must confess l took the opposite view and did everything l could to bolster myself before having Chemo, in the knowledge that it would drag me back down.l also made a concious effort to eat as much as possible during treatment and grazed relentlessly whenever l felt l could.
It certainly seems counter intuitive to fast,but l suppose it depends on the timeframe you have in mind, 12-24 hours is a lot different to days,weeks,Anyway my approach worked out very well for me,and hope your choice does the same for you,
Do not fast. Don't do it. You'll go a few days without eating directly after so you're not going to win. Absolutely stock up on food (just don't turn up hungover like I did. Twice).
To add to this. I had 33 doses of radio to my face. My mouth blistered and ulcereated so bad I didn't eat a single crumb of food for 6 weeks, maybe more. I lost 3 stone in 3 weeks. I was only 12 stone to start with. Do not fast.
It sounds like you've been through a really difficult time Matt0110. Since mu diagnosis I haven't touched a single drop of alcohol. With all that weight loss I'm assuming you had a feeding tube forced upon you?
The only reason I considered fasting was there's a documentary called the science of fasting and apparently when you fast your healthy cells go into protective mode and resist the chemo but the cancer cells have no protective mode and get damaged by receiving the full dose of chemo.
Do you happen to know what is considered to be a high dose of chemo?
I was offered a feeding tube. My ego and pride said no, I was willing to go it alone and do it myself. Hindsight says I should have. But they left the decision to me.
Im sure there is a documentary with that content, but there will be others with the opposite. The best documentary is from others who have done it and been through it. My advice is to stock up. Eat well. Fruit and veg. I was on pizzas and kebabs by the back end of the cycle before starting again. The few days immediately after your treatment you won't eat much anyway.
There are many studies on fasting during chemo and more and more companies such as Pfizer have gone down this route too, believe they're making a pill that mimics fasting in your body. I myself once had horrible inflammation from abscesses and after many antibiotics failed I decided to try fasting. After 3 days of just water fasting it had shrunk massively and eventually disappeared. Fasting, if done correctly and under supervision can be beneficial, it is not a cure but certainly can help improve health issues.
Laboratory and animal studies have been looking at the effects of fasting on chemotherapy. These early studies showed that fasting might protect healthy body cells from chemotherapy. And that it might help chemotherapy to work better on cancer cells. But these are early studies, and most of the studies on humans are small and based only on selected people with certain cancers. We need more research. Health professionals don’t recommend that you fast before or during chemotherapy at the moment. It can be harmful to deprive yourself of protein, carbohydrates (including sugars) and fats. Your body needs them to repair itself and keep going. You can read more about diet and cancer on our website.
