Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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Myeloma- Antioxidants, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-Angiogenesis
“At present, there is no strategy to reduce the risk of recurrence of the primary tumors or of a second cancer among survivors. Patients unresponsive to standard or experimental therapies have little option except for poor quality of life for the remainder of life.”
Are antioxidants the answer? The dirty little secret of modern oncology is that cancer therapy-surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy, often leads to relapse of the original cancer, a treatment-related secondary cancer or a lifetime of long-term and late stage side effects.
Experience living with my cancer, Multiple Myeloma- since my diagnosis in early 1994, has taught me that newly diagnosed cancer patients will live better, longer lives if they think about their cancer treatment as a whole. Not just about their induction therapy and reaching their first remission.
Please understand that your oncologist will usually think short-term aka “progression free survival” meaning survival to your first remission.
I understand that this big picture thinking is difficult. I didn’t do this when I was first diagnosed so I’m preaching a sort of “do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. In my defense, my mantra is “I wish I knew then what I know now…”
If you are trying to think big picture as a cancer patient or caregiver, the studies below talk about anti-oxidation- before, during and after conventional therapies such as surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy.
While I would be the first to say that there is no single answer to the antioxidant debate, I would be the first person to encourage you to consult with an integrative oncologist about your specific situation. There are many studies that document how antioxidants can enhance the efficacy of a chemotherapy drug with reducing the toxicity of that chemo drug.
Whether you are a newly diagnosed cancer patient or a cancer survivor who has concluded his/her induction/initial therapy, learning about complimentary therapies such as antioxidants, whole body hyperthermia or acupuncture can make a real difference in your life.
An example of my thinking is the post I’ve linked below. I credit a nutritional supplement called Curcumin with keeping me in complete remission from my incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. In addition to killing multiple myeloma, curcumin has been shown to help my chemotherapy-induce heart damage, help my chemobrain, and even make me younger!
To Learn More about Angiogenesis and Cancer- click now
If you have any questions about managing your own long-term or late stage side effects or if you have any questions about antioxidants, please scroll down the page, post a question or a comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
Thanks very much,
David Emerson
- Myeloma Survivor
- Myeloma Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- The Most BioAvailable Curcumin Formulas
- Supplements, Nutrition and Multiple Myeloma- A How-To Guide
- Survey Cites Need for Multiple Myeloma Cancer Coaching
Should patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy be prescribed antioxidants?
“Patients would be well advised to seek the opinion of physicians who are adequately trained and experienced in the intersection of 2 complex fields, that is, chemotherapeutics and nutritional oncology. Physicians whose goal is comprehensive cancer therapy should refer their patients to qualified integrative practitioners who have such training and expertise to guide patients. A blanket rejection of the concurrent use of antioxidants with chemotherapy is not justified by the preponderance of evidence at this time and serves neither the scientific community nor cancer patients.”
Aspects of antioxidant foods and supplements in health and disease
“Free radicals generated as byproducts of normal metabolism can damage biologically relevant molecules. When their generation is increased, damage can also be increased, resulting in the development of many pathological conditions. Antioxidant defenses protect the body from the detrimental effects of free radicals. Dietary fruits and vegetables provide a reasonable amount of compounds that act as physiological antioxidants. Although existing knowledge does not allow a final and conclusive assessment of the relevance of antioxidants for health, it does provide the basis for its rational consideration. This paper addresses the specific aspects of antioxidant supplementation in health and disease.
