Cherie, so good you're doing IV vitamin C.
Know that it may be more than a mere adjuvant -
IV vitamin C has anticancer effects per se, or in combination with chemos, accordingly with some studies; as
rp1954 has pointed out, for CRC, that chemo would be 'light', oral, chemo: pro-5-FU (meaning, Xeloda or Tegafur). And you are or will be doing Xeloda : )
There are clinical trials ongoing with vitamin C, as monotherapy for cancer, and also in combination with chemos. My point is: do it, with great conviction, it may help.
I agree with
GrouseMan about cimetidine, at least; everything to slow down/ shut down new mets formation.
About vitamin C (copying a bit from old threads):
********
Oral, not pharmacological (
low) doses of vitamin C act as
antioxidant -so it's counteractive to the chemo. That's why oncologists say don't take vitamin C while on chemo (antioxidants may shield cancer cells from 'getting' the chemo). But that's for low doses of vitamin C.
At intravenous, pharmacological (large) doses (and maybe oral doses too, but large), vitamin C becomes a pro-oxidant -and it has anti-cancer properties.
Vitamin C Pharmacokinetics: Implications for Oral and Intravenous Use:
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articlei ... &issueno=7
Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases (full text:
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/174/7/937.full )
CMAJ March 28, 2006 vol. 174 no. 7
Sebastian J. Padayatty, Hugh D. Riordan, Stephen M. Hewitt, Arie Katz, L. John Hoffer, Mark Levine
+ Author Affiliations: From the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section, Digestive Diseases Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (Padayatty, Katz, Levine), and the Laboratory of Pathology, Centers for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (Hewitt), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.; Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (Hoffer), McGill University, Montréal, Que.; Bio-Communications Research Institute (Riordan) (deceased), Wichita, Kan.
Correspondence to: Dr. Mark Levine, Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section, Bldg. 10, Rm 4D52–MSC 1372, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD ; MarkL@mail.nih.govAbstract
Early clinical studies showed that high-dose vitamin C, given by intravenous and oral routes, may improve symptoms and prolong life in patients with terminal cancer. Double-blind placebo-controlled studies of oral vitamin C therapy showed no benefit. Recent evidence shows that oral administration of the maximum tolerated dose of vitamin C (18 g/d) produces peak plasma concentrations of only 220 μmol/L, whereas intravenous administration of the same dose produces plasma concentrations about 25-fold higher. Larger doses (50–100 g) given intravenously may result in plasma concentrations of about 14 000 μmol/L. At concentrations above 1000 μmol/L, vitamin C is toxic to some cancer cells but not to normal cells in vitro. We found 3 well-documented cases of advanced cancers, confirmed by histopathologic review, where patients had unexpectedly long survival times after receiving high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy. We examined clinical details of each case in accordance with National Cancer Institute (NCI) Best Case Series guidelines. Tumour pathology was verified by pathologists at the NCI who were unaware of diagnosis or treatment. In light of recent clinical pharmacokinetic findings and in vitro evidence of anti-tumour mechanisms, these case reports indicate that the role of high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy in cancer treatment should be reassessed.
They are trying it in Denmark as
monotherapy (not other treatment than IV vitamin C) for cancer elderly patients:
Vitamin C as an Anti-cancer Drug "Each subjects receive 12 weeks of 1 weekly treatment with intravenous vitamin c. 5grams are given at week 1, 30 grams at week 2 and 60 grams at week 3-12. If eligibility criteria are met the subject may continue with 1 weekly vitamin c treatment of 60 grams at week 13-20."
In the States they are trying it more for pancreatic (given the grim prognosis) in combination with chemos, or alone:
Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of IV Vitamin C in Combination With Standard Chemotherapy for Pancreatic CaNew Treatment Option for Pancreatic Cancer A good explanation from the trial description of this last one:
"It is known that people with cancer are using high doses of intravenous vitamin C also known as ascorbate, as a cancer treatment and this is occurring frequently. When Vitamin C is given in this manner, it is not taken by mouth; instead, it enters your body through an IV (intravenous) site, or tube that is inserted through a needle into your vein. If you have a port-a-cath in place, the IV will be given using your port. When Vitamin C enters your body through an IV site, it is known that it acts like a drug and not a vitamin. It produces a substance around the cancer cells called hydrogen peroxide. It has been seen in animal research studies that hydrogen peroxide kills the cancer cells while leaving the normal cells unharmed.
Currently the FDA does not approve the use of high-dose intravenous Vitamin C as a cancer treatment. The use of intravenous Vitamin C in this study is experimental. Furthermore, it is important to know that we do not expect the intravenous Vitamin C given in this study to be healing for the treatment of your cancer."
Also, for breast cancer, etc.