Pills Blog » Cancer http://pillsread.com Pills Health News Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:12:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 CANCER AND NUTRITION: PYRIDOXINE (B6) AND VITAMIN B12 http://pillsread.com/2011/06/cancer-and-nutrition-pyridoxine-b6-and-vitamin-b12/ http://pillsread.com/2011/06/cancer-and-nutrition-pyridoxine-b6-and-vitamin-b12/#comments Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:00:57 +0000 admin http://pillsread.com/?p=206
Like most other B-complex vitamins, pyridoxine is not stored in the human body to any great extent. But even so, a deficiency in this vitamin is extremely rare. It has the following uses:
Pyridoxine has a marked effect on the immune system. Its deficiency inhibits the formation of antibodies, decreases the number of T cells, and decreases the ability of the immune system to reject foreign tissues like transplants and to destroy cancer cells.
It is important in the formation of certain proteins and in the use of fats in the body.
Pyridoxine is essential for the proper function of the nervous system.
It is needed for the formation of red blood cells and for healthy gums and teeth.
More than the normal amount of pyridoxine is required by women who are using oral contraceptives containing estrogen.
Vitamin B12 has been known for over fifty years. Information on this vitamin includes the following:
It is needed to make hemoglobin and other parts of the red blood cell.
B12 is required for healthy nervous tissue and normal growth.
A deficiency causes anemia and mental changes.
Many alcoholics develop vitamin B12 deficiency.
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]]> http://pillsread.com/2011/06/cancer-and-nutrition-pyridoxine-b6-and-vitamin-b12/feed/ 0 ANTI-NAUSEA MEDICATION – GENERAL INFORMATION http://pillsread.com/2011/01/anti-nausea-medication-%e2%80%93-general-information/ http://pillsread.com/2011/01/anti-nausea-medication-%e2%80%93-general-information/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:29:15 +0000 admin http://pillsread.com/?p=175 If you are a person who is not particularly distressed by nausea, you may prefer not to take any medication. That’s up to you. Some people find that they can settle their stomachs by eating dry foods such as toast or dry biscuits, or with cold drinks such as lemonade. Eat small meals or snacks often and slowly and avoid fatty foods. Lying down after eating (if possible) can also be helpful.
If you feel very anxious about the possibility of nausea, you might prefer to take preventive anti-nausea treatment with your first course of chemotherapy. If you do this—start taking antinausea treatment as soon as you have the chemotherapy rather than waiting to see whether nausea develops—then you may be taking the anti-nausea treatment unnecessarily. That doesn’t matter as long as it has no side effects. It’s up to you whether you take it as prevention or wait until you actually get nausea (if ever).
If your first treatment does cause troublesome nausea, I would definitely suggest taking preventive anti-nausea medication with later courses. Start taking them well before the stage at which you previously experienced nausea.
If you have distressing nausea and vomiting that is not controlled by a variety of anti-nausea medications, another possible solution is to change your chemotherapy treatment. Ask your doctor whether another drug or drugs can be substituted for the one(s) that are producing the nausea. Alternatively, the dose could be reduced or the responsible drug(s) dropped altogether. Ask your doctor how much difference this is likely to make to the outcome of your treatment. You can then decide what is the best course of action for you. You should tolerate serious nausea and vomiting only if your treatment offers a great enough counterbalancing benefit and you are satisfied that there is no better alternative.
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]]> http://pillsread.com/2011/01/anti-nausea-medication-%e2%80%93-general-information/feed/ 0 SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR PAIN RELIEF – INTRODUCTION http://pillsread.com/2009/05/special-procedures-for-pain-relief-introduction/ http://pillsread.com/2009/05/special-procedures-for-pain-relief-introduction/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 06:45:14 +0000 admin http://pillsread.com/2009/05/special-procedures-for-pain-relief-introduction/ Finally, I’ll just mention a few specialised ways of dealing with pain which could be recommended for you. Pain confined to one part of the body can sometimes be relieved by cutting or deadening the nerves that run between that part and the brain. With such methods you run a risk of also losing other feelings besides pain, like touch, and of losing the use of the muscles in that part of the body. For example, if the pain is in the pelvic area, you would risk losing feeling and strength in the leg(s) and control of the bowel and bladder.

If such an approach is recommended for you, ask exactly what is involved, how long you would have to spend in hospital, how likely it is to relieve your pain and for how long, and about the nature and likelihood of any side effects as well as how long they might last. The cost/benefit balance may well be worse than you can reach with painkillers. I certainly would not recommend these sorts of methods before you have tried using painkillers as I have described.

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]]> http://pillsread.com/2009/05/special-procedures-for-pain-relief-introduction/feed/ 0 EXPRESSIONS USED TO DESCRIBE EFFECTS OF TREATMENT – STABLE DISEASE AND RELAPSE OR RECURRENCE http://pillsread.com/2009/05/expressions-used-to-describe-effects-of-treatment-stable-disease-and-relapse-or-recurrence/ http://pillsread.com/2009/05/expressions-used-to-describe-effects-of-treatment-stable-disease-and-relapse-or-recurrence/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 06:37:05 +0000 admin http://pillsread.com/2009/05/expressions-used-to-describe-effects-of-treatment-stable-disease-and-relapse-or-recurrence/ Your doctor may tell you that you have stable disease. This means that the cancer has not changed in size since you started treatment—it hasn’t got bigger but it hasn’t got smaller either. It is most unlikely that continuing this treatment will bring you any real advantage. You would just be experiencing the side effects of treatment for no benefit other than perhaps living slightly longer.

A relapse or recurrence means that the cancer is growing again after a period of being dormant. If you were in partial remission, the growths, which had temporarily got smaller but not disappeared, have started to grow again. If you were in complete remission, and have now relapsed, this means that tiny seedlings were actually there all along. They have now reactivated and grown to a size that is detectable. The remission duration or length of remission is the time between diagnosis of remission and diagnosis of relapse.

The seriousness of a relapse depends on your type of cancer and what previous treatment you have had. If you have a type of cancer for which radiotherapy or chemotherapy is potentially curative and if you have previously been treated only by surgery, you could still be cured completely. If you have one of these types of cancer but have already been treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it is very unlikely that you would be cured by using the same treatment again. Usually, a temporary remission would be the most that you could realistically hope for. The first remission is the easiest to achieve, lasts the longest and is really the only one that could eventually prove to be a cure. Unless a completely different form of treatment is used, second remissions are harder to achieve, last a shorter time and very rarely prove to be complete cures. Bear this in mind if your doctor recommends treatment for a relapse.

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