Help on chemo from the spice rack

[Forkboy]

Ginger is found to reduce nausea

LOS ANGELES - Chemotherapy could soon become a little less grueling.

Simply adding a teaspoon of ginger to food consumed in the days before, during, and after chemotherapy can reduce the often debilitating side effects of nausea and vomiting, a large, randomized clinical trial has found. And a newer type of antinausea drug, when added to standard medications, can help prevent such side effects as well.

The ginger results will be presented later this month at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting; the drug study was published this week in The Lancet Oncology.

The findings are significant, cancer specialists said, because about 70 percent of chemotherapy patients experience nausea and vomiting during treatment.

"Chemotherapy has come to be the thing cancer patients fear the most," said Dr. Steven Grunberg, a professor of medicine at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study. "We've made a huge amount of progress, but we haven't completely solved the problem."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/05/15/help_on_chemo_from_the_spice_rack/

Obviously not as fun as weed, but whatever works. :)

[Name removed]

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[babylonsister]

2. Glad you found this. Good to know.

My husband just shared this with me; he read it this week. :thumbsup:

Weed might take your mind off it. ;)

[Forkboy]

3. I'm lucky because I didn't have chemo, just radiation.

My mother did when she had breast cancer and it was pretty rugged. She always cooks with spices and I can guarantee she has ginger around, so it's too bad we didn't know about this then.

I have major problems with nausea from a couple of the meds I take, but I'll probably stick with the weed when I can (which isn't often enough). Besides, I don't think they put ginger in calzones. :)

[flamingyouth]

4. I love ginger and use it all the time for nausea

(not only from chemo, but from migraines too). I found these great and strong ginger hard candies and always have a few in my purse in case I feel a little not-so-great.

[Forkboy]

5. It's one of those things that my mother always said is "good for you."

Forget Father, Mom knows best. :)

[Tab]

6. Ginger is long known as a stomach "calmer"

Cheap alternatives are a glass of ginger ale that you allow to go flat (fizzy defeats the purpose). I'd use a good ginger brew (found in natural food sections) for this purpose. You can buy ginger tea at any supermarket, and bottles of ginger drink in the natural food section too. There's one ginger "soother" in particular which is good but alas, I don't recall the name (although it might be called "ginger soother" - it's sold in individual plastic bottles, about 10 ounces each or so).