Vitamins/Supplements during chemo???

You are quite right to wonder. Your oncologist shouldn't be worried about supplements being useless, quite the opposite.

Studies indicate a lot of things about supplements and naturopathic interventions during chemo, some good, some bad.  Some antioxidants, for instance, are believed to protect both good and bad cells.  Other supplements may block the efficacy of chemotherapy.

The problem is, there will never be enough studies to definitively state all the effects. There are just too many supplements, for starters!  I made the decision to focus on the ones I felt had the most track record.  I used l-glutamine, and I did indeed avoid neuropathy.  Luck?  Hard to say.  The studies also indicate it, too may block some of the power of chemo.  I actually avoided almost all supplements during chemo active treatment.  My naturopathic intervention during chemo was diet (very high protein) and l-glutamine with focus on good foods.  When I finished chemo, I did a variety of cleanses and shifted my focus to supplements I thought worth considering.  I'm pretty spare--one doctor told me to only take US RDA of any supplement as other amounts may block the Tamoxifen I am on.  Again, never will be enough studies.  I stick to D, fish oil, calcium (for my sad post-chemo bones) and probiotics when I remember.

Is there a possibility to work with a naturopath affiliated with your hospital?  That is what I did, and it was much easier to get cross flow of information.  I had to seek all this out myself, but I did find the balance of the two, with some even headedness on my part, was very helpful.

Here's a study from Sloan Ketterling that claims L-glutamine is helpful during chemo...nothing about reducing effectiveness. In fact, I remember reading (when I was doing my own research) that glutamine can make cells more receptive to chemo...it was a study, not just a website, but I can't remember where I found it.

http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/glutamine

Claire, that is AWESOME news about the l-glutamine!  I am really happy about that.  I will try to dig up the research I read otherwise, but I want to believe this one. indenial, I understand exactly how you feel.  It is so difficult when we feel like we already did everything right, and we want some control. You might try to incorporate some positive reinforcement through self talk to switch your fear to positive thoughts.  Sometimes, these "mantras" will come naturally. One that came to me was, "I have everything I need."  It helped me stop being frantic about research and the unknown.

Sleep, water, exercise, l-glutamine, and high protein will do a lot to get you through treatment.  Maybe you don't need more than that for now, and then you can think about the others when you need to heal.

This covers some of the concerns about l-glutamine.  It can fuel tumor cell growth.  The in-vivo animal study data showed this not to be the case.  But as we know, animal studies are not human studies, or clinical trials. http://www.nhiondemand.com/viewcontent.aspx?mgid=519

Anyway, I'm sticking with Sloan on this one!

At the Univ of Michigan, they warned me not to take alot of supplements without permission - even juicing - as it can interfere with Chemo.  One of my Nurse Practitioners had her doctorate in Alternative Medicines and she warned me about it.  She said juicing can be so effective, it will fight Chemo. 

Vitamin B was allowed...and I remember the Rad Onc saying not to take a bunch of supplements during Radiation either.  The minute I was done, I got the go ahead.

yep, the l-glutamine is kind of gross; some ladies put it in tea (I never had the time) or juice.  I just swallowed quickly and got on with my day! Good luck. I'll bet you do fine and we are all rooting for you!