Taxol and liver....

[whatz]

Just saw my onc today. My liver values AST/ALT were slowly creeping up to 3-4 times their upper values. I've cut-out everything I can think of that may tax my liver (i.e. coffee, coke, Multi-Vitamins, Cumatin, the occasional glass of wine) and since then they have come back to about half their normal upper values. Anybody have any suggestions on liver-friendly foods? According to my onc (and some posts I've seen here) this can be expected with Taxol and she is keeping a close watch (will not receive Taxol if they should creep to 5x their upper value.) I also don't experience muscle pain but bone pains (random sites, ever changing) but on the scale of 1-10 (where at 5 I'd take an over-the-counter pain med) they are between 2-4. To top it off I now have a gastritis due to the Decatron given with the Herceptin/Taxol combo (sigh) but this didn't occur until after my 3rd weekly treatment. As my onc says, this too shall pass. All-in-all just tired now and need to rest. Just wanted to post this if anybody else is doing research on what to expect or wants to bounce their symptoms.

[chrisy]

Hi,
I had seriously elevated AST, ALT and Alk Phos after starting on the DM1 trial. This is just my experience, but it seemed to help.

I found the diet below in a juicing book. I always tell my NP what I'm doing supplement-wise and since these were mainly just food items, it fell into the "can't hurt" (but probably won't help) column for her...but she eventually became a believer when it actually did seem to help the LFT's. Whether it works or not...it probably won't hurt but run it by your doctor anyway.

The most important element of it seems to be the carrot salad - which is actually the easiest too because it is easy to make and REALLY tastes good. Yes, REALLY!!!!!

If I'm reading your post right, it seems you've got it sort of under control; the main thing on pain meds is you want to stay away from anything with tylenol in it.

7 day Liver cleansing juice fast

Main factors, must take daily: when I am absolutely religious on the beet juice and carrot salad, I do well. For me, these 2 are the most important.

Beet juice (you have to juice it yourself) 3 oz/day, you can gradually increase this but I pretty much stay with the 3 oz.

Carrot salad Grind up carrots to a PULP. For each cup, add a dressing of 1T each lemon juice and good olive oil. You can use more, but not less. You can also add raisins, pineapple, or whatever to make it more interesting. I eat this with slivered almonds and it is really really good. You have to eat 1 cup daily. With a good food processor, this takes almost no time to make, no excuses!

Green juice Again, this is from a juicing book and frankly who has that kind of time! You’re supposed to have 1 cup daily, made from celery, greens, cucumber, whatever. You can also get green powder and make green juice from that.

Green broth 1-2 C/day This is also pretty tasty! Made from 1-2 cups each celery, zucchini, and green beans cook these until just barely softened in just enough water to cover. Then puree in a blender – it should be fairly thick. Add 1-2T fresh parsley and 1T butter and season to taste – with whatever you want! I sometimes toss a garlic clove in when cooking the veggies, and sometimes a bunch of artichokes which are also healthy for the liver.

Drink at least 8 glasses of water of course…

Supplement with some milk thistle

All of this is in addition to your NORMAL diet of varied juices ha ha – remember this is from a juicing book.

This is a 7 day fast but I am on it pretty much perpetually (at least the beet juice/carrot salad part) with no ill effects. My LFT’s rat me out when I don’t do it. One word of warning, after a day or so your digestive tract might start producing…evidence…that you are eating a lot of bright red and orange things. So don’t freak out!

[ElaineM]

There is an interesting article in the October, 2009 issue of Better Nutrition about keeping our livers healthy that might apply to your situation. Even though the article was not about Taxol and liver health some of the ideas presented by the naturopath who wrote the article might be useful to you and some of the other members of this board who are having liver problems as a result of chemotherapy.
http://www.betternutrition.com/liver...naturopath/807

[Chelee]

I didn't do Taxol...but I did do Taxotere and my had elevated enzymes throughout my entire treatment of TCH. In fact I didn't know about it until about the 3 cycle when I started asking for copies of my labs. I pointed it out to my onc & she said she was aware of it was keeping an eye on them. (I thought I had liver mets or something.)

After finishing the Taxotere my liver enzymes went back to normal and have remained there ever since. So I have to believe it's the Taxol causing it. These taxanes do that. As to foods to eat...Chrisy sounds like she has some good ideas. I also had lots of aches and pains all over my body...my back and hips being the worse. I really hurt at that time. Some days were worse then others...so your onc is right...this too shall pass. Hang in there...rest.

Chelee

[Laurel]

Chrisy is right on the milk thistle. Also, for the gastritis try a quality probiotic twice daily. That really will make a difference! All the best.

[whatz]

Hej,
Thanks ya'll. Great ideas and suggestions. We wore our juicer out pre-cancer diagnosis. I guess it's time to re-invest :-). I love carrots anyway so that won't be a problem for me at all.