Chemotherapy can cause liver damage, but it can be managed by taking steps to protect it. This includes staying hydrated by sipping small amounts of water throughout the day, eating a liver-friendly diet, and taking prescribed medication as directed. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions in the body, helping remove toxins, produce bile, and break down nutrients in food. To protect the liver, individuals can try supplements or alternative medicines, get vaccinated against viral hepatitis, and maintain a healthy diet with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Chemotherapy-induced hepatotoxic can be managed by closely monitoring for elevations in LFTs that suggest liver injury and dose. There are no drugs to specifically treat increased liver enzyme levels, unless there is an infection, blockage, or tumor. To protect liver health, individuals should avoid alcohol or limit their water intake, maintain a well-balanced diet, and avoid fatty, salty, smoked, and cured foods.
Under chemotherapy, up to 85 of patients develop liver steatosis, indicating disturbed lipid metabolism through altered lipoprotein synthesis in the hepato-cytes. Silymarin (Milk Thistle) can revoke liver enzyme changes during chemotherapy of breast cancer with Taxanes. If immune-mediated hepatitis is suspected, steroids should be considered, and patients should be admitted to the hospital for daily treatment.
| Article | Description | Site |
|---|---|---|
| How to protect liver during chemotherapy | The plant Silybum marianum, commonly known as milk thistle, has been the subject of much research in recent years. A 2020 study by Trusted Source indicates that silymarin, a constituent of milk thistle, may assist in the protection of the liver from the adverse effects of… | www.medicalnewstoday.com |
| Chemotherapy and Liver Toxicity | It is of the utmost importance to safeguard the liver during cancer treatment. This can be achieved by adhering to a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It is recommended that individuals consume a sufficient quantity of water, unless… | www.saintlukeskc.org |
| Management of hepatotoxicity of chemotherapy and … | By TW Mudd, 2021. Cited 62 times.Typically, chemotherapy-induced hepatotoxicity can be properly managed via close monitoring for elevations in LFTs suggestive of liver injury and dose adjustment. | pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
📹 How to Reduce the Side Effects of Chemotherapy
In this video, we’re going to talk about how to reduce or minimize the side effects of chemotherapy. There are three big problems …
How do you feel when liver enzymes are high?
If liver damage is the cause of elevated liver enzymes, you may have symptoms such as: Abdominal (stomach) pain. Dark urine (pee). Fatigue (feeling tired).
What does it mean to have elevated liver enzymes?. If you have high levels of liver enzymes in your blood, you have elevated liver enzymes. High liver enzyme levels may be temporary, or they may be a sign of a medical condition like hepatitis or liver disease. Certain medications can also cause elevated liver enzymes.
What are liver enzymes?. Liver enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions in your body. These chemical reactions include producing bile and substances that help your blood clot, breaking down food and toxins, and fighting infection. Common liver enzymes include:
- Alkaline phosphatase (ALP).
- Alanine transaminase (ALT).
- Aspartate transaminase (AST).
- Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT).
How to minimize chemo side effects?
How to Reduce Chemo Side EffectsGet your “pre-meds” before your first treatment. See if you’re a candidate for scalp cooling. Consider fertility preservation. Get ahead of nausea. Give short-term fasting a try. Stay hydrated. Rinse your mouth and throat. Ice your hands and feet.
Can liver damage from chemo be reversed?
Is liver damage reversible? In general, liver damage from chemotherapy is treatable. Once a person has completed their chemotherapy treatment, the liver should return to normal functioning. Learn more about the symptoms of liver disease.
Chemotherapy can cause damage to the liver, but a person may be able to take steps to help reduce their risk. This can include trying supplements or alternative medicines, and receiving vaccinations.
Chemotherapy is a relatively standard therapy for a variety of different cancers. Despite its potential effectiveness in treating cancer, it can also lead to potentially serious side effects, including mild to severe liver damage.
Many chemotherapy medications rely on the liver for metabolization. However, some can cause severe liver damage. Chemotherapy medications may cause mild liver problems, and combination therapies can worsen these effects.
Can liver repair itself after chemo?
Is liver damage reversible? In general, liver damage from chemotherapy is treatable. Once a person has completed their chemotherapy treatment, the liver should return to normal functioning. Learn more about the symptoms of liver disease.
Chemotherapy can cause damage to the liver, but a person may be able to take steps to help reduce their risk. This can include trying supplements or alternative medicines, and receiving vaccinations.
Chemotherapy is a relatively standard therapy for a variety of different cancers. Despite its potential effectiveness in treating cancer, it can also lead to potentially serious side effects, including mild to severe liver damage.
Many chemotherapy medications rely on the liver for metabolization. However, some can cause severe liver damage. Chemotherapy medications may cause mild liver problems, and combination therapies can worsen these effects.
Is it normal for liver enzymes to be high during chemo?
Bilirubin levels are a vital indicator of liver function, indicating bile production and metabolism. Normal levels range from 0. 2 to 1. 2 mg/dL of blood. If liver damage or dysfunction occurs, symptoms like jaundice or icterus may occur, with bilirubin levels reaching 3. 0 mg/dL. Bleeding times, such as Prothombin time (PT), may be prolonged due to liver damage. Elevated liver enzymes can indicate problems with specific liver areas or elsewhere in the blood.
Liver enzymes may be elevated due to various factors, including infection, blockage, gallstones, tumors, or infection, certain drugs or medications, or heart damage. Elevated liver enzymes may also be caused by damage to the bones, ALT, and AST levels, or damage to the heart.
Symptoms of elevated liver enzymes include fatigue, difficulty performing normal activities, increased bleeding due to affected blood clotting factors, abdominal pain associated with yellowish coloring in skin, eyes, and mucous membranes, jaundice, or icterus, and swollen legs. Bile levels may also be affected by blockages in the common bile duct, leading to lighter stools during bowel movements.
In summary, liver enzymes play a crucial role in detecting liver damage, causing symptoms such as fatigue, decreased blood clotting, jaundice, swollen legs, and increased water weight. It is essential to consult a healthcare provider for proper diagnosis and treatment.
What is the 7 day rule for chemotherapy?
What is the 7-day rule in chemotherapy? Chemotherapy cycles may be planned in such a way that there will be 5 days of chemo with 2 days of rest, all within 7 days (roughly). Maintaining drug levels: 7-day rule helps ensure that there is enough chemo in the body to fight cancer.
- Table of Contents. Overview
- Need For Chemotherapy Cycles
- What are the Side Effects of Chemotherapy Cycles?
- Why Do People Skip Chemotherapy Cycles?
- Why Should You Not Skip Chemotherapy Cycles?
- How to Improve the Patients’ Adherence to Chemotherapy?
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Overview. Several treatments are available for cancer. The most common of them are chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs that kill cancer cells. It is given in cycles for optimum efficacy and to recover from side effects. Treatment adherence is the key to positive outcomes. Therefore, patients should not skip or delay their chemotherapy cycles.
Need For Chemotherapy Cycles. Patients undergo therapeutic chemotherapy in several cycles. The patients usually have 4-8 treatment cycles. The duration between one round of therapy and the start of the next is referred to as one cycle. Usually, in a 28-day treatment cycle, the oncologist administers chemotherapeutic drugs on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd days, and there will be drug-free days from the 4th to the 28th day. The doctor plans the treatment during the chemotherapy cycles due to the following reasons:
What is the best drink to flush your liver?
11 Drinks to Help Your Liver DetoxLemon Water. Ginger and Lemon Drink. Grapefruit Juice. Tumeric Tea. Green Tea. Chamomile Tea. Oat Tea. Jujube Fruit Juice.
More and more people have been consuming drinks for liver detox.
Your liver plays a very vital role in keeping you healthy and alive. It’s essentially responsible for cleaning and filtering your blood from the digestive tract before flowing to the rest of the body. It also metabolizes drugs and detoxifies chemicals. More than that, your lover secretes bile that helps digest fat and carry waste away.
Those are just some of its many functions. That’s why it’s crucial to keep it in tip-top shape. Cleansing and detoxifying can help protect it from disease and keep it healthy.
Does drinking a lot of water help lower liver enzymes?
