Top tips for reducing digestive symptoms related to cancer treatment

Today's post is by Sophie Tully BSc MSc, a Nutrition Scientist at Igennus Healthcare Nutrition on how you can improve your digestion following cancer treatment.

You've probably been hearing a lot in the media recently about the importance of the gut in promoting overall health. Researchers are increasingly linking our digestive function and the health of the ‘good’ bacteria that live in the gut to everything from mental health, energy, autoimmunity, autism, allergies and of course cancer. As such, supporting digestive health is important for everyone who wants to improve or protect their health. Undergoing treatment for cancer puts a huge strain on the body and in particular can lead to some very nasty digestive tract side effects that leave you feeling worse than is often necessary, as well as leading to further potential complications of treatment. Supporting the digestive tract is vitally important, not only to help reduce the severity of symptoms but also to help ensure your treatments can work as well as possible without further reducing your body’s natural defences.



There are a number of foods and nutritional factors that can easily be added into the diet to help ease digestive discomfort, reduce nausea and diarrhoea and reduce the long-term impact of treatment on digestive health and function. Here are my top  tips for promoting digestive health during and after cancer treatment and reducing the severity of associated symptoms:

1) Boiled bones for better bellies

Cancer treatments can leave you feeling very sick and uncomfortable so that the last thing we want to do is eat. Homemade broths, made from leftover chicken or beef bones, are a great way of ensuring you are still getting some good nutrients into your system without the need to eat huge amounts of food in one go. Bone broths contain a range of nutritional factors, in particular glutamine, collagen and glycine, that directly help heal damage to the lining of the digestive tract caused by cancer treatments; they also support the digestion of food, making it easier on the stomach when you do eat something and promote detoxification helping you to process treatment-related chemicals in the body. Consuming a few sips of warm (not hot) bone broth at every given opportunity will therefore not only help you feel more comfortable after eating other foods, but will also help reduce the severity of your side effects by protecting the gut lining itself and reduce the time the body is exposed to chemical toxins that directly cause these side effects. Pretty impressive stuff!

2) Fermented foods = effective fixes 

These contain the ‘good’ bugs that live in abundance in the digestive tract and support immune function and digestive health. Chemo-, radio- and pharmaco-therapies are very harmful to these bacteria and as a result many of them die off during cancer treatment, leaving you more prone to stomach cramps, upset and sickness, as well as more vulnerable to bugs or infection. When you are feeling up to it, try to consume some fermented foods such as pickles, kombucha or kefir to help repopulate your digestive tract and keep your GI tract happy. If you aren’t a fan of fermented foods, which can be an acquired taste, or you find they cause irritation, then natural organic yogurt and a probiotic supplement can also be used with great effect, reducing side effects and promoting immune function.

3) Soothing solutions for stubborn sickness

If you, like so many others, feel sick following treatment then there are a few things that can help to soothe the stomach and ease the nausea, giving enough respite to get some much needed rest. Fresh ginger and mint teas (taken separately) can be very soothing on the stomach and are commonly used to ease nausea occurring for a range of reasons. Just a few slices of fresh ginger in some warm water or a good bunch of mint leaves sipped throughout the day will not only promote hydration – also very important for helping you to feel better – but can significantly help reduce nausea, leading to a more settