Help please...new to this supplement stuff

ninel · July 2008

I was recently diagnosed and I want to be as healthy as I can be before I start the chemo.

I'm going to try to eat lots of fruits and veggies, but I don't know anything about vitamins/minerals/antioxidants.

Where do I begin? I've been seeing lots of posts on Vitamin D and flax oil. So I went out and bought some. What else do I need to take? Calcium/AntiOxidants/MultiVitamins????

Please if someone can help me out I would really approeciate it. I want to make sure I'm taking the correct things.

Ninel

Anonymous · July 2008

Ninle...You really should discuss this with your onc since most of them tell you to stop everything when you start chemo. The reasoning, of course, is that many of the vitamins that have antioxidant traits will actually protect your cancer cells in addition to protecting your healthy cells. Because of that, many of us here only took supplements like L-Glutamine (to prevent neuropathy) and a few other things that purpotrt to assist chemo in doing its job. I'd say that the best thing you can do is to eat healthily, get alot of rest and exercise daily. I understand your desire to take a proactive role, but you also need to trust your body's natural desire to maintain wellness. So instead of ingesting supplements, you may want to consider pursuing alternative ways to heal your mind and, consequently, your body. I did yoga and had acupuncture and Reiki. I also dedicated myself to regular guided visulaization and meditation and truly believe that this practice had a huge impact on returning my body to health.

~Marin

spar2 · July 2008

My onc told me if I take anything to only take 1 multivitamin and to not eat fresh fruit or berries unless I peeled them and washed them very well. You get all the Vit D that you need from the sun, everyone needs about 10 minutes of sun daily if possible.

anondenet · July 2008

Please check http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/vitd3.html

about vitamin D. Two months ago even more research came out about the importance of Vitamin D adequacy for breast cancer. Even in Hawaii many people were found to be deficient in Vitamin D.

Even the American Cancer Society is citing the importance of D for breast cancer patients.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Study_Sees_Link_Between_Vitamin_D_Breast_Cancer_Prognosis.asp

Don't take anybody's advice, even your doctor's, without seeing the evidence in writing. There are a lot of myths circulating out there. Get the studies!

Anom

FEB · July 2008

You will probably not get any support from your oncs on using any supplements. I decided to anyway, and I think this is why I breezed through treatments. If you have to do chemo, that is another ballgame. I had a lumpectomy and rads, so it was not as serious. I suggest you read Dr Ray Strand's book, "What your Doctor isn't telling you about nutrition may be killing you". He is an MD who changed is mind about using supplements after seeing his patients with good results. From the day of my DX, I became obsessive about eating right and exercising everyday. It not only kept my energy up, the daily walks or bike rides, enabled me to get my head around the emotional trauma. By the time I had surgery, my tumor had already shrunk by 2 cm. I only took a few supplements during treatment, coq10, a multi, omega 3, and I used melatonin to help me sleep. I did not take anything for a couple of days before surgery. After rads, then I started on lots of supplements. It is controversial of course, but they have helped me to feel great. I am now working with a holistic doctor who encourages lots of Vit D for prevention. She says that you would need to spend hours in the sun to get enough vit. d. It took me a couple of months of supplementing to bring up my vit D level. After my last blood test, I was on the border of getting enough. Use your instincts. You know yourself better than anyone.

Are you sure you will need chemo? You will not know for sure until the path report after surgery. I was told that I would have to have chemo if my tumor was 2.0. The ultrasound and mri measured it at 1.8. That is why I became so obsessive about the size and started eating lots of good stuff, no sugar or dairy, and junk. I truly believe that I shrunk the tumor by starving it of the estrogens it needed to grow. Since my nodes were clear and my margins were wide, I probably would not have done chemo anyway. So before you decide on treatment, get more opinions.

amberyba · July 2008

Ninel,

I have learned so much about supplements and nutrition just by searching on the web.

I type in the supplement I'm interested in and breast cancer:

example: flaxseed and breast cancer.

These are the supplements I have googled with Breast cancer:

CoQ10

flaxseed

iodine

curcumin

wheat

others that I know BC survivors use: vit E, Vit A, selenium, cats claw,

anything someone suggests you can research and get your own knowledge base,

It amazes me in what naturally works...just like Linda said about her tumor shrinking...wonderful.

I can tell you from my own experience to that my first excisional biopsy the margins were not clear and the surgeon told me the cancer went to the edge....I went for an MRI CAD and no other BC found and decided for reexcision to get clear margins and radiation thereapy,

I read about CoQ10 studies of 390mg and remission of BC patients in Denmark, so I started taking CoQ10 200mg twice daily...for 3 weeks, on re-excision with just 3 weeks of coq10, there was just one single focal lowgrade 2.5mm BC on the whole piece of tissue.

I can not say for sure the the coq10 helped, but it seemed that way to me.

I have read some great things about Iodine too...and am overly impressed....and will continue to research and utilize Iodine.

BC keeps us on our toes, I am thankful to The Lord for being my strength and answering prayers. Let us keep strong, trust in the Lord and encourage one another.

Help please...new to this supplement stuff

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