Planning a ketogenic diet for my Mum

ketogenic diet in cancer

Hello

Re: usefulness of ketogenic diet in cancer

Before going on to the topic, let me just provide little brief about my Mum' s diagnosis. Couple of months ago, she had a agonising abdominal pain in the right hand side of her tummy. This made us to rush her to the hospital where she was prescribed ultrasound . The ultrasound report revealed poss of gall stones and a surgery was recommended. She decided to go for a surgery with in a month period time. After, few weeks she agin had similar episode of pain and we rushed again to the hospital where  a CT scan was done and report suggested of a mass near liver with possibility of it being a Carcinoma.

This stuck me hard as I was just expecting a gallstone pain due to movements of those tiny  stones within the gall bladder.

The consultant immediately asked for a PET scan. The results of the scan revealed highlighted mass in the liver and gall stones and mildly iliac nodes involvement. The surgeon decided to operate her and gave a hope that it will be a 90% successful surgery. 

Being very optimistic, we never thought about the 10% possibilities. That's how we are!

The surgery starts! and me,my brother and my father all sitting outside the operation theatre waiting for a good news. Suddenly, door opens and assistant surgeon ask one family member to come and speak. We ask our father to go and speak to the doctor. 

After two minutes, Dad came out of the door and told us that surgery couldn't go ahead as cancerous cells have spread such a way that surgery is not possible. This sentence just shattered me and my all hopes. Next thing, dad revealed was the next course of treatment and I.e chemotherapy. The surgeons took out few pieces from Mum' colon to check the spread of cancerous cells.

These pieces came out to be free of cancer. Thank god! It hasn't spread too much.

So, currently, biopsy (needle test) has been done and we are awaiting the final clear diagnosis to start the chemotherapy. 

Being a health care professional, I know the physiology and biochemistry of cancer. Therefore, I decided to look for alternative which can go hand to hand with chemotherapy and can support the treatment. After reading load of peer reviewed articles around cancer, I found out that ketogenic diet is a possible solution to the physiology of cancer cells.

Being very optimistic, this time again, I have started my Mum to follow this diet. 

* apologies for typos (I am using my *** iPhone )

  • Hello Ascena and welcome to Cancer Chat.

    I'm sorry to hear that your mum wasn't able to have surgery due to the spread of cancerous cells but it's good to hear that chemotherapy is still an option.

    I saw you mentioned the ketogenic diet and just wanted to make you aware of what our cancer nurses said about this in a previous discussion:

    "We would always recommend that people try to have a balanced diet throughout and after cancer treatment when possible. There is no scientific evidence that a high protein low carbohydrate diet has an effect on cancer. If you are thinking of making any changes to your diet always check it out with your doctor first."

    Is your mum's doctor aware of the change to her diet? If not, do make sure you let them know as they will be able to give you more information and let you know what impact, if any, it would have on your mum's health. 

    If you would like to chat to our cancer nurses about this their freephone number is 0808 800 4040 and their lines are open Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m.

    Kind regards, 

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Hi Thanks for coming back to me. Well, I am planning to follow a diet where we will focus on more green vegetables and "good" fat including balanced protein and carbs intake. Yes, the doctor is aware of it and we are not planning for any extreme dieting measure. It's just balanced intake of all macro nutrients. I think having a balanced diet would definitively help.

    just to update about my mum

     

    doctors have started first round of oxaliplatin

    i wish it works and side effects remains minimal

  • My alarm bells started ringing when I read Ketogenic ;-)

    Ketogenic/fat burning diets keep coming in and out of fashion, great if you need to lose weight/body fat but not ideal if you're on chemo and struggling to avoid losing too much weight.

    What you have described sounds like a sensible approach. When I was on EOX (Oxaliplatin is the O in EOX) I had lots of fresh fruit and veg in my smoothies and soups to try to keep my then limited diet as healthy as possible. 

    I hope your Mum responds well to the chemo.

    Best wishes

    Dave

  • Thanks Dave for your useful response.

    Well! my mantra for this diet is to keep the ingredient away which would increase excessive carbs and at the same time, aim for detox diet with balanced macro nutrients.

    The simple fundamentals is to have healthy fat, balanced proteins and sufficient micronutrients to flush the effect of chemo with ample fluid intake.

    its ketogenic but a healthy diet.

    Did you find fruit and veg intake helpful during your chemo?

    by the time, I finish writing this post, her first cycle of chemo would be done!

    i hope she responds well to this 

    fingers crossed

     

  • Hello Ascend,

    Really refreshing to read your post, I recently started my wife on a Ketogenic diet coupled with intermittent fasting -around 10 months post surgery. I've been surprised by the impact in such a short space of time. 

    I realise this post is some years old but would love to know if your porch helped?

  • Just wanted to say hello Lovemywife, it's good to hear this has had an impact. I noticed one of our cancer nurses has replied to you in the past here and I'd imagine you're consulting with your wife's medical team, but if you wanted further support you can contact our nurse helpline for free on 0808 800 4040. Lines are open from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

    All the best to you both,

    Moderator Anastasia

  • I've just been reading about this diet its sounding all good so why not ,unless the Consultant has reasons why not so might be a good idea to check first ,Best Wishes whatever happens .

  • Hi,

    I wanted to update that my mum is doing well and living a very normal life. It's been around 6 years now and she is fine. I feel the keto diet did help along with other treatment she received.

    Thanks

  • Ascena,

    I can't tell you how much I appreciate your reply - Thank you.
    I am also pleased to hear about your mum too, I hope that her good health always continues.

    Thanks again, 

     

  • I can understand , don't mention.

    It's the hope which keep us humans moving forward. Be positive