![](/assets/images/card1.png)
Complementary therapies for pancreatic cancer
You might find it helpful to try complementary therapies alongside the treatment your doctor gives you. You might be offered some complementary therapy at your...
There is no clear evidence about what people with cancer should eat. Many people with pancreatic cancer change what they eat because to improve their health or because the cancer or the treatment affects their digestion. Here people talk about changes they made to their diet and lifestyle.
Theadora’s mother changed her diet based on a book by Michael Gerson and the recommendations of the Penny Brohn Cancer Care. This charity offers complementary therapies, advice & counselling for people living with cancer and their supporters.
Some people took extra vitamins or minerals or other ‘health products’. Maureen took flax oil and Simon’s wife, Karen, took a mixture of eight Indian herbs called Carctol. Although some doctors use and prescribe Carctol for people with cancer, it’s not a licensed medicine in the UK. There is no proof that it is safe or that it works as a treatment for any type of illness.
Doctors recommend that changes to diet and lifestyle should be considered an addition to conventional medical treatment, not a replacement. However, sometimes people do decide to use therapies or dietary supplements as an alternative to conventional treatment. This may happen when doctors tell them that there are no treatment options left to try. Sometimes it happens when people decide to stop conventional treatment because the side effects are too much.
One of the men we interviewed decided to stop chemotherapy after seven cycles. He felt that at this stage he had nothing to lose and started to take dried apricot seeds instead. These contain amygdalin which can be changed into cyanide, a poison, when processed by the body. Against his doctor’s advice, he went on to take a manmade version of these in pill form instead called ‘vitamin B17’ or Laetrile. This is banned in the USA and Europe. There is no evidence it can treat cancer and people who have taken it have died from cyanide poisoning.
Some people said that well-meaning friends or relatives had suggested special diets or certain supplements. They had not followed their recommendations. Since his cancer diagnosis, Tony has cut down the number of cigarettes he smoked from 20 to 3 or 4 a day.
You might find it helpful to try complementary therapies alongside the treatment your doctor gives you. You might be offered some complementary therapy at your...
Here, people talk about how they communicated with doctors about their pancreatic cancer. Some people said that communication with their doctors and other staff had...