Multiple dietary antioxidants enhance the efficacy of standard and experimental cancer therapies and decrease their toxicity
“At present, there is no strategy to reduce the risk of recurrence of the primary tumors or of a second cancer among survivors. Patients unresponsive to standard or experimental therapies have little option except for poor quality of life for the remainder of life. Therefore, additional approaches should be developed to improve the efficacy of current management of cancer…
The authors also propose that after completion of standard therapy and/or experimental therapy, a maintenance nutritional protocol that contains lower doses of antioxidants and their derivatives, together with modification in diet and lifestyle, may reduce the risk of recurrence of the original tumor and development of a second cancer among survivors…”
Dietary antioxidants and human cancer
“Cancer treatment by radiation and anticancer drugs reduces inherent antioxidants and induces oxidative stress, which increases with disease progression. Vitamins E and C have been shown to ameliorate adverse side effects associated with free radical damage to normal cells in cancer therapy, such as mucositis and fibrosis, and to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer…”
Antioxidants and other nutrients do not interfere with chemotherapy or radiation therapy and can increase kill and increase survival, part 1
“Conclusions: Since the 1970s, 280 peer-reviewed in vitro and in vivo studies, including 50 human studies involving 8,521 patients, 5,081 of whom were given nutrients, have consistently shown that non-prescription antioxidants and other nutrients do not interfere with therapeutic modalities for cancer. Furthermore, they enhance the killing of therapeutic modalities for cancer, decrease their side effects, and protect normal tissue. In 15 human studies, 3,738 patients who took non-prescription antioxidants and other nutrients actually had increased survival…”
“The ability of Resveratrol (RSV) to modify the effect of radiation exposure in normal and cancer cells has indeed been shown quite convincingly…”
Multiple myeloma (MM) patients can undergo radiation for many reasons. During my four years of conventional therapies from ’94-’97 I underwent local radiation twice- first to “clean up” my original legion site and secondly to manage severe bone pain in anticipation of an ASCT.
I consider local radiation therapy to be the most useful conventional therapy for multiple myeloma-bar none. Yes, I live with serious long-term side effects from my radiation therapy but radiation bought me time to find an alternative therapy that put me into complete remission.
To be more specific, a myeloma patient might have a lesion in a bone or in his/her spine that can be causing pain and/or damage. Radiation can zap the lesion relieving the immediate concern.
The two challenges that all multiple myeloma patients face is that
- radiation therapy is a temporary fix and
- radiation therapy causes collateral damage aka side effects
In my case local radiation caused a long-term side-effect called radiation-induced limbo-sacral plexopathy (RILP). This is a fancy medical term for nerve damage. Radiation causes internal scarring. The scarring interferes with nerve function.
If you are a myeloma patient considering radiation therapy for any reason please read the studies linked and excerpted below.
Please watch the video below to learn more about the evidence-based, integrative therapies to combat treatment side effects and enhance your chemotherapy.
Recommended Reading:
- Curcumin as Cancer Therapy-Cytotoxic, Integrative and Selectiv
- Best of Both Conventional, Non-Conventional for Multiple Myeloma
- Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN) Therapy
Synergistic effect of resveratrol and radiotherapy in control of cancers.
“Cancers will continue to be a threat to health unless they can be controlled by combinations of treatment modalities. In this review, evaluate the role of resveratrol (RSV) as a radiosensitizing agent was evaluated and underlying mechanisms holistically explored in different cancer models focusing on therapeutic possibilities.
The ability of RSV to modify the effect of radiation exposure in normal and cancer cells has indeed been shown quite convincingly, the combination of RSV and IR exhibiting synergistic effects on different cancer cells.
In general, it has been shown in different cancer cells that RSV+XRT effectively act by enhancing expression of anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic molecules, and inhibiting pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic molecules, leading to induction of apoptosis through various pathways, and cell death.
If RSV+XRT can suppress the signature of cancer stemness, enhance the radiosensitivity by either targeting the mitochondrial functionality or modulating the tumour necrosis factor-mediated or Fas-FasL-mediated pathways of apoptosis in different cancers, particularly in vivo, its therapeutic use in the control of cancers holds promise in the near future.”
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of radio-induced lesions in normal tissues: a literature review
“Late complications are one of the major factors limiting radiotherapy treatment, and their treatment is not codified. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) has been used in combination with radiotherapy for over half a century, either to maximise its effectiveness or in an attempt to treat late complications.
This updated literature review is part of the documents the jury based its opinion on. A systematic search was done on literature from 1960 to 2004, by only taking into account the articles that appeared in peer review journals.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment involving complications to the head and neck, pelvis and nervous system, and the prevention of complications after surgery in irradiated tissues have been studied.
Despite the small number of controlled trials, it may be indicated for the treatment of mandibular osteoradionecrosis in combination with surgery, haemorrhagic cystitis resistant to conventional treatments and the prevention of osteoradionecrosis after dental extraction, whose level of evidence seems to be the most significant though randomised trials are still necessary. The other treatment methods are also outlined for each location.”