What are your thoughts re: a post-chemo detox?

I guess I'm a little conservative on this issue and would be afraid of going overboard on 'cleansing' if you mean colonics and stuff. Since you'll be having surgery, you need to avoiding upsetting certain balances and becoming deficient or dehydrated. My belief is that the body can be left to it's own devices, to some extent, and allowed to heal itself...but with a little help. To that end, I think I'd focus on keeping my diet as 'clean' and pure as possible, eating only organic food and food that is fresh from the farm, if that's possible. Green tea, some basic, healing herbs and supplements that support a healthy immune system and fight free radicals. Also, making an effort to achieve 'inner' healing and serenity might go a long way in promoting maximum healing for you. I refer to things like Reiki, massage, developing a basic yoga practice, and if you are spiritual or religious, becoming regular with prayer and/or meditation.

Just a few thoughts, anyway....

AND CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING CHEMO!!!!!

Marin

Dear Bayore

I have been treating survivors of cancer for two decades(See Nutritional Medicine entry of 5-5-07)

I have found that the best way to deal with post-chemotherapy states is to alkalinize your body which can easily bemeasured by testing your saliva pH daily.

What is pH? It is the measure of alkalinity or acidity in your body. After chemotherapy, most people are acid and the acid causes many problems. If your saliva is acidic, there is a very high chance your body is acid as well.

The opposite is true. If you are alkaline, your body functions better in every sense of the word, and toxins that may have accumulated during treatment are more easily removed from the body.

How do you measure this? Using a pH paper strip from any chemical supply store.

I give these to all my patients an the results have been amazing. More amazing is the fact that you can monitor yourself as many times as you wish during the day which increases your awareness of what you are doing or not doing and its effects on your body, including medicines, nutritional supplements, food, excercise and cancer therapies.

Take care and I hope you feel better and better every day

Victor A Marcial-Vega, MD
Board Certified Oncologist

I did a detox tea, the Flor-Essence Essiac tea that's sold in bottles. I swear it helped me to recover more quickly (that, and a few other things). It tastes just like tea, not nasty. It comes in a dry, make-it-yourself, version too. Just FYI...

Oh, and congrats on finishing chemo!!!

Jaybird

Congratulations on finishing chemo Holly! I hadn't seen you posting on the boards in a while and hoped that you were doing well.
Please keep us posted with your progress.

Hi Holly,
Congratulations on finishing chemo!!Feels marvellous, doesnt it?
You've gotten great suggestions, and I think your own ideas are great.Marin's proticol couldnt be better, could it?
Just came to smile, and applaud you at the end of your ordeal!
Rock on!
hugs, joan

Hi Holly,

Congratulations on *finishing chemo*!!! So here is where you've been hiding out!!!

I was just wondering if any of you took adriamycin and what your reaction is to the news yesterday. I was thunderstruck!!!

Holly, I can't thank you enough for talking me out of taking adriamycin because of my heart concerns...I have a little bit of an arrhythmia problem now that started during rads, but nothing serious, but I am sure it would have been much worse on AC.

Do any of you need to start hormonals?!!! Here I was feeling just about perfect, started Tamoxifen, and no hot flashes. Yeah!!! But now I have to change from Prozac to Effexor and the flashes are back!!! Prozac & tamo don't work together. I am not a good candidate for the AIs now because my bone density test showed ostepenia.

I am thinking of just going off Prozac & Effexor altogether rather than deal with the side effects of another heavy mysterious drug..!!!!

Mizsissy

Missy I did not hear the news about adriamycin could you tell me more

I realize that this posting is quite a few years after the original question was posed.  However, just in case someone finds it useful, I am responding...

I had stage 4 metastic anaploid hormone active breast cancer.  My treatment was intense and quite literally knocked me off my feet for weeks on end during each course - nearly killed me twice (once on my son's 10th birthday).  It took three years of chemo, surgery, radiation and more chemo.  During that time I was unable to work and I took a wholistic approach - which included massage therapy, chiropractic care, support group for me, support group for my children (who were in elementary school at the time), care of family and friends, involving my children as much as appropriately possible, music, art, volunteering, practicing mindfulness, prayer, visualization (of the chemo drugs eating the cancer all gone), taking a computer class (I didn't know anything about computers and it helped stimulate my brain), humor, treasuring my time with my children, eating as healthily as I could tolerate, staying as busy and active as I could manage, counting my blessings, practicing gratitude....

After treatment was all over, I continued to maintain the wholistic approach and also went through a cleansing regimen which included drinking lots of water, a thoughtful regimin of vitamins and minerals (including niacin), sauna and steam, exercise (to regain stamina, strength and muscle integrity), classes (to exercise my brain in an effort to shake of that chemo-brain fog).

Good news is that the fatigue eventually gets less and less.  Energy, stamina, endurance, strength and brain power eventually returns!  Key:  patience and perseverance!

Hang in there!