Chemotherapy drugs benefit and side effects by Ray Sahelian, M.D. Natural supplements  and herbs to prevent or reduce harm to the body and nausea

Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. Most people use the term chemotherapy to refer primarily to drugs used to treat cancer.

Natural supplements and herbal therapy for nausea
There are several natural supplements and treatments that may be of benefit:

Ginger herb may be useful to reduce chemotherapy induced nausea. The use of ginger herb daily beginning a few days before chemotherapy reduces nausea associated with the drug treatment. Julie Ryan of the University of Rochester in New York reports people who started taking ginger capsules several days before a chemo infusion had fewer and less severe bouts of nausea afterward than others who were given placebo capsules. Ginger has long been promoted for stomach upsets, ranging from motion sickness to morning sickness during pregnancy. The study used purified ginger root extract made by Aphios Corp. of Woburn, Mass. Julie Ryan found that ginger caused no side effects. The dosage used was equivalent to about one gram of the herb per day.

Milk thistle could be helpful in reducing liver damage from the use such drugs.

Drugs used in chemotherapy
There are dozens of common drugs used in chemotherapy by oncologists (cancer specialists). Here is a discussion of a few:

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) - In cancer patients, treatment with the probiotic Lactobacillus reduces the frequency of severe diarrhea and abdominal pain that often comes with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy.
Anthracyclines are used to treat a variety of cancers, including leukemia, lymphomas, uterine, ovarian and breast cancer.
Carboplatin
Cisplatin is used widely to treat different cancers including testicular, germ cell, head and neck, bladder and lung cancer.
Cyclophosphamide
Thiotepa

Chemotherapy risk for breast cancer patients - mental decline
As a treatment for high-risk breast cancer patients, chemotherapy with high-dose cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and carboplatin is associated with a drop in cognitive performance over time.

I had chemotherapy two and a half years ago -- a protocol including one of the drugs mentioned in your newsletter. I have 'chemo brain' (and also a massive worsening of long-standing and previously mild and very slowly progressive MS). Is there any reason to suppose that n acetylcysteine NAC might be useful so long after chemotherapy? I understand you cannot give individual advice, but I would be interested to know your opinion on NAC's role, if any, in reversing 'chemo brain' rather than merely helping to prevent it.
    It is possible that either n acetyl-cysteine or other brain nutrients such as acetyl-carnitine and other may be useful. Another combination to consider is Mind Power Rx. It is difficult to predict which nutrient or combination formula would be most helpful, but is worth a try. Fish oils may also be of benefit.

Chemotherapy risk - increase in heart disease
Chemotherapy medicines called anthracyclines are used to treat a variety of cancers, including leukemia, lymphomas, uterine, ovarian and breast cancer. They also weaken the hearts of those who are exposed to these drugs during chemotherapy..

Taxol chemotherapy not worth it
October 2007 - Taxol does not work for the most common form of breast cancer and helps far fewer patients than has been believed. More than 20,000 women each year in the United States alone might be spared the side effects of Taxol chemotherapy drug or similar ones without significantly raising the risk their cancer will return. That would be roughly half of all breast cancer patients who get chemo now. Taxol does not help women whose tumors are HER-2 negative.

Ondansetron for chemotherapy associated nausea
FDA has approved the first generic versions of Zofran (ondansetron) injection and injection premixed. Ondansetron is used to prevent nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of cancer chemotherapy and following surgery.

Chemotherapy causes brain cells to die
Chemotherapy causes changes in sensitive areas of the brain, which may partly account for some of the previously reported cognitive difficulties reported by patients and referred to as "chemobrain." The nerve cell mechanisms responsible for cognitive impairments related to chemotherapy are not completely understood, say Dr. Masatoshi Inagaki, of the National Cancer Center Hospital East in Chiba, Japan. Among 105 women who participated in a 1-year study, 51 received chemotherapy and 54 did not. Among the 132 women in a 3-year study, 73 received chemotherapy and 59 did not. Women treated with chemotherapy showed changes in a number of brain regions involving in mental functioning. Three years later, however, these differences were no longer apparent. It appears that chemotherapy could have a temporary effect on brain structure. Cancer, January 1, 2007. Mark Noble, a specialist in neural stem cell biology at the University of Rochester, New York, led a research team which tested healthy brain cells with normal clinical doses of chemotherapy drugs carmustine, cisplatin and cytosine arabinoside. The drugs are often used to treat people suffering certain breast cancers, lung cancer, colon cancer, leukemia, brain tumors and some lymphomas. The study found that the drugs were more toxic to neural cells than to the cancer cells they targeted. The drugs killed 70-100 percent of brain cells, while only 40-80 percent of the cancer cells were killed. Tested on animal neural cells, the cells kept dying for six weeks after the chemotherapy treatment was administered, the study found.

N-Acetylcysteine for memory loss in patients undergoing chemotherapy
There is a condition called "chemo-brain," which effects a large number of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy patients. Patients with this condition suffer from memory loss and have difficulty with focus and concentration. Dr. Gregory W. Konat and colleagues at West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown first gave one group of rats to two drugs commonly used to treat cancer, Adriamycin and Cytoxan. These drugs led to memory problems. However, memory loss was prevented when the researchers gave the rats Acetyl-L-Cysteine, or NAC, injections three times per week during chemotherapy administered four times per week. Some have suggested that antioxidants could theoretically interfere with the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Since chemotherapy kills cancer cells, at least in part, by creating oxidative stress, taking antioxidants could weaken the cancer-fighting ability of chemotherapy drugs. A recent analysis of past studies found that antioxidants do not diminish the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Metabolic Brain Disease, September 2008.
   Comments: Since it is still not fully clear whether antioxidant treatment influences the effectiveness of cancer drugs during treatment, one option is to begin antioxidant therapy with n-acetylcysteine a week after the last chemotherapy dose.

Nurse exposure to chemotherapy drugs
When oncology nurses have skin contact with chemotherapy drugs, it seems to increase the time needed to conceive and to also raise the risk of premature delivery. Even very low (skin exposure to chemotherapy drugs can cause an elevated risk of a prolonged time to pregnancy, premature delivery, or a low birth weight, even when gloves are worn during work, according to Dr. Wouter Fransman  from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. On average, nurses with skin exposure to chemotherapy drugs took one month longer than unexposed nurses to get pregnant, the authors report. Moreover, nurses exposed to chemotherapy drugs were twice as likely as unexposed nurses to deliver a low birthweight child. Epidemiology, January 2007.

Chemotherapy questions
Q. My husband has stage four colon cancer he is taking Plavix 75mg, Imdur 30mg, toprol ZL 25mg once daily. He is to start chemotherapy tablets Xeloda. What supplements would you recommend?
   A. We can't give individual advice buy you could take a look at the colon cancer page for suggestions. We wish him the best outcome.