Hi there. I have been diagnosed a second time now but with metastatic cancer this time. I had 6 weeks from being diagnosed until I finally got an oncologist appointment. In this time I had done a lot of research and decided a 3 weeks water fast was my best bet to keep the cancer from progressing in that time.
I had my oncology appointment and I told him I’d been fasting, he was visibly annoyed and said ‘you do know we don’t agree with that’, and then said he can refuse treatment if I continued. Also when asked about foods to avoid he said absolutely none, go and eat anything you want! Me and my partner were so shocked. As if to say I was a lost cause who’s going to die so just enjoy it while I can. Since hearing his opinion on fasting and eating whatever I like I have asked to see another oncologist and even debating whether to go ahead with treatment.
Has anyone else experienced opinions like this concerning fasting and diet with their oncologist? I really wish we had an open minded and a nutritionally wise oncologist who I could genuinely take advice from.
Thanks
That’s a terrible way to talk to you but don’t let his attitude put you off receiving the right treatment. My first oncologist was awful and later found out she was a temp. I hope you find a better oncologist it will make such a difference.
Diet is quite a topic and there are some very broad ideas. All my medical team have said is to eat a balanced diet with good range of food types. They did point out grapefruit conflicts with some medicines and to avoid. They also mentioned alcohol, which I now understand can change the body’s chemical reactions with estrogen (I’ve probably not explained that well).
He may have been concerned that fasting is depriving your body of energy or nutrients - whatever the reason he should have explained that to you in a professional manner and offered constructive advice.
I didn’t fast as long as you but did this:
Cycle 3
I ate high protein from Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues and last meal Wed breakfast 8:30am (which was high protein).
Just water after Wed 8:30am and ate Thur post treatment 7:30pm
Cycle 4 same as above but first meal post treatment was Fri AM
I didn’t have the horrible chemical feeling/wee post treatment and my fatigue is a lot less this time (like weirdly less).
I also took hydration tabs 2-3 days before treatment, during treatment & for 5 days after treatment.
I never mentioned it as I was worried about resistance
I’m sorry he spoke to you in such a manner and I would say you’re in charge of your body
If they are worried about the stress you may put on your body they should explain this
And you can make a decision
Hope you get through this xxx
Hi @lilly-daa44, I am really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I definitely don’t think that your oncologist thought that you are a lost cause. 100% not - thoughts are not facts. Whatever thoughts you are having is not what he thinks for sure…they are the experts and dealing with with so many different people from all kind backgrounds, believes, etc. on a daily basis is not easy…
I don’t know your background, age, believes but I can only speak from my own experience with my oncologist. It was really difficult in the beginning…to put your life in somebody else’s hands is very very hard but after 3 years we are best of friends…the building of trust took a lot of time. I had very intense conversations with him, had a second opinion and was really struggling at one point…it was not easy…
What are you doing to your body with fasting, etc. it’s not something I will do for sure but everyone is different…I am a scientist first and foremost, I’ve got a PhD degree in Pharmacy so I also wanted to be well informed but with facts and data. I was always reading the latest research, finding about the latest trials, drugs, etc. thinking that I can find some new treatment but in reality I was just filling my time so not to think about the cancer. At the end, I’ve realised that I am wasting my energy on stuff that I don’t really understand and can’t do anything about instead of spending more time with my kids and husband. I wasn’t in control of my own body…period…my oncologist was…
He is MD and PhD. He spent years of studying about BC. He spent even more years doing research and getting PhD. His bedside manners weren’t the best but he was the expert, I had to remind myself this time and time again…
Don’t get me wrong please and even ignore my advice if you’d like but the only thing I can suggest is maybe find a way to stay grounded and mindful…you know the phrase body and mind!!! In some ways, I think being in the now is the only way to deal with what lay ahead…
Wishing you all the best and take care. x
Thank you for this fasting advice, I hope to do a similar plan if and when I start chemotherapy also. Glad it has helped you. There is definitely something in it and is a shame we have to hide it from the medical professionals.
Thank you for your perspective. I have the complete opposite view of an oncologist having my life in their hands. I left it to them the first time and I’ve ended up here. So this time I’m taking my life in my own hands and I feel so much better and in tune with my intuition and my needs despite not having a pleasant first appointment.
Everyone is different and whatever brings you peace and happiness is 100% right for you.
I have since booked in to see an integrative and functional practitioner who I believe will be much more aligned in my views, I’m also seeing a new oncologist and I’m hoping he will be open minded in working alongside the functional practitioner
Thank you for your advice I appreciate all of it
Hi @lilly-daa44
You are so right . . . Its your body. Your life and your decision what to do with it. Yes lots of information coming from different angles and perspectives but only you know what feels right for you.
