Supplements I used during chemo
Hello friends!
Many of you have been interested in my use of an integrative approach to treatment during my 3 months of chemotherapy. I chose to follow the conventional method for 3 main reasons:
I wanted to stay home close to my family alternative care centers are based throughout the country and the world but would require me to live there for periods of time)
My specific cancer has an extremely high success rate when treated with chemo. This is not the case for all cancers. Even my holistic minded, naturopathic and functional medicine friends pointed me in this direction for this case.
I had already done SO much with supplementation and lifestyle, my goal was to eliminate the burden of the tumor in my body so that I could continue with my healthy lifestyle allowing it to remain in remission.
That being said, I took a very integrative approach to treatment and we spent over $20K out of pocket to incorporate things like a detox specialist (using after treatment) an emotional code therapist (to dig deeper to any emotional blocks or issues I needed to release that may be hindering my healing, hiring an integrative oncologist/naturopath to guide me through supplementation to counteract any side effects from the chemo and protect my body through the process keeping it as strong as possible, and Vitamin C IVs on the off weeks to help me recover, but also to act as an assist to the chemo itself.
That’s a pretty hefty price tag but one we were willing to pay. Choosing conventional treatment was something Patrick and I both had peace about, but living with long term side effects like heart damage, lung problems, or peripheral neuropathy was NOT something I wanted to deal with later. In my view, choosing to pay quite a bit up front to support my body through this journey is in replacement of paying for long term medical care the rest of my life.
One of the most effective and affordable portions of my investment were the supplements and many have asked what used! I wanted to share them below but first I must say that I don’t recommend just reading a book and incorporating supplements, or guessing at what your body needs. I know quite a bit about supplementation and my body but I hired a specialist to guide me through the process and the tweaks and adjustment she helped me make were invaluable the past 3 months. If you would like to hire the same woman I used you can visit her website at www.drheatherpaulson.com
So let’s get to it! Below are al the supplements I was taking by the end of my treatment and that I will remain taking for the next few months.
Most were recommended by my naturopath, some were from personal preference, some were added as we went along and some I was horrible at taking.
Acetyl L Carnitine - For protecting my heart, lungs, kidneys and possibly helping fatigue
L- glutamine - to maintain muscle mass, heal my gut and epithelial lining, prevent mouth sores, and protect against neuropathy
Vitamin E - immune system support
Vitamin D - immune system support
CoQ10 - protect the heart and mitochondrial support
Beef liver - provides B vitamins, Fit A, selenium, and I always feel better on it. In fact, I didn’t take this the first part of my treatments and I’m fairly certain my hair stopped falling out in conjunction with when I brought it back in to my daily regimen
Marrow plus - added in once my WBC began dropping after treatments.
Amy Myers Multivitamin - this was just a multi I really love and was already taking - I ran out and didn’t refill it towards the end just because I was taking so many other things
Vitamin C - immune system support
Complete B-Complex - B vitamins are very helpful with energy and preventing neuropathy. Always look for a high quality b complex that uses folate or L methyfolate and not folic acid
Alphs Lipoic Acid - protects against neuropathy
B-6 (pyridoxal 5 phosphate) - assist with nausea
Biocidin - this is an herbal antibiotic and I didn’t take this at first, but after getting an infection, spending an night in the hospital, and having to be on a ROUGH and strong antibiotic for 10 days, I immediately added this back in when that was over and never had any more problems. It’s the safest, most gentle and still most effecti antibiotic alternative I know of.
Fish oil - for inflammation and cell health. I was horrible at takin this but intend to be much more religious about it during recovery
Curcumin - anti-inflammatory - again I was horrible with taking this just on top of everything else!
And there you have it! This ended up being a VERY large handful of supplements at breakfast with a few second doses later in the day when I could remember and or make my self do it. It was quite a bit. But I will say, I think it helped me tremendously :)
