HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - What Can We do to Prevent and Treat Chemo Induced Neuropathy?

Paula O · 11-26-2016, 04:31 AM

More info:

Back in 2011 I spoke with a woman (a health food store owner)whose husband is a surgeon and had colon cancer. This is what he took while doing chemo to help with the neuropathy. He is doing well now and able to continue operating and is symptom free:
Alpha Lipoic Acid
N-Acetyl-Cysteine
Phosphatidyl Serine
L-Glutamine

When I asked last time, my oncologist advised me against it while on chemo. Back then I took L Glutamine during chemo, had to stop chemo one dose early because of the neurpathy, then took the other three supps as above afterwards for a few months and my neuropathy did improve and got to nominal.

------------------

I recently spoke with a GYN doc who ended up with terrible neuropathy after her chemo for breast cancer. She said that she could barely walk to the bathroom at night, used a cane,had a lot of pain, no longer able to practice medicine, etc. She continues Gabopentin but what she said was the game changer for her with her neuropathy (no longer uses a cane) is Beta Glucan which she plans on taking for the rest of her life. This is what she uses: https://www.buyygy.com/90forLifeStor...esveratrol-mix That particular company is an MLM which, honestly in general I'm not so hot on. She told me that she personally would take it during chemo whether her oncologist approved it or not and just not mention it. *******Please note, I am not advising anyone to go against what their dr says, just relaying info to take or leave************.

I did some poking around on the internet last night and I found another Beta Glucan that is not manufactured by an MLM that looks like it has more research behind it and seems like it comes out as Top Dog . Apparently there is a huge difference between purity and efficacy. One pill of one type could be worth 100 of another in effectiveness. Here's the comparison I found:

https://blog.betterwayhealth.com/bet...n-comparisons/

Here's what is on sale til 11/29
https://www.betterwayhealth.com/blac...le/#a_aid=cbtc

All this stuff is expensive, even on sale.

Anybody here taking Beta Glucan?

Would any of you guys be willing to ask your oncologist his/her opinion of taking Beta glucan, Alpha Lipoic Acid
N-Acetyl-Cysteine, Phosphatidyl Serine, L-Glutamine while on chemo and if they feel it would decrease the effectiveness of chemo or be harmful in any way and then post here what their opinion is? I already know what mine thinks because I asked. He's against it all, including multivitamins. Even though my oncologist is very smart in general, doctors seem to have very little training with nutrition and supplementation. I wonder if they would be more open to considering it if a loved one or they, themselves were dealing with issues like chemo induced neuropathy or a low white blood cell count, etc and wanted to protect themselves.

https://blog.betterwayhealth.com/bet...n-comparisons/

Beta Glucan Comparisons

How Does Transfer Point Beta Glucan Compare to other Immune System Supplements?
It is likely (since you are reading this article) you are doing your own research on which beta glucan to take. There are literally thousands of both natural and synthetic products that claim the ability to boost your immune system.
It seems that every website and company you find, makes the claim of having the most effective immune system supplement in the world. So where does one even begin to find out who is telling the truth? After all, if you are planning on spending your hard earned money on an immune system supplement, you want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck, right?
My recommendation: Look for a disinterested 3rd party, someone who makes no money from selling a product, but only cares about delivering the truth. Someone who is an expert in the field of immunology and beta glucans. Look for peer reviewed studies published on Pubmed by credible sources such as Universities.
A great example of this would be a man by the name of Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka, Ph.D. Dr. Vetvicka is the Director of Research at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Dr. Vetvicka has a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and is a member of the Czech Immunological Society, American Association of Immunologists, International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology, and American Association for Cancer Research.
*Read more about Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka and his research at his website
Impressed yet? You should be, Dr. Vetvicka is the expert on beta glucan and is currently researching the role of procathepsin D in cancer development, the role of glucan in Natural Killer (NK) cell activation, and the phylogenic aspects of defense reactions. Dr. Vetvicka’s research (currently over 200 published peer reviewed studies) are widely available for free to the public.
One study in particular done by Dr. Vetvicka at the University of Louisville, “Beta-1,3-Glucan: Silver Bullet or Hot Air?,” cross-compared all the best known immune supplements (over 100 of the top immune system products) at the time for potency and efficacy. The results of this study were so profound that they were actually published in Open Glycoscience in 2010.
Read the study for yourself, or look below to see the results; Many of the popular immune supplements you have heard of, or maybe even have taken in the past were found to be as effective as salt water!
During this particular study, The laboratory tested for 2 main things.
1. Measure the Phagocytosis of Neutrophils. This measures the increase in
the activity of the neutrophils to “gobble up” pathogens and cell debris in
your body.
2. Measure the IL2 or Interleukin 2 which is a type of cytokine signaling
molecule in the immune system. It is a protein that regulates the activities
of white blood cells that are responsible for immunity. IL-2 is part of the
body’s natural response to microbial infection, and in discriminating
between foreign (“non-self”) and “self.
As far as immune system supplements go, these are the two most comprehensive and important tests. These scientific experiments will start with PBS or Phosphate buffered saline, basically salt water. This is used to establish a baseline for the immune response.
Once the baseline is established (usually around 31.2% for the neutrophil test) they can begin giving increasing doses and measure the biological response of the immune system from there. You will be shocked to find out that some of these products that were tested did not show any biological response even at 100x their recommended dosage! And keep in mind these are some of these same companies that advertise “The purest and most effective Beta Glucan”.
Here are the results of the study:
Transfer Point Beta Glucan is 8x (times) More Effective than these Supplements:
Maitake Gold 404® by Tradeworks Group, Inc. NOW BETA 1,3/1,6 – D – GLUCAN PSK Krestin® by Kureha Corp
Our Product is 16x (times) More Effective than these “Immunity” solutions: Wellmune WGP® (Green Supreme) Aktival® Beta Glukan
Transfer Point is 32x (times) More Effective than these Supplements: Immutol® NBG (Norwegian Beta Glucan) by Biotec ASA RM-10™ by Garden of Life EpiCor by Diamond V Immune Enhancer ImmunoPlex 1 ImmunoPlex 2 LactoSpore® by Sabinsa Corp (Lacto Sporogenes) Zanthin® XP-3™ – Valensa International Swanson BetaRight®
These Products are 64x (times) Less Effective than Glucan 300® Immune Builder by Mushroom Science (5 Mushroom Formula) Senseiro by Kyowa Engineering and SSI (Agaricus Blazei Murill) NOW Foods Immune Renew™ Manapol® Plus MaitakeGold 404® by Carrington Labs Wolfberry Powder and Caps by Rich Nature Nutraceutical Labs Transfer Factor™ by Source Naturals Glucagel™ by GracieLinc Ltd Beta 1,3 Glucans by Solgar® Andrew Lessman Immune Factors Immunity Booster™ by Twinlab® MC-Glucan by MacroCare Tech Ltd., Korea Oat Beta Glucan 1000™ by Dr. David Wheeler Beta Sweet – Southeast Asia Beta 1,3 Glucan by Vitamin World Beta Max by Chisolm Biological Labs BioBran® MGN-3 Immunomodulator Daiwa’s PeakImmune4 RBAC (Daiwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
Supplements 128x (times) Less Effective than Our Immune System Product Our Health Co-op (Cell Nutritionals) Beta Glucan 700mg Better Immunity® Beta Glucan
Beta-1, 3D Glucan is More than 160x (times) More Potent than the following: MacroForce™ 7.5 Plus C by Immudyne, Inc. Maximum Beta Glucan™ Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucan by Young Again Nutrients Inc, AHCC® ImmPower (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) by American BioSciences Vitamin E by Cognis Immunition™ NSC-100™ by Nutritional Supply Corporation Baker’s Yeast by Fleischmann’s ASTRAGALUS by SmartBasic Enzymatic Therapy Cell Forté® IP-6 & Inositol Viscofiber by Cevena Bioproducts Advanced Colostrum Plus by Symbiotics AWGE™ Avemar Pulvis Carnivora Capsules and Carnivora Pure Liquid Extract
These supplements are less effective than Salt Water (negative control group): BioChoice® Immune 26 by Legacy for Life, Inc. 4Life Transfer Factor Plus® by 4Life Research Qmatrix® ACTIValoe® by AloeCorp, Inc Immunition™ NSC-24™ by Nutritional Supply Corporation Vitamin C by AIDP, Inc. Immudyne® 26 Powder
Please keep in mind that this study consisted of all the best immune supplements known at the time (if you do not see your supplement listed here, then it did not even make the cut for the top 100). As you can see in the study our product, Transfer Point Beta Glucan (Glucan #300) came out head and shoulders above all the other products.
The 2nd most effective supplement is still 8x less effective than Transfer Point’s 100mg. This is why Transfer Point is the only brand that we carry at Better Way Health. We have been selling Transfer Point Beta Glucan for the past 10 years and have never found any other immune system product we would consider selling to our loyal customers.
If you are interested in more research on Beta Glucan. Dr. Vetvicka’s book has an amazing bibliography that references all of the major studies done on Beta Glucan.
Vaclav Vetvicka's Beta Glucan Nature's Secret
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

11-26-2016, 04:31 AM	#14
Paula O Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 954	Re: What Can We do to Prevent and Treat Chemo Induced Neuropathy? More info: Back in 2011 I spoke with a woman (a health food store owner)whose husband is a surgeon and had colon cancer. This is what he took while doing chemo to help with the neuropathy. He is doing well now and able to continue operating and is symptom free: Alpha Lipoic Acid N-Acetyl-Cysteine Phosphatidyl Serine L-Glutamine When I asked last time, my oncologist advised me against it while on chemo. Back then I took L Glutamine during chemo, had to stop chemo one dose early because of the neurpathy, then took the other three supps as above afterwards for a few months and my neuropathy did improve and got to nominal. ------------------ I recently spoke with a GYN doc who ended up with terrible neuropathy after her chemo for breast cancer. She said that she could barely walk to the bathroom at night, used a cane,had a lot of pain, no longer able to practice medicine, etc. She continues Gabopentin but what she said was the game changer for her with her neuropathy (no longer uses a cane) is Beta Glucan which she plans on taking for the rest of her life. This is what she uses: https://www.buyygy.com/90forLifeStor...esveratrol-mix That particular company is an MLM which, honestly in general I'm not so hot on. She told me that she personally would take it during chemo whether her oncologist approved it or not and just not mention it. *****Please note, I am not advising anyone to go against what their dr says, just relaying info to take or leave*********. I did some poking around on the internet last night and I found another Beta Glucan that is not manufactured by an MLM that looks like it has more research behind it and seems like it comes out as Top Dog . Apparently there is a huge difference between purity and efficacy. One pill of one type could be worth 100 of another in effectiveness. Here's the comparison I found: https://blog.betterwayhealth.com/bet...n-comparisons/ Here's what is on sale til 11/29 https://www.betterwayhealth.com/blac...le/#a_aid=cbtc All this stuff is expensive, even on sale. Anybody here taking Beta Glucan? Would any of you guys be willing to ask your oncologist his/her opinion of taking Beta glucan, Alpha Lipoic Acid N-Acetyl-Cysteine, Phosphatidyl Serine, L-Glutamine while on chemo and if they feel it would decrease the effectiveness of chemo or be harmful in any way and then post here what their opinion is? I already know what mine thinks because I asked. He's against it all, including multivitamins. Even though my oncologist is very smart in general, doctors seem to have very little training with nutrition and supplementation. I wonder if they would be more open to considering it if a loved one or they, themselves were dealing with issues like chemo induced neuropathy or a low white blood cell count, etc and wanted to protect themselves. https://blog.betterwayhealth.com/bet...n-comparisons/ Beta Glucan Comparisons How Does Transfer Point Beta Glucan Compare to other Immune System Supplements? It is likely (since you are reading this article) you are doing your own research on which beta glucan to take. There are literally thousands of both natural and synthetic products that claim the ability to boost your immune system. It seems that every website and company you find, makes the claim of having the most effective immune system supplement in the world. So where does one even begin to find out who is telling the truth? After all, if you are planning on spending your hard earned money on an immune system supplement, you want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck, right? My recommendation: Look for a disinterested 3rd party, someone who makes no money from selling a product, but only cares about delivering the truth. Someone who is an expert in the field of immunology and beta glucans. Look for peer reviewed studies published on Pubmed by credible sources such as Universities. A great example of this would be a man by the name of Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka, Ph.D. Dr. Vetvicka is the Director of Research at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Dr. Vetvicka has a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and is a member of the Czech Immunological Society, American Association of Immunologists, International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology, and American Association for Cancer Research. Read more about Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka and his research at his website Impressed yet? You should be, Dr. Vetvicka is the expert on beta glucan and is currently researching the role of procathepsin D in cancer development, the role of glucan in Natural Killer (NK) cell activation, and the phylogenic aspects of defense reactions. Dr. Vetvicka’s research (currently over 200 published peer reviewed studies) are widely available for free to the public. One study in particular done by Dr. Vetvicka at the University of Louisville, “Beta-1,3-Glucan: Silver Bullet or Hot Air?,” cross-compared all the best known immune supplements (over 100 of the top immune system products) at the time for potency and efficacy. The results of this study were so profound that they were actually published in Open Glycoscience in 2010. Read the study for yourself, or look below to see the results; Many of the popular immune supplements you have heard of, or maybe even have taken in the past were found to be as effective as salt water! During this particular study, The laboratory tested for 2 main things. 1. Measure the Phagocytosis of Neutrophils. This measures the increase in the activity of the neutrophils to “gobble up” pathogens and cell debris in your body. 2. Measure the IL2 or Interleukin 2 which is a type of cytokine signaling molecule in the immune system. It is a protein that regulates the activities of white blood cells that are responsible for immunity. IL-2 is part of the body’s natural response to microbial infection, and in discriminating between foreign (“non-self”) and “self. As far as immune system supplements go, these are the two most comprehensive and important tests. These scientific experiments will start with PBS or Phosphate buffered saline, basically salt water. This is used to establish a baseline for the immune response. Once the baseline is established (usually around 31.2% for the neutrophil test) they can begin giving increasing doses and measure the biological response of the immune system from there. You will be shocked to find out that some of these products that were tested did not show any biological response even at 100x their recommended dosage! And keep in mind these are some of these same companies that advertise “The purest and most effective Beta Glucan”. Here are the results of the study: Transfer Point Beta Glucan is 8x (times) More Effective than these Supplements: Maitake Gold 404® by Tradeworks Group, Inc. NOW BETA 1,3/1,6 – D – GLUCAN PSK Krestin® by Kureha Corp Our Product is 16x (times) More Effective than these “Immunity” solutions: Wellmune WGP® (Green Supreme) Aktival® Beta Glukan Transfer Point is 32x (times) More Effective than these Supplements: Immutol® NBG (Norwegian Beta Glucan) by Biotec ASA RM-10™ by Garden of Life EpiCor by Diamond V Immune Enhancer ImmunoPlex 1 ImmunoPlex 2 LactoSpore® by Sabinsa Corp (Lacto Sporogenes) Zanthin® XP-3™ – Valensa International Swanson BetaRight® These Products are 64x (times) Less Effective than Glucan 300® Immune Builder by Mushroom Science (5 Mushroom Formula) Senseiro by Kyowa Engineering and SSI (Agaricus Blazei Murill) NOW Foods Immune Renew™ Manapol® Plus MaitakeGold 404® by Carrington Labs Wolfberry Powder and Caps by Rich Nature Nutraceutical Labs Transfer Factor™ by Source Naturals Glucagel™ by GracieLinc Ltd Beta 1,3 Glucans by Solgar® Andrew Lessman Immune Factors Immunity Booster™ by Twinlab® MC-Glucan by MacroCare Tech Ltd., Korea Oat Beta Glucan 1000™ by Dr. David Wheeler Beta Sweet – Southeast Asia Beta 1,3 Glucan by Vitamin World Beta Max by Chisolm Biological Labs BioBran® MGN-3 Immunomodulator Daiwa’s PeakImmune4 RBAC (Daiwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) Supplements 128x (times) Less Effective than Our Immune System Product Our Health Co-op (Cell Nutritionals) Beta Glucan 700mg Better Immunity® Beta Glucan Beta-1, 3D Glucan is More than 160x (times) More Potent than the following: MacroForce™ 7.5 Plus C by Immudyne, Inc. Maximum Beta Glucan™ Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucan by Young Again Nutrients Inc, AHCC® ImmPower (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) by American BioSciences Vitamin E by Cognis Immunition™ NSC-100™ by Nutritional Supply Corporation Baker’s Yeast by Fleischmann’s ASTRAGALUS by SmartBasic Enzymatic Therapy Cell Forté® IP-6 & Inositol Viscofiber by Cevena Bioproducts Advanced Colostrum Plus by Symbiotics AWGE™ Avemar Pulvis Carnivora Capsules and Carnivora Pure Liquid Extract These supplements are less effective than Salt Water (negative control group): BioChoice® Immune 26 by Legacy for Life, Inc. 4Life Transfer Factor Plus® by 4Life Research Qmatrix® ACTIValoe® by AloeCorp, Inc Immunition™ NSC-24™ by Nutritional Supply Corporation Vitamin C by AIDP, Inc. Immudyne® 26 Powder Please keep in mind that this study consisted of all the best immune supplements known at the time (if you do not see your supplement listed here, then it did not even make the cut for the top 100). As you can see in the study our product, Transfer Point Beta Glucan (Glucan #300) came out head and shoulders above all the other products. The 2nd most effective supplement is still 8x less effective than Transfer Point’s 100mg. This is why Transfer Point is the only brand that we carry at Better Way Health. We have been selling Transfer Point Beta Glucan for the past 10 years and have never found any other immune system product we would consider selling to our loyal customers. If you are interested in more research on Beta Glucan. Dr. Vetvicka’s book has an amazing bibliography that references all of the major studies done on Beta Glucan. Vaclav Vetvicka's Beta Glucan Nature's Secret *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.