I did research and mentioned teas, powders, supplements to my oncologist who said nope not heard of them . . . I knew that moment it was a get out clause for her to not say yes. Even i had heard of some of them pre my cancer and im not in a medical field.
Anyways i did my own thing as to what felt right for me. Took some teas powders. Supplements changed my whole lifestyle really.
I had TNBC 4 years ago, i did have chemo and mastectomy and had a full pathological response which i put down to everything i had combined.
Your words also bring to my mind of a book i have just started reading called Radical Remission by Kelly Turner phd. It was mentioned in one of the forums i was on here recently about non orthodox ways to treat cancer and thought i would give reading it a go. I reckon whats in it is right up your street and will help you moving forward.
You have a fantastic mindset dont let anyone bring you down or dissuade you. Surround yourself with like minded people and go do your thing lovely lady and do it well 
Dear lilly-daa44. Oncology community is the most conservative in medicine. I am a physician myself and currently in therapy for breast cancer. I have created my own dietary regimen stick to it 99% of the time. I have started my own website (not a forum) which is a journal for the most part. I think simplistic way of putting it is this: cancer loves sugar and inflammation - hence the less sugar the better (most carbs) and all the foods that are obviously inflammatory (processed, super fatty, etc). The second important part - if you are in chemotherapy integrative medical community recommends fasting the day before chemo. Logic behind it is that your normal cells sort of go into hibernation whereas cancer cells can’t do that hence when chemo starts it attacks more active cells (which are cancer cells) sparing more normal cells since they are in hybernation)
I am very interested in this topic.
But I find that it’s very hard to know what to believe or who to follow. I would love an approach with both in mind however it’s just not that easy.
I would advise starting with Liz O’Riordan. She is a breast surgeon who got bc three times and talks about alternatives too. But ultimately she is very focused on health and exercise to combat recurrence.
The one problem I have found with all of advice outside of the medical field is that the way it is presented is very logical and all makes sense to those of us not medically trained. However there is so much bs out there too which I worry if followed could interfere with the medical treatment. I have a very open mind yet when “advice” is posted on popular podcasts people often can take it as fact and often there is no real back up save a few rat experiments which are easily debunked.
I also read “how to starve cancer” and much made sense and yet I haven’t read or seen anything by way of a published medical case study despite the book being written in 2018. So it’s hard to know what’s right from wrong. I would love to spend a few hours asking my own oncologist her real thoughts but the truth of the matter is with a short window to talk at my appointments I need to know how she plans on keeping me healthy and I would think it must be frustrating for people who have spent years studying to get presented with some of the theories so maybe their manner doesn’t come out the best as a result.
Instinctively I do feel like sugar and alcohol are v problematic but the sugar debate has yet to be proved and also Ultra processed foods have to be doing damage.
But with regards some of the advice it can be v misleading. It reminds me a bit of the Titan submersible. They were the disrupters and not listening to convention and were applauded for going against all the advice and breaking the rules.
Don’t get me wrong we all need to find a better way but if these alternatives are truly ground breaking they should prove it by following the published medical case study routes. Would love to hear if these are out there btw.
Yes we are all masters of our own bodies but just beware of the people trying to profit from our fear. And mind yourselves.
Yes for sure I get what you are saying completely there is definitely a lot of crap out there and it’s so hard to believe. I’m more inclined to believe the people who have cured their cancer and often times cured terminal cancer, than those such as Liz o riordan (often mentioned on this forum as someone to take advise from) when she has had breast cancer three times. She follows the medical protocol and is on medication yet someone who goes against that, cures her cancer writes books and is ignored by the medical community and discredited because it’s just ‘anecdotal’. I have also seen Liz slam podcasts for ‘dangerous misinformation’ which infuriated me. Dr Seyfried has saved many lives through his metabolic approach and I’m so grateful to have found him, as many others are.
The reality is, using food, diets, fasting and other alternative treatments; mistletoe, high dose vit c, hyperbaric chambers, methanlyn blue, off label drugs, etc is never going to sustain the cancer money tree for big pharma, big food companies and the medical industry. There will never be funding for those kind of studies.
I may be totally wrong, but I have no interest in adding a few months on or few years, I have full intention to cure it and when I do I too will be writing a book.
Yes it’s hard to find what’s true and I believe the combination is maybe where the future lies. I think it’s only when Doctors start investigating we will see real change.
Are you following the metabolic diet then and if so how are you finding it?
Interested to hear how you get on and also on the intergrative approach.
Nonsense