Fasting before chemo?

I had Emend and only experienced 1 bout of minor nausea. As for fasting, that's fascinating. I hope it works for you, yummytomato. 

Thanks so much for the link, Deanna. That's really encouraging that metastatic tumors were also reduced. I did try a 17-hour daily fast for a year starting around Christmas 2010. I hoped to be able to consistently starve cancer cells of glucose as well as lose some weight. I am still NED as per scans so maybe it helped along with Femara.

Hi! I had 6 rounds of chemo - 3xFEC and 3 x taxotere and fasted for 60 hours before chemo and 24 hours post following the regimen of Dr Longo. I didn't fast my first treatment and did for the last 5 tx. Overall it was very doable and helped to prevent the gastro blocked feeling, no constipation or diahhrea. I recovered very quickly from each round and have had no lasting effects from chemo - especially no neuropathy at all ( I also took acetyl L carnitine to prevent taxotere neuropathy )

There is a thread in Helping through treatment forum which several 'fasters' compared notes during fasting . I did notice a huge improvement in the reduction of side effects from the first tx when I didn't fast ( sandwiches in the infusion room!) a word of caution though- I discussed the fast with my MO before starting and reviewed the literature and contacted Dr Longo for additional information on the fasting protocol. I also was very healthy ( apart from the pesky cancer) and had a high BMI. Hope this helps!

Cheers Robyn

Before dx 3 weeks ago I was following an alternate day fasting plan, but had only been doing it about a month and it quickly fell off the list of important things after do, but I'm really interested in this. I'm meeting my MO next week for the first time, I'm 34 and really want to get old enough to be able to complain about osteoporosis

Xx kk

Ann, I look forward to hearing your of experience of fasting before chemo. It sounds hard, but I've been doing intermittent fasting off and on for a year (14-16 hour fasts) and it's surprising how easy that is. (I used to be a "I gotta eat something ASAP or my blood sugar will drop!" kind of woman.)

But I've worked out with weights and cardio, worked in the office all day, cleaned house, etc., while fasting, and have done pretty well. It helps to stay busy with projects, like organizing your closets, or gardening, or whatever. It's difficult if you're bored and looking for something to do.

Icy water, soda water (no diet sodas) help, too. Sometimes I alternate with hot water. I don't add anything to it.

The longest I've gone is 24 hours, but I have often thought of exercising my fasting muscles and go longer. Thomas Seyfriend recommends a 7- to 10-day fast once a year as a possible way to stop future cancer growth. Have you seen his book, Cancer as a Metabolic Disease? 

If it turns out I have to do chemo I was going to try to fast and see if it helps. When your friend's dad did the chemo, did he fast for 60 hours or 48 hours before chemo? 60 hours is a long time to fast, hell yeah.

I saw Longo's research, got excited and spoke to my doc about it but she is against it. Which leaves me in an awkward position. Do I just blast forward without her? Find someone else who is open to it? I ended up just reducing my calories by about half. I just emailed him and he emailed back straightaway with general protocol for fasting, which is water only 3 days before and one day after. I am tempted to try that next time without my oncologist being on board, just for one cycle to see what happens. It will be my last AC. I have had such severe headache. I am also meditating for longer than normal in the days around chemo & my mantra is "healthy cells take cover".