying for every single one of you to get better.
Pernilla
Hi Pernilla,
I hope I did not confuse you too much, None of us have the guaranteed answers, because if we knew that we would all be doing the same thing. I do think that it helps if you believe in your treatment as you go through the tougher parts. My oncologist really chucks the chemo and rads at almost all patients and especially those under 50. He also runs the alternative therapy centre and encourages refexology, lymph massage, counselling, group support, etc, so perhaps you can have a foot in each camp and take the best of both worlds.
Hope you found my other post. I am not knowledgeable about many of these alternatives, and never heard of the alkaline theory or the iolife, so can’t comment. Why don’t you do another post to see if anyone has tried them out as they would give you much more relevant feedback. I just do as I am told!
Best wishes
Lily x
I know exactly what she’s talking about and alkalying my body is part of my approach to fixing myself long term.
What you need to try and get your head around is chemo is effective, very effctive but it’s brutal on the body in itself. I think it’s wise to step back to a point and not ask it to do too much more than it has to during chemo.
Once that’s over it’s over to her again, and I’m reading up on nutrition for exactly that reason, there is a lot of evidence that alkaline bloods are inhospitable to cancer (and other illnesses) but this is an area that’s easily misunderstood, it does NOT mean don;t eat acidic foods, eg fresh greens and citrus fruits are very acidic but have the opposite effect when digested.
This isn’t something I’ve talked about here before for many reasons which I’ll leave well alone bur please feel free to message me if you want to know more but while she’s doing chemo I would suggest that she doesn’t try to do too many treatments at once.
I’m using homeopathy to manage symptoms alone at this stage, once I’m free of hte worst of those side effects I’ll o back to dietary fixing if that makes sense.
Interestingly some of the first chemos to be introduced were based on mustard gases and they were alkalytic agents so it is disturbing that this info is dismissed so light heartedly. For your information one of those alkalytic agents is cyclophosphamide. Which is the C in FEC.
There’s a great book written by an oncologist called “Coping with chemotherapy” if you want to know more about the science behind various chemos.
I’m no oncologist or nurse. I’m just a science head who’s been bored and taken in too much info but I’ve learnt that naturopathy and oncology isn’t always at odds and alkalizing the body isn’t such a bad idea long term anyway.
I hope this helps. please feel free to ask more questions so we can help irradicate confusion. I found it hard for the first 6 months but the fog is clearing and it’s quite possible to follow both paths, but sadly you do have to remind both the homeopaths and the oncologists that it’s your life from time to time.
If you’re interested in nutrition you might like to get some books by patrick holford out of the library. He’s one of the leading nutritional experts in the UK and speaks frankly about a lot of things and refers to studies. He’s not a cancer expert though, it’s more holistic health information ie how to be healthy and not depleted of what you need to fight infections etc. It’s not a whole foods you’d better become vegan tommorrow kind of book, just information for you to choose what to do with.
Hope this helps.
Dear Vertangle, thank you so much for your comments and advice. It does make sense - she’s thinking that she’ll stop taking all her supplements while she’s undergoing chemo (though she might take homeopathic remedies for side effects) and then go full-on when her treatment is over. I am big on the alkaline thing (I’ve been seeing the same naturopath so I know all about the acid thing, ie lemons are great!). She’s called Gudrun Jonsson and has written books too…it was Elle MacPherson who recommended her and she’s doing pretty good for her age!. I would love to ask you more questions - can you give me your email address? My biggest confusion is the contradiction between helping your body to stay ‘healthy’ at the same time as destroying it with chemo. Basically…is there any point in doing anything to help your body or should you just ride out the treatment without taking any notice of nutrition etc? ie if one of the side effects is constipation, it seems that people take drugs to help. Flax seed is a natural aid to constipation - should you take the drugs or the flax seed? Do you see what I’m getting at? Anyway thank you to EVERYONE for your help. Mum is having her first chemo tomorrow and I feel so lucky to have found this website. Thank you all and good luck on your paths xxx