Microbiome and Immunotherapy: The Gut Reaction
100 Trillion Reasons Your Gut Matters Why do some people respond to immune treatment for their cancers, while others get no effect? A lot of people are spending a lot of money on these “hot” new...
Side Effects & Remedies
Chemo Side Effects
There are few types of medicine that cause as many side effects as chemotherapy. The reason for this is because it goes back to the history of chemotherapy that it's targeted against fat, rapidly...
Natural Side Effect Treatments
DIY Solutions “If you are extending someone’s life, it should be a good life. God forbid that we extend your life for three months but those three months suck.” Mutlay Sayan, MD, Rutgers Cancer...
Sea Bands® for Nausea and Vomiting
Nei Kuan or P6 acupressure pointFor nausea and vomiting, one can strap a small metal bead, the size of a BB, over the point in question (and thereby free your hands for other things). A commonly...
Nausea And Vomiting Remedies
Common Side Effects Nausea and vomiting are among the most common side effects of cancer treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting is abbreviated as...
Side Effects of Immune Checkpoint Drugs
For the past three years, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has declared cancer immunotherapy to be the "breakthrough of the year." An important part of this approach comes from a...
Depression and Anxiety
Depression and anxiety are sometimes a big problem for cancer patients. While this may require medical and pharmaceutical intervention, CAM treatments can also help. CAM treatments Regular...
Acupuncture for Cancer
Acupuncture is Used to Ameliorate the Side Effects of Radiation and Chemotherapy Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese method of influencing bodily health by sticking very thin needles into...
Cachexia
Transcript People often ask what can be done about cachexia or the wasting syndrome where people are. Patients are losing weight unintentionally, even though they're eating an adequate number of...
Cachexia (Weight Loss) and Its Treatment
The Hypermetabolic State Weight loss can occur for various reasons. For example, people who go on a rigorous diet may of course lose weight. But if they resume their previous food regimen, they...
Alopecia – Hair Loss
Alopecia (Hair Loss)Many chemotherapy drugs may cause alopecia or hair loss. The conventional approach to chemotherapy-associated hair loss is to wear a wig or a head covering. The American...
Hand-Foot Syndrome
Redness in the Hands and Feet Capecitabine (Xeloda®, the oral prodrug of 5-FU) or 5-FU (as an infusion) can cause what is called hand-foot syndrome. This begins with redness in the hands and...
Pain-Nerve Pain-Neuralgia
Remedies for Pain The main remedies supported by clinical trial data are as follows: Acupuncture Aloe vera Cannabis Fish and fish oil Ginger Melatonin Mushrooms Soy Turmeric Vitamin C Vitamin D...
Acupuncture and Xerostomia (Dry Mouth)
Acupuncture Can Relieve Pain and Discomfort There is evidence that acupuncture provides relief of pain and xerostomia (dry mouth) after irradiation. A study from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer...
L-Carnitine for Fatigue
Cancer Related Fatigue L-carnitine can relieve cancer-related fatigue, especially when associated with the use of sunitinib (Sutent®) for kidney cancer. This was especially so if the patients’...
Diarrhea Remedies
Diarrhea as a Side Effect The main remedies supported by clinical trial data are as follows:: Abdominal acupuncture Aloe vera Fish and fish oil Green tea (EGCG) Lactoferrin Mistletoe Mushrooms,...
Xerostomia (Dry Mouth)
A randomized trial from Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSKCC) “Significant reductions in pain, dysfunction and xerostomia [dry mouth, ed.] were observed in patients receiving [weekly]...
Appetite and Anorexia Issues
Improving Appetite Based on their clinical experience, naturopaths often recommend a combination of digestive enzymes plus hydrochloric acid (HCl) and bile salts as needed for improving appetite....
Blood Disorders Including Low White or Red Blood Cells
The main remedies supported by clinical trial data are: Acupuncture Astragalus Fish oil Lactoferrin Melatonin Turmeric Vitamin D Vitamin E Secondary remedies are Boswellia, mistletoe extracts,...
Acupuncture for AI Joint Pain
No Systemic Side EffectsAromatase inhibitors (AI) are well known for causing joint pain. There was a randomized trial of over 200 women on the use of acupuncture to counteract that sort of pain....
A Natural Remedy for Anemia
A natural remedy for anemia is lemongrass tea (Cymbopogon citratus). A clinical trial in Nigeria showed an improvement in red blood cell counts with the use of this tea for one month. There are...
Stomatitis – Mouth Sores
Chemotherapy Side Effect Here are some of the chemotherapy drugs that cause mouth sores (a.k.a. stomatitis, or oral mucositis): Capecitabine (Xeloda®) Cisplatin (Platinol®) Cytarabine (Depocyt®,...
Cramps
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) studied the occurrence of cramps in patients undergoing dialysis. The patients were given either vitamin C, vitamin E, their combination or a placebo (sugar...
Side Effects of Treatment
We have had many occasions to talk about the side effects of various treatments, conventional and complementary. The issue is critically important in deciding on treatment since many treatments...
Pain Management I: Pancreatic Cancer
The management of pain in pancreatic cancer can be a concern even in the earliest stages of the disease. Shrinkage of the tumor may be associated with a decrease in symptoms, which is in fact the...
Nephrotoxicity – Kidney Damage
Urinary System RiskThe kidney-damaging potential (nephrotoxicity) of many chemotherapy agents is well-established and so another factor is the use of chemotherapy that has the potential to damage...
Overcoming Side Effects of Tamoxifen
A study in 2010 found that traditional acupuncture can help relieve the adverse side effects of the commonly used drug, tamoxifen. Fifty participants with early breast cancer completed eight...