Stay Hydrated: Drinking an adequate amount of water is essential for liver health. Water helps flush out toxins and aids in digestion. Aim to drink at least 8 cups (64 ounces) of water each day.
What is the fastest way to repair your liver?
The best way to reverse the damage is to remove whatever is causing it.
For example, if you have fatty liver caused by drinking alcohol, it’s important to stop drinking. If it’s caused by your diet or being overweight, then it’s important to eat healthily and lose weight.
Your doctor will also manage other conditions you might have that can increase the chance of progressing to cirrhosis. For example, if you have hepatitis B or hepatitis C, you may need antiviral medicines. Or if you have problems with your metabolism, you may need medicine to control your cholesterol, high blood pressure or blood sugar levels.
If you have liver disease, it’s very important to see your doctor regularly to check your health and ensure that your liver damage isn’t getting worse.
📹 High Liver Enzymes (ALT & AST) – What Do They Mean? – Dr.Berg
In this video, Dr. Berg talks about liver enzymes. There are two main liver enzymes; the AST and ALT. As the liver gets damaged, …
Last year at this time I had Stage 4, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – Chemo and Stem Cell Transplant. I practiced IF (18 hours/day) and exercised everyday (resistance bands and 4 miles/day walking). Result: Limited side effects, no vomiting, no diarrhea, limited fatigue. Was released early. I’m still cancer free and continue my IF/Exercise routine. I attribute my success to IF/Exercise.
Last year, my mum was diagnosed with stage 3B colorectal carcinoma. She did a sigmoidectomy and was offered adjuvant therapy. She refused it and opted for natural therapy. We thought it went away as their was no sign of cancerous growths. She started to cough this year and unfortunately the cancer came back. She is now diagnosed with stage 4B colorectal carcinoma that metastasised to her lungs. She still opted for natural therapy but unfortunately her body did not respond to the treatment. She then had no choice but to do chemo. Her first round of chemo caused her to have vomiting, nausea for 4 days and extreme fatigue for 10 days. Her next treatment is in 10 days time. Keep her in your prayers. I hope anyone going through this journey becomes cancer free.
My heart goes out to anyone with cancer. I cannot image how horrible it must be. The mental stress, the financial costs, the body changes. I pray the scientists are able to cure this disease but the fact we are still using 60 year old treatments like chemo and radiation shows how little we still understand it. As an aside, I’ve started drinking decaf green tea lately and really enjoy it.
My husband is going through it right now. (His choice) He takes chlorophyll every day, he does some intermittent fasting, I juice for him – including carrots (anti-cancer), celery (reduces inflamation) some cabbage (Cruciferous), ginger root (reduces inflamation), he exercises and gets sunlight everyday (vit D). I need to give him some green tea as well. I made ginger water for him to drink during chemo so he wouldn’t get nausea. He has no fatigue yet, and no nausea. The kind of cancer he has is supposed to cause fatigue, but it hasn’t because of the supplements and diet he is on. (The doctor said he could eat whatever he wants – but his wife said different, lol)
My mom just went through chemo and radiation for small cell lung cancer. None of us regret her doing this; while I do think that many alternative therapies are out there that can work for certain cancers, her cancer was very aggressive and this is what she chose to do. Today, she is in remission but this has been a hard year–she almost died from severe infections after 2 rounds of chemo, had to have an ostomy bag due to perforation of her colon (also due to chemo), had that reserved 4 months later, had to have head radiation because this lung cancer goes there first. Today, she’s doing better, but fatigued, lost part of her hearing, has some neuropathy, increased restless legs, and dealing with POTS-like dizzy spells. Her spirits are good; she enjoys going out and having family over but she’s clearly not in as good of health as she was a year ago. It’s so depressing to see your mom go through something like this.
My grandmother did chemo a year ago and died a couple months later from her lungs being filled by toxins (fluids) i cant imagine what her last thoughts were when she didnt manage to breath and died at only 63 in midnight by herself.. I will never do chemo i wish i told her about the knowledge i have from dr eric bergs articles… Also she was fine was from one day to another she got so much worse which shows that the other medications she got while being on chemo also had something do to with that. Her last words were she is always thinking about me and my sister..
My grandmother’s cousin and sister died sickly and vomiting nauseous and dizzy every day for months until they succumbed to the chemo. All started with skin cancer due to being farm girls working in the sun everyday. My grandmother was told that it looked like skin cancer on her shoulder by her doctor. He wanted to send her off to get all the “work”done. She told me she didn’t want them touching her, cutting into her or poisoning her because of what her family went through. She lived 33 more years and died in her sleep. That’s what I’ll do!!! Cancer “treatments” only means $$$$$$$$$$$$$$….
Thank you, Dr Berg! I am going through chemo now. Have been taking amino acid/vitamin. Drinks daily, and retirned to green tea simply to calm down. Your information is vital to us! Stage III vulvar cancer, 3rd chemo coming up. Stamina is returning, and pleadevknow how appreciative I am of your website.
My cancer story is very unusual. I’ve learned a lot of cancer, and the treatments, and the recovery. These things are minimal things to do to fight cancer. If you have cancer and you want to try to fight it without these debilitating treatments you need to do way more than what is talked about in this article, be totally completely 200% dedicated to the process of fighting cancer, and take massive action. There are massive dietary changes needed along with some sort of consistant holistic therapy. If you have been through chemotherapy, you have to again be completely dedicated to reversing the damage done to your cells. Chemotherapy shortens your life span. Sadly the things we have to do to fight to get our lives back are very expensive to the average person.
A life changing event for me … I went to Mexico and watched the people just talking in a clinic waiting room …. Then I thought wait they came here to die RIGHT? Why are the people so happy and smiling? Then I walked around and spoke to them … Hi from texas and cured, Hi ffrom Va and cured … from Cal and cured … Wow … life changing ….
It seems like cancer is one of those pathologies that we do little to nothing about until we get the diagnosis. After perusal you Dr Berg and many others, I have to surmise that cancer prevention techniques should be part of our daily living. It makes perfect sense to me that if intermittent fasting can rid the body of cancer, it could very effectively stop/reverse it in the pre-cancerous stages. I was getting areas of actinic keratosis on my face (which I effectively treated with florouracil). I haven’t had any new keratosis for years since I started intermittent fasting 24 to 48 hours every 1-2 weeks coupled with good food choices recommended by you Dr Berg. I’d rather have to do baby steps to prevent cancer than drastic steps to reverse it.
Thank you so much for this article. I am currently going through chemotherapy and I’m researching information to share in my “HELPFUL RESOURCES’ section under each of my articles on my website, that will help others who are also going through chemo. This article is easy to understand so it makes it perfect to share! Thanks again!
I tried to get doctors to do insulin potentiation therapy 10 years ago on my wife. They said they didn’t know about it or they weren’t set up for it. They make money on the amount of chemo they administer, so they really weren’t interested. They said she died of cancer, but I know she died from cancer treatment.
Dr. Berg. I recently purchased a PEMF system. I was unable to breathe without gasping for air. I had a Spirometry test on Sept 5 and I scored 29% which means very severe COPD. I bought the PEMF system Sept 13 and started using it on Sept 20 when it arrived. This machine is the best medicine I have ever seen or used. Not many talk about PEMF and how it is the key to getting extra energy which allows the body to heal itself. Would Love to hear your thoughts. I bought a Bemer Pro Set but I know others are also on the market and people have great results from lying on it just twice per day for 8 min each.
I’m 28 and had my cancer cut out a month ago. They said there was a 25% chance it would come back in a year unless I did a round of chemo. Doing the single round of chemo now will potentially stop me from doing 3x rounds of chemo in the future. I’m on day 5 of 7 of infusions and every day I wonder if I made the right choice
Thank you Dr. Berg for sharing with us strategies we can use in the battle against cancer. My brother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and congestive heart failure this year. He is always so very tired after his chemo treatments. Just wondering, as far as these cancer strategies go, should these things be done before or after a chemo visit? Thank you again.
