Maca Powder for Energy?

[Ducksoup]

My acupuncturist recommended I talk to my doc about maca powder to relieve fatigue. Has anyone here tried it? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Full marks to your acupuncturist for referring you to your doctor about the possible use of Maca Powder, because it's hard enough to get a GP familiar enough about what's best for CLL, let alone an acupuncturist!

With a quick online check, I can't find any studies of Maca powder and CLL and finding the responsible the quote below from a site supporting its use, I'd be cautious, doubly so, given all the ailments it can supposedly assist.

macapowderbenefits.net/maca...

"A number of the different claims for utilizing maca root are completely untested. It has been advertised as a treatment for leukemia, AIDS, most cancers and alcoholism. There is no research, as but, displaying that maca root has any effect on those conditions. The “evidence” to this point is strictly based mostly on individual reports. With a bit of luck, more research in these areas might be executed within the close to future.'

and

'Boosting the Immune System, the quite quite a bit of compounds in maca root seem to be useful to the immune system. It’s what’s known as an adaptogen which has a positive impact on bodily safety functions. It’s because maca works on the endocrine gadget which regulates metabolism. This helps to fortify the frame from diseases.'

The 'Boosting the Immune System' comment is particularly of concern to me, because without a better understanding of how that impacts B-cells and hence CLL cells, you don't know if you could be boosting your CLL...

I'd suggest that you first try more traditional remedies to ensure your body is working as well as it can to relieve fatigue before attempting untested remedies given the unknown of how it may affect CLL progression. Unfortunately anecdotal references are pretty useless with a chronic and variable disease like CLL.

Neil

[Ducksoup in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks so much, Neil. I found the same kind of fuzzy info when I was poking around. (Remember the days when we used to 'surf the web'?) It sounds like it's pretty potent, which is why my acupuncturist spoke of it with caution.

More exercise helps. Acupuncture helps. Coffee helps. But I still want a miracle drug to help me fight off this dratted afternoon fatigue!

Susan

[sandybeaches]

Hi Ducksoup,

I tried macca powder as well, as the acupuncturist I was going to recommended it for me ( before my Cll diagnosis ). Unfortunately I had a reaction to it that caused me to be itchy and gave me bowel upsets, even on a low dose. As to any medication or supplement, our bodies all react differently. And if anyone is on chemotherapy or one of the other drugs, make sure you talk it over with the oncologist or oncology pharmacist as some herbal remedies interfere with the chemo drugs.

Sandybeaches

[greygirl in reply to sandybeaches]

that`s why it`s best to try things when on NO treatment at all to see if it works and don`t attribute side effects to either herbs or drug I call it my own clinical trial except I determine the playing field! since failing ibrutinib I`m in a position right now to try out something "unorthodox" until next treatment I haven`t heard about macca powder my acupuncturist doesn`t deal in herbs but my licensed herbalist who is her son does