Ginseng

[Barbteeth]

Hi ladies

Quick question...ginseng is supposed to help with tiredness and increase stamina...I can’t find any contraindications against taking it with Ibrance and letrazole

Anyone know if it’s ok to take?

Barb xx

[Barbteeth]

Thanks Sandra

I’ll avoid that then

Barb xx

[MacroMom]

Hi Barb. I've been following your posts and I know you've been struggling with fatigue for a while now. I usually hesitate to recommend supplements because we all respond so differently, but for energy and stamina I have had really good results the past two months with CQ10 (Coenzyme Q10). My Naturopathic oncologist recommended it to offset Xeloda-induced fatigue and it has been amazing. I take one 100mg capsule twice a day. It took a few weeks to start feeling the effects but once I did they seem to continue and increase. I just traveled by plane during my week on Xeloda and I felt great the whole time, even with jet lag. Here's a link to the brand I take, called UBQH by Integrative Therapies.

integrativepro.com/Products...

It's a special formulation of COQ 10, but there are probably others you can find locally. As far as I know there are no interactions with your medicines, but it's always good to check with your oncologist.

Wishing you continued healing and energy to enjoy your beautiful horses!

[Barbteeth in reply to MacroMom]

Hi there

That’s interesting...I’ll get some of that after checking on the drug interactions...my oncologist is a bit clueless regarding supplements I’m afraid

Barb xx

[mariootsi]

Ya know there are so many differences from site to site on what would be helpful or harmful. Like the bone broth thing too recently.

Who do we believe? It's so confusing!

[Barbteeth in reply to mariootsi]

Drives me mad!!

Barb xx

[MacroMom in reply to Barbteeth]

I have a big pot of bone broth on the stove right now and it smells delicious!

[mariootsi in reply to Barbteeth]

I know! I'm afraid to take anything besides my meds.

[kearnan in reply to mariootsi]

I agree and I would never add something without letting my onco know. Maybe it is good for some but not for me with my case. I stick with the medical part they use. I never buy or read any of the thousands of books about how to cure cancer that you can find online.

[mariootsi in reply to kearnan]

I have stopped doing that too. I don't look up that stuff anymore. It was driving me crazy!

Each of us has such an individual disease.

[kearnan in reply to mariootsi]

I have never ever even taken a vitamin in my life. I went with a friend once to Vitamin Shoppe and I could not believe all these unapproved supplements that this store was selling. The funny thing is that my friend was "addicted" to take all these extra pills and supplements every day. Seriously, she took about 15 kind of different things a day. I said that can't be good. She was always getting sick and going to the doctor and here I am not taking any vitamins and rarely getting sick or going to the doctor.

[mariootsi in reply to kearnan]

Me too.

[Nelsonyong]

Barb, suggest you try coQ10 supplement. Hope it helps

[Barbteeth in reply to Nelsonyong]

I’ve got some and will start it today

Barb xx

[Nelsonyong in reply to Barbteeth]

Hi Barb, does the coQ10 helps? Hope it is. Take good care

[kearnan]

Just curious. Wondering why you would not just ask your onco who would know better. What may be good for one person may not be good for another because of minor differences in health. I read these things and if there is something I read that may benefit me or something I dont know I make a note to ask my onco. I would never take any supplements or anything without her knowing first. But then again, I will soon be 60 and never once took a vitamin.

[Barbteeth in reply to kearnan]

My oncologist seems either clueless or disinterested

Barb xx

[mariootsi in reply to Barbteeth]

Ya know Barb, I just think if our oncs knew of anything that could help us individually they would tell us.

It took me almost a year and 1/2 to realize this.

[mariootsi in reply to mariootsi]

My onc is a researcher also.

[kearnan in reply to Barbteeth]

I feel like my onco is not at all really well-versed with these new meds. When she started me on Ibrance all she told me was that food may taste different. (It didn't, unfortunately). After two weeks of being on Ibrance I told her this is great...I am not feeling anything, no side effects, etc. Spoke too soon. During my third week, the fatigue hit and I was never on chemo and never on toxic meds. But the worst was my week off. It was August of last year and it was so humid and hot in NY and I had my central air on. I immediately started feeling really really sick and felt like somebody had hit me with a bat at night. I had to turn off the central air and my apt. I could see how stuffy and hot it was. I put on a wool robe and three blankets and was in my bed and I was shivering so much, my teeth were chattering. I could barely get out of bed. I was NOT expecting that because it was not told to me. When I went back I was a bit angry with her telling me why didn't you tell me how bad my week off would be. I think she was surprised. It happened in the second cycle and again in the third. My week off was just spent in bed. I am now off Ibrance and on Verzenio (at the lowest dosage) with no weeks off and I am so so much happier and have a better quality of life. I then read where some women said they felt the same on their week off as on. That was not my case. I felt scary sick on my week off and I live alone. I was surprised that my onco seemed surprised by how it affected me and then I thought maybe she doesn't have alot of stage iv patients or the ones she does have were not affected like me. I was so glad to be off it.