Since I am doing chemo and chemo impacts on the liver (not only of course), I thought it would be a good idea to help my liver with Milk thistle extract (silymarin), once per day 240mg. I had two chemo sessions and luckily between the two sessions both my white cells count and liver functionalities seem to have recovered at 100% and are in the normal range.
But you know, SE are cumulative, so I thought it would be a good idea to help my liver, at least till I am done with chemo.
Now I find out that milk thistle promotes prolactin (well, its name kind of gives it away!). And some say that prolactin is the second PCa fuel after testosterone!
Yes, today work is slow and I have nothing better to do than hit my head against the wall on these questions!
Written by
Maxone73
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I had 10 chemos, I dare say, SE s will accumulate but if they will not go out of range if your first session happens that way. You will get more intense version of same side effects that you are getting first time, generally speaking.
One of my doctor friend suggested raw curcumin (eatable form, not medicinal form) for liver. My liver literally did not budge.
One advice, when you take chemo try to visualise the trauma of cancer cells and rejoice, in other word accept this cytotoxic friend of yours wholeheartedly.
Thanks!! I take also curcumin but I stop before chemo and restart a couple of days later. The fact is that the first chemo gave me zero side effects. The second one made me lose my beard, not a big deal. After 3-4 days I felt some numbness at the tip of my fingers that now (exactly 7 days from chemo) is gone. We will see what happens with the third on the 9th of November.
Please consider icing your hands and feet! My husband had no signs of neuropathy from his chemo, and I have read that many others who iced also had good results. It constricts blood vessels and allows less toxicity to reach the area. Neuropathy is often permanent.
Lots of info online and on this site. You want to ice starting about 15 min before infusion begins, and for about the same afterward. Sucking on ice ships throughout helps prevent mouth sores (my husband had no issues - you will need a helper though). Also good to walk around for a bit after your infusion - at least 15 min. Gets the blood circulating and disperses chemo drugs. Last but not least, drink a lot of water before and after.
Water and walking are not a prob. Actually they give you even food if you want (we are in Italy after all and food is always the solution!). I have found fasting to help me a lot to recover quickly. I have chemo on thursday, the next day I workout as usual (but I am still under cortisone), and on saturday I workout again with no problem (first day without cortisone), on sunday I rest as much as I can (seeing friends and so on but always relaxed and not for many hours) because that's where I start to feel the fatigue, which is normally gone by monday or tuesday. This finger thing tends to happen after one week, it's not painful but it bothers me as I am a musician. If I exercise my fingers on scales and play some music I must say that my fingers feel lots better afterwards, but that ice thing is worth a try!
my side effects were highly variable and did not necessarily increase over the 10 sessions. please take peripheral neuropathy seriously and ice your hands and feet. i did it with cold packs which were are real pain to deal with. others on this forum suggested plain old ice in bags which i what i would have done if i knew. i have a tiny bit of lingering neuropathy and am glad it is not worse
Hi! I did, he does not seem to think that such supplements could interfere with the therapy. But since I am more scared that he is, I take nothing 2 days prior and 3 days after the chemo, to be sure I have more than reached its half life. The only thing I do 48 hours before till 24 hours after chemo is to eat very very little calories, especially from carbs.
Agreed with TA, hence I am also against supplementing it, only food form, and you are doing correct, my chemo fatigue used to stay for 3-4 days, I did not take any curcumin on those days.For peripheral neuropathy you are starting to experience there is a lot of discussion about using ice bag at the time of transfusion, I did not know that at my time. My view is since ice pack is totally external should not do any bad for you, but may save you from neuropathy.
Not a fan of mt, for liver detox and cancer cell die off, I take Tudca, Pecta sol and Zeolite also Spirulina/ Chlorella tablets. Also Magnesium Citrate important . Detox- Detox- Detox
I have done a lot of research into various natural remedies since my PCa diagnoses and Milk Thistle is shown to have mostly anti tumour properties....e.g.
• Preliminary research (in vitro and in vivo studies only) suggest that components in milk thistle,
silymarin and silibinin, inhibit growth and apoptosis of prostate cancer cells [331-337].
• Silibinin has also been found to show protective efficacy against angiogenesis and late stage
metastasis [336-337].
➤ The mechanism of action is still to be determined, but may be related to the inhibition of the
IGF-I pathway [332, 335, 338].
This is just one example but there are a few more, however since your post I have done further research and prolactin is certainly not desirable anywhere near PCa cells.....shows you have to careful.
Thanks! I wish we had more clinical studies but at the dosages I normally use I should not harm the treatment and give some help to my liver, you never know!
All I have found about this relies on some individual case from Dr Costello (published on some non peer reviewed journal) and something from the 80es. But I would imagine that if it’s a known mechanism I would find more!
I haven't found much high quality data. A subset of studies.
1. The Suppression of Prolactin is required for the Treatment of Advanced Prostate Cancer – PMC ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...
2. Frontiers - The Relevant Participation of Prolactin in the Genesis and Progression of Gynecological Cancers | Endocrinology Frontiers | The Relevant Participation of Prolactin in the Genesis and Progression of Gynecological Cancers (frontiersin.org)
3. Prolactin, stem cells and prostate cancer | ECE2011 | 13th European Congress of Endocrinology | Endocrine Abstracts endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/...
5. Low testosterone and low prolactin required for successful ADT: Testosterone, prolactin, and oncogenic regulation of the prostate gland. A new concept: Testosterone-independent malignancy is the development of prolactin-dependent malignancy! urotoday.com/recent-abstrac...
6. Prolactin receptor signaling: A novel target for cancer treatment - Exploring anti-PRLR signaling strategies – PMC ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
7. A Novel Patient Case Report to Show the Successful Termination of Untreatable Androgen-independent Prostate Cancer: Treatment with Cabergoline (Dopamine agonist). – PMC ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
8. A Proposed Efficacious Treatment with Clioquinol (Zinc Ionophore) and Cabergoline (Prolactin Dopamine Agonist) for the Treatment of Terminal Androgen-independent Prostate Cancer. Why and how? - PMC ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...
9. Prolactin receptor targeting in breast and prostate cancers: new insights into an old challenge – PubMed pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/285...
10. Local prolactin is a target to prevent expansion of basal/stem cells in prostate tumors - PubMed pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/206...
11. Investigative Clinical Study on Prostate Cancer Part VIII: Prolactin Hormone and the Pituitary-Testicular-Prostate Axis at the Time of Initial Diagnosis and Subsequent Cluster Selection of the Patient Population after Radical Prostatectomy | Anticancer Research ar.iiarjournals.org/content...
12. A null study: Phase I Study of LFA102 in Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer or Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer | Anticancer Research ar.iiarjournals.org/content...
Lots of data and some case studies and hypotheticals. I keep mine low but probably wouldn't mess with it if I had any obvious side effects from my treatments.
Wouldn't be a bad idea to shove a few ice packs down the front of your trousers/pajamas now and then, and stiffen up the ole shillelagh... eh? Could end up putting out the fire with some cold in the hole...
Just humor to help get rid of your thistle in you whistle.... As I've said before.... what do you want? The comedy writers are still out on strike.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Advanced Stage 4 Prostate Cancer with Mets
Any suggestions for headache?
Will IMRT give some relief to very painful bone mets?
new treatment started
Enzalutamide just keeps giving and giving: Hot heels
