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Health & Fitness

Vitamin C and Cancer

Vitamins used to get a bad rap back in the day, and for good reason.  They are not regulated under the FDA because they fall under "holistic or natural” type categories.  So, no one really knows how beneficial or damaging these supplements are to the human body.  Still, many people think natural supplements should be regulated.

In independent studies done earlier this year by ABC News and The Huffington Post, it found that more than 1/2 of all Americans consume some sort of dietary supplement daily.  Some, if not many, are or were cancer patients.  I’ve knows more than a few medical professionals who call vitamins and other supplements “expensive urine.”   I also haven’t seen several oncologists blink much when it came to questioning the dangers of chemo and vitamins mixing.  I’m not talking about megadoses of any one type that would land you in the hospital with new heart valves.  I’m just talking about one here-vitamin c and its effect on chemotherapy.

When it comes to Vitamin C or "Citric Acid" supplements, I have a problem. Why?  Well, if you are taking an immunity cell booster, vitamin C, and undergoing chemo chemotherapy simultaneously, at some point, these drugs will probably not play nicely.   Chemo was meant to kill cells-all of them.  Vitamin C protects cells-all of them-even the bad, cancerous ones.  What happens then?  Chemo-resistant cells.   I won’t go into the science of cells, this is a blog and not a research paper, but there is cellular research out there for those who want the hardcore 411.   

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It took several rounds of chemo failures, and many questions later for some of us to discover that maybe taking something healthful was actually worsening the problem.  However, the results when large doses of vitamin c were stopped for a period, speak for themselves. 

After being clear of large doses of c in the system for 6 weeks, and several chemo drugs later-the success rate in my own family improved, as did others in similar situations.  There will always be those who refuse to stop taking vitamins or who do not mention supplements to their own doctor.  They also may have different drugs, circumstances, whatever.  Every person has their own journey, and their own journal of medicine.  But is it worth taking the chance?  Really? 

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This is not anything new to oncologists who know to question every single thing a patient is ingesting prior to treatment.  But, to many friends and family members who are pro-orange, the little c may have an awful effect on the two big Cs.  Stop it.   Get off of everything and let Chemo and Cancer fight it out alone.    They don’t need your little c interfering.  Save him for later when you really need him to boost you up for your celebration of remission.   

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