Minimizing Side-Effects of Chemotherapy

Certain nutrients and supplements can decrease the side effects and improve the efficacy of chemotherapy.  These are the different types of vitamin E or tocopherol molecules.  Choosing the right form of Vitamin E can help reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy agents, such as Doxorubicin which is used for many forms of leukemia's, lymphoma's and breast cancer. 

Chemotherapy or "chemo" continues to be a mainstay of treatment for various types of cancers.  Chemo is frequently the main therapy for blood-based cancers such as lymphoma's and is used as a follow-up treatment to surgery for many solid mass tumors.

One very common fear of chemo is that people can get more sick from the chemo than from the cancer itself.  This is very understandable because chemotherapy is indeed toxic--it has the ability to kill cancer cells but also in the process can also harm the body's healthy cells.

One of my goals as a doctor is to help patients survive chemo as gracefully and comfortably as they can.  I try to support the patient nutritionally and with supplements so that they not only have less side effects, but in some instances, the effectiveness of the chemo may be enhanced.   I am also make sure that there are no interactions between  any supplement and the chemotherapy agent.  I always have this discussion with the patient because it's important.  My feeling is: if someone has already decided to do chemo, then they have to give it the best shot, with the least interference and least side effects possible.

I usually start the nutritional and supplement plan weeks before any surgery or chemo
to build up the "reserves" and the vitality of the person.  Patients or their oncologist will usually discuss the chemotherapy regimen they will follow, including the schedule.  Based on the regimen, I will know what the possible side effects are and I start preparing the patient so they can minimize these side effects.

An example would be doxorubicin, which is a chemotherapeutic agent used for many types of cancers including blood based cancers (leukemia and lymphoma), breast cancer, ovarian cancer.  This chemo agent is notorious for causing heart damage. In fact, one of the most common reasons a patient may stop using this drug is if they have evidence of heart damage.  Luckily, there are multiple studies which show that the correct form of vitamin E (there are many types of vitamin E, from alpha tocopherol to delta and gamma tocopherol), ubiquinol and acetyl-L-Carnitine (once again, there are many types of carnitine, and the key is to choose the correct form) can all protect the heart from damage.

Chemo therapy can be life saving in so many cases and I believe that patients should be able to know that they can do something to minimize the side effects so that they can make a good decision on whether or not they should push through with chemo or not.