Chemotherapy for Cancer

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Active Hexose Correlated compound (AHCC) sugar produced from fermentation of  mycelium of hybrid shiitake mushroom grown in rice bran extract  may prevent/reduce chemically induced/chemotherapy alopecia/hair loss, may protect bone marrow and liver, may enhance natural killer (NK) cells and macrophage activity, may reduce nausea and vomiting, and may increase survival rate, per Dan Kenner in The Japanese Medicinal Mushroom Immune Enhancer - AHCC booklet.
AHCC increases the body's natural production of interlukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon. www.woodlandpublishing.com
Cat's claw root tea (uncaria guianensis and/or unicaria tomentosa) taken 3x a day has been found to protect skin cell death induced by ultraviolet radiation, by increasing cell ability to repair ultraviolet-light-induced DNA damage. 
Cat's claw extract consumed for 8 weeks decreases DNA damage, increases DNA repair, plus proliferates white blood cells, when added to chemotherapy.  Cat's claw was popularized by German Arturo Brell in 1926. 3/2007 www.lef.org
Earl Surwit MD gynecologic oncologist introduced laparoscopy.  In 2003 he presented trials showing that tumeric spice + medicinal mushrooms (maitake, royal sun agaricus, chaga, reishi, cordyceps, mesima, yun zhi, zhu ling, lion's mane, maitake fruit bodies, artist conk, Oregon polypore, agarikon, ice man fungus, shiitake, birch polypore, and suehirotake) may help eliminate side effects of chemotherapy. Vol 8, #1 The Doctor' Prescription for Healthy Living  www.freedompressonline.com
Faloon, William 12/2006 editorial Stem Cell Therapy in a Pill?  www.lef.org
Folic acid, vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, carnosine, blueberries, green  tea catechin, spinach, spirulina, astragalus promote bone marrow cell proliferation of red and white blood cells plus platelets.
Supplement theanine (or Japanese green tea) may prevent cancer from ejecting chemo drugs, increase chemo effectiveness, and decrease toxicity. 8/2005 www.lef.org
Vitamin K - http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/mag2009_01.htm 1/2009 - Protection Against Arterial Calcification, Bone Loss, Cancer, and Aging! - Vitamin K3 (50 mg) is used with vitamin C (5,000 mg) prior to each chemotherapy session to decrease tumor cell resistance to drugs.
There are numerous forms of vitamin K including K1, K2 (MK4 or MK7 natto/fermented soybean), and K3.  Each has it's own benefits.  Natto's K7 has a longer bioavailability in bloodstream.  good editorial
 

WARNINGS
chemobrain = lingering problems with memory and thinking during and after chemotherapy which can (sometimes permanently) damage healthy cells as they destroy cancerous ones.
Clegg, Ellen ChemoBrain clegg@globe.com also 4/5/2009 editorial The Cloud Over Chemotherapy www.boston.com/magazine discusses Dr. Dietrich's views. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/04/05/the_cloud_over_chemotherapy/
Dietrich, Dr. Jorg Mass. General Hospital neuro-oncologist sees chemotherapy side effects including long-term "impaired memory and inability to concentrate or multi-task.  The cause (evidently) lies deep inside the brain, in regions where immature and newborn...progenitor cells are proliferating.  These self-renewing cells, part of the complex structures needed for memory and other normal functions, are particularly vulnerable to toxic chemotherapy drugs.  'If you stop or inhibit the generation of newborn cells in the brain, you will have to deal with the consequences years down the road'...Progenitor cells 'are needed to rebuild what is lost. Cut off the water source to a cornfield,' he says, and 'you will not be able to grow anything in the years to come.'  Better...measure the toxic potential of chemotherapy drugs before they are dripped into a vein...I keep coming back to the principle, 'first do no harm...In the 1970's breast cancer patients began demanding surgery that was less disfiguring than the Halstead mastectomy."
Dietrich, Dr. Jorg   Chemotherapy Can Be More Toxic To Brain Cells Than To Cancer Cells And May Cause Brain Damage  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57809.php 12/2/2006 Journal of Biology  "Clinical doses of chemotherapeutic drugs used to treat many common cancers cause long-term damage to the brains of mice by killing neural stem cells and oligodendrocytes, which produce the myelin insulation needed for normal neuronal function, and by impairing neural stem cell division. These results might explain the adverse neurological side effects" in humans.  The majority of current chemotherapy "agents act by modifying the structure of DNA" and typically interfere "with cell metabolism...The drugs are toxic to both the dividing neural stem cells and the non-dividing cells such as astrocytes and neurons, even at very low concentrations" often causing " 60-90% reduction in the viability of oligodendrocyte precursor cells and neuron precursor cells, but" having "little effect on most of the cancer...The authors show that to kill 40-80% of cancer cells, doses that also kill 70-100% of neural cells are required...Dietrich et al. show that cells of the nervous system of the mice continue to die for at least 6 weeks after the end of treatment. The drugs kill both dividing stem cells and non-dividing precursor cells of the nervous system in live mice. They also cause long-lasting reductions in cell division and proliferation in the central nervous system."
Meyers, Christina  Cognition and Cancer scientific studies textbook
Moss, Ralph  Questioning Chemotherapy  Cancer Therapy  Free Radical  PBS documentary The Cancer War 
The Cancer Chronicles newsletter  The Moss Reports  Chemotherapy alternatives at www.cancerdecisions.com