“The greatest wealth is Health.” – Unknown
One of many challenges we face in any cancer journey is how to better our odds to overcome the disease, survive the toxic chemos needed to push the cancer into remission or cure it. And then, how do you restore your schnockered immune system. Many myeloma cancer patients don’t die from their cancer. They die from infections, fungus, pneumonia, and a whole host of things that occur because they are immunosuppressed.
So, I’m not talking about getting rid of your cancer thru nutrients or food, just so we are clear. Though I find it an absolutely fascinating subject! I take the position that eating well, mitigating food preservatives and pesticides, and all those things is a good idea. But what nutrients can we use to supplement our depleted nutrients? This has been an extensive, expensive, exhaustive journey for me. I have many friends who are health nuts, and many who actually know what they are talking about. However, just like keeping track of chemo meds, it can be exhausting! You can fill a cupboard with vitamins, all at $30-50/month! And then you just find you aren’t taking them and man does it feel wasteful!
LivOn Vitamin C (click to go directly)
Fortunately for us, here in this time, the knowledge and the actual nutrients available to properly absorb in your body have arrived. That was my own personal issue. My body could not absorb the vitamins quickly enough in my digestive tract to do me much good. So, even before Dave got sick I was always looking for how vitamins were prepared. How quickly could they break down? So as caregivers, we need Vitamin B. I’ve written an extensive post on Vitamin B, The Stress Vitamin. It’s in my Author’s Picks on the sidebar. Read it.
For Dave, he needs Vitamin C and sometimes Alpha Lipoic Acid for peripheral neuropathy which works for some and not others. It worked for us. Recently in the world of cancer, wellness centers across the country are offering IV Vitamin C. Some cancer doctors are even including the IV Vitamin C right alongside the chemo drip! Can you imagine? How cool is that? This is a vital nutrient for immune system support.
Well, the other day when I met Christie Brooks who works in Functional Medicine, she asked me if Dave was getting IV Vitamin C, and I said “No, but… I get liposomal Vitamin C from LivOn!” She was very impressed and then told me he needed to add Glutathione to boost his T Cells. “T Cells, did you say?” Man, was I on that like white on rice and YAY LivOn has it in the liposomal form!
Glutathione (Click to go directly)
Another challenge for me to include vitamin support for Dave over the years was, 1.) He never took vitamins and 2.) He was thoroughly overwhelmed by the idea of having to take “more pills!” He couldn’t emotionally distinguish between the two. He went from healthy and no pills to a management spreadsheet trying to keep it all straight and the last thing he wanted me to do was to hand him more pills to take at certain times during the day, with or without food, etc. As a caregiver and a wife, my job is to hear him, and then figure out a workaround, because I was determined to keep him in the best possible shape for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which getting his immune system in the best shape I could. So I embarked on powders and liquid vitamins and that did the trick. Every day he made himself a morning smoothie with Kefir to get his probiotics and not have to take anti-reflux meds. He would add his fruit, protein, coconut water, and all the vitamins I wanted him on. The great news is that the liquids absorb beautifully in the body. So they were good for me too.
Then I discovered LivOn and their liposomal preparation of vitamins. These are way more expensive, I’m not going to lie to you. But it is absolutely the best way to go. Their Vit C is touted as being almost as good as the IV Vitamin C drip. So cancer patients use the LivOn to get their IV C equivalent when they aren’t getting their IV Vitamin C.
ALA (Click to go directly)
Anyway, I wanted to share this with you, if you are embarking or interested in the things you can do to help you boost, maintain, or just support your immune system thru your cancer treatment and recovery. If you need help with finding other vitamins that are liquid, shoot me an email. But really you can go out online and find them fairly easily from reputable vitamin suppliers and then look for them on sale. Also, The Vitamin Shoppe is a great resource if you have one near you. They have really great stuff and helpful staff. I’m hoping to cut your own journey short and save you some money. If you’re going to spend it, pick the most important things and then stick with them.
Vit B Complex (click to go directly)
So here’s the trick with the liposomal preparation. It’s a goop! It looks like, “are you kidding me?” You get a small glass. I like to use a tall shot class. You put 1-2 TBS of water in the glass. You squeeze the goop into the water and swirl it. Then throw it down like a tequila shot! Don’t sip, don’t let it linger, just toss and swallow and whallah! My husband never really did the party thing in college so trying to teach him how to throw a shot down was absolutely hilarious! Eventually, he got the hang of it.
I hope you find this helpful, and feel free to let me know how it goes for you should you include some of these nutrients in your immune support. And if you are interested in my thoughts and recommendations about other core vitamins, essential oils, homeopathy, etc. I do not receive any compensation for this recommendation. And it’s nice to write a helpful post today of something useful! Feels really good to back in the writing saddle again! (PS. I’m NOT a fan of gummies, except for children. They have too much sugar and other stuff. But if it works for you, carry on!)
