L-Glutamine

[CBurnett]

Thought I would share- suggested to us to help with neuropathy, muscle strength, mouth sores,etc was to use L-Glutamine. Here is a link with some info. integrativeoncology-essenti...

[Dan59]

C this is excellent, I asked My Oncologist if would interfere with chemo, she said No. I have read papers where it is reported to enhance chemo, My wife did glutamine religiously when she was on chemo, never had a problem with mouth sores or neuropathy. I have done it a few times , I should be doing it more, I will if either one presents itself.

[CBurnett]

Thanks for sharing. At our hospital dad has ice gloves and boots on the whole infusion.

[JLS1 in reply to CBurnett]

Which hospital? I don't understand why they don't all provide this.

[CBurnett in reply to JLS1]

In NB, Canada. DECH

[AlanMeyer]

Cold reduces blood circulation and the blood is what carries the chemotherapy drugs through the body. Icing parts of the body that don't have any cancer that might normally get a lot of circulation is apparently a way to cut down on the exposure of those parts to toxic drugs - a good thing since I haven't heard of prostate cancer metastases in fingers, hands, and tongue.

[paulofaus]

I too have read about the potential benefits of L-Glutamine while on Docetaxel. The thing that concerns me is there is a very promising line of research into Glutamine's role in promoting solid cancers (breast, prostate, melanomas etc.). There is a research effort starting in Australia which will be looking at Glutamine starvation of cancer cells, see: heraldsun.com.au/news/break...

[StayingOptimistic in reply to paulofaus]

I just read about glutamine now. I am vegan and eat a lot of humus and beans everyday and these food have a lot of glutamine. I don’t know what to eat anymore. Is it that bad for cancer growth? Thanks. That is my only source of protein besides fish twice a week

[paulofaus in reply to StayingOptimistic]

I started out 100% vegan, now I eat meat, but I go for organic grass fed. There is so much conflicting info, I am not convinced that dietary changes will make that much difference when yo9u have a severe form of PCa. If you are on watchful waiting, it may help (just my opinion).

[Hidden]

Nalakrats, I was looking for someone here in the brotherhood comfortable about taking both l-glutamine and l-arginine. Low and behold, I find him in my trusted retired chemist and food scientist friend--the non-doctor that plays one at home on himself! A PCa patient doing informal online research could easily be scared away from these two amino acids, as I had been. Contradictory study results can undoubtedly frustrate even the science smart people like you. You can probably double that many times over and get where my mind often is! I am recently looking at temporary use of these for healing and recovery support associated with an upcoming surgical procedure. I'd settle for the ultimate conclusion being that these have no effect on PCa. I used them in the past and benefited in the way of exercise tolerance, workout recovery, and for at least l-arginine, improved sleep and erectile function. I had stopped due to the unclear possible connections to prostate tumor growth. I'd like to feel good about taking these longer term then just the surgery support. As I gradually uncover many of your less current posts (and replies read in context), I am appreciating your contributions here even more. Patrick (pjoshhea13) is also a wealth of information that I value. There are others too. I often feel I need something like a picture drawn to better understand your assessments. I'm always hesitant to request that and I'd just imagine you appreciate the restraint! Sending healing vibes your way...

[Hidden]

Thank you indeed for this information, Nalakrats. I do hope you realize I wasn't fishing for this or anything else. Still, I'm most appreciative. I also hope you know that although I greatly admire your knowledge and what seems to be a great and effective manner of living, I don't just blindly follow anything and everything you mention you're doing. To answer your above questions, I'm not metastatic. At this point I'm still nonrecurrent after a "probably" localized diagnosis with a Gleason of 3+4 in Feb 2016 at the age of 58. I say "probably" because a post-biopsy MRI indicated the potential for ECE that the biopsy didn't pick up. It also indicated the potential for G 8 or 9 disease. My PSA in April was 1.9 at 10 months post-IMRT, down from 6.7 pre-IMRT. I am told there is no cause for alarm at this point, but that the radiation will need to finish its job before much of any assessment can be made. I follow this community despite not being advanced for a few reasons. One is my understanding is that there is a fair chance I will see recurrence and I feel I should prepare myself a bit for that possibility. Another is the abundance of wisdom and heart I find here (even when I'm just lurking which is a lot because my social skills aren't so keen) that gives me a great sense of encouragement and hope. I credit you for contributing to that. Yet another is that I've lost family members to this disease and I have learned a lot here about how to deal with my own mortality as well as that of those we love and respect. I know enough that even if the science on supplementation and diet were much more exact, differences in individual response would still very likely be quite a confounding factor. I also understand that a man with metastatic CRPC is almost undoubtedly going to have dietary and supplemental indications and contraindications (even if they were clearcut) that vary from a man with nonrecurrent localized PCa. So Nalakrats, please don't think I've concluded that you have all the right answers. I wouldn't put that kind of pressure on anyone even if I somehow truly did believe they were infallible. When it comes to supplementation, any of us would seem to be self-experimenting, with most variables being either impossible or too impractical to adequately control. At this point, I've decided to refrain from the use of glutamine, even though your logic in support was very understandable and seems to be sound. I've decided to go back to the arginine at least temporarily and play that by ear moving forward. Thanks again for all the information that helped me a heck of a lot in making these choices. Cheers.

[Hidden]

Point taken and valued, kind sir.