Quick question? Chemo patients often have sunken eyes. It doesn’t seem to go away. Research says the fat deposits there are shrunken/damaged. Collegen absorption comes to mind with all the related nutrition bolstering, fasting etc. Curious what your thoughts would be to improve this condition if you’ve a moment. Can such cells recover or will chemo survivors always look haunted? Thank you kindly for your time Diana
I have been diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. I had surgery almost 2 months ago and scheduled To do chemo on 30th décember. For my case it was a mass that was blocking my small intestine which was removed. The cancer did not spread outside the peritoneal region. Im really hesitating about chemo. The metastasis is small spots on the mesentery and caecum. I did a pet scan 10 days ago. There was no evidence of distant spread. The first surgeon who performed the first surgery told me it was small spots that she saw. I did an endoscopy and it was clear too. There is one small tumor a the colon wall. The oncologist prescribed me folfox for 12 sessions. Im supposed To do 3 months first then do a scan and see how i respond. It Will be done 2 sessions per month. Before we can schedule for surgery. For the second surgery ill have hipec. I il rather wait for the hipec which has less risk since the chemo Will be heated To kill tumor that are not visible and the chemo Will be evacuated from the body with another tube. For me im feeling Well since my first surgery. I m using mushroom tea,graviola leaves tea. Every morning for almost 3 weeks now ill chop 2 garlic cloves To small pieces and swall with water. Then ill have a table spoon of black seed oil. À cup of half squeezed organic le mon then a cup of the mushroom tea. I do all those around 5:30 am for breakfast i make smoothie berries,chia,flaxseed,kale,beetroot,broccoli,kale,califlower i alternate between the vegetables. My weakness is cheese,Bread but ill stop that.
When I talked to the doctor and dietician about diet and told me that antioxidants and especially things that are stronger like green tea and protect cancer cells, just like it protects the normal . I’ve watched a lot of your articles and I am currently doing a keto diet and fasting 72 hours for each chemo session every two weeks. You just said in his article that green tea Will not reduce the effect of chemo and I am wondering what evidence do you have off this?
Excerpts There are three big problems with chemotherapy: 1. Chemotherapy does not differentiate between healthy cells and cancer cells. It destroys them both. 2. Chemotherapy has significant side effects that are sometimes worse than cancer. 3. Chemotherapy weakens the immune system, which could cause cancer to come back. It also lowers recovery. Chemo side effects: • Fatigue • Hairloss • Bruising • Infection • Anemia • Nausea • Vomiting • Loss of appetite • Diarrhea • Reactivation of viruses • Weight loss (loss of muscle) • Mood changes What you can do to minimize the chemo side effects if you choose chemotherapy as your cancer treatment: 1. Strategy – Staving cancer cells • Lower carbs (Keto) • Reducing glutamate (Intermittent fasting) 2. Decrease inflammation • Take high amounts of vitamin D • Do intermittent fasting 3. The most effective and most powerful chemoprotective polyphenol is EGCG • Take green tea 4. Chlorophyll • Take chlorophyll in the form of wheatgrass juice powder 5. Cruciferous vegetables An alternative cancer therapy that would be good for you to research is called insulin potentiation therapy. Thank you Dr Berg!!
Hi Dr. Berg, I am 50 years old. 10 years ago I had ovarian cancer, and after surgery, I had chemotherapy for 18 months. Then I was on hormone replacement for 10 years, and I stopped taking it. Few months ago I started to watch you, and I followed the keto diet. My question now if there is any natural hormone replacement I can take to avoid any problem later.
Well…. I was diagnosed 6 weeks ago with stage 4 colon with mets to the liver.. I’m supposed to start chemo TOMORROW.. I do NOT want chemo.. I feel wonderful at the moment and am leading an active lifestyle.. I know the inevitable, but would hate to make the wrong decision and accelerate my cancer / death… I wish I had a crystal ball right now..
Hi Dr Berg, I read the article that you quoted in the description of this article, which says that EGCG is the most potent chemopreventive component of green tea. In your article you say that chemoprotective (chemopreventive?) means that it protects you from chemotherapy. So I was very puzzled because after reading the article it was clear that the authors were not talking about green tea protecting you from chemo, they were talking about green tea preventing cancer development. So I googled the word “chemoprevention” and it means using chemical substances to prevent diseases, in this case cancer. So if your statement that green tea will protect you from the bad effects of chemo is based solely on this article, then you got that wrong. Could you clarify if you have other sources that allow you to make that claim?
I know you are not my Dr and that you’re trying to inform. In the case of someone getting cancer AFTER losing their gallbladder … they may still have a problem after eating very fatty foods. They’re having loss of appetite and fatigue and were told to eat more calories by their doctor. IMO not getting a lot of hands on advice from them though. Should they worry about the side effects of eating too much fat still without that gallbladder? I’d guess they’d still need to try bile salts or TUDCA or something to keep their bile levels able to handle the increased fat in the diet. They need to keep from losing more weight though. I’m just looking for some cogent information, not expecting more than that. Love your website.
Cisplatin for papilloma variant p16, Squamous cell of chin lymph node w surgery and 26 radiation hits. Side effects 6 months later…joint pain, black coated tongue and throat thick…w mucus also, a bit of ear ring. Half life of Cisplatin is 6 months as it comes out…36 months to elimination. Long time nutritionist….keto, fasting. More please on glutathione diet or elimination.
Dr. Eric Berg DC – I do hope you see this message. I have just learned that a friend in the UK has not responded to any treatment he has received over the last 2 yrs and he has gone home to be with family. From what I can ascertain – the end is not going to be good for anyone. He is wealthy and I think it would be kind to everyone if he made life easier for his wife and two sons if he ventured toward euthenasia. I am prepared to risk my friendship with them if it means his wife and sons do NOT have to go through to the bitter end which appears to be unavoidable… What Do You Think? P.S. I live in a country where I do not speak the language therefore I cannot ask a Doctor here – hence I am hoping you can help.
Wow! Not sure what the Dr. meant when he said “With chemotherapy, there’s high chance of cancer returning (does that mean we should skip chemo to be treated)? A lotta people understood that as not opting for chemo. Well, that would be a death sentence if we are not treated. I’m not against what the doc is saying..but a lotta people are misunderstanding the concept. So yeah, please don’t refuse your treatment🙏🏻
i already took chemotherapy and radio therapy.. it’s already 3 years since the therapy.. but my body still not fully recovered, my hair grow back but it becomes very thin, I’m still skinny, i have gastric problem, my sight is getting worse, my feet still feel tingly, it’s as if my blood didn’t circulate well down there.. what should i do beside taking green tea? and how much dose i need to take?
We need your articles translated to Spanish professionally! I would love to share with my family and friends but unfortunately most of them don’t speak any English. I try to explain things but of course you are much better at it and I’m not a doctor. A professional medical Spanish translation would be great. I’m probably asking too much, but who knows 😅
I’m looking up a lot to help Alex Trebek with pancreatic cancer as I am sure you must know about you should do some articles on that he’s at stage 4; I’m sure that there’s other treatments too that can be done in rotation I’ve emphasized certain things like gut health, immunity, toxicities, muscle health, foods for inflammation, and yes cutting out starches and sugars, mitochondrial health and how to take Co q-10 and with what supplements; foods for chemo also taking herbs and spices but I’ve seen results from that in one of my friends who had cancer and he recovered he lived several years after that but that was something
I am a fourth stage breast cancer survivor and fighting cancer for 10 years cancer free for two years I fought cancer with bombs and guns not carrot sticks and green tea I fought cancer with chemotherapy the proven way. I have seen The horrors of untreated 4 stage inflammatory breast cancer from an aunt of mine seen her suffer and died because she refused chemotherapy she tried to treat her cancer on her own with medicinal Homeo pathic therapy. Dr Berg is not an doctor of oncology he cannot give advise on cancer treatment or take advise from people who heard of a person cured his cancer drinking this or eating this way. Seek proven medicine there are many more new cancer treatments that have been developed in the recent years that have worked the cure rates have improved more than alternative homeopathic therapies. Do your researched properly the survival rates are proof. Dr. Berg seems to have knowledge about Keto diet lifestyle and fasting recipes for food choices. He is not a real medical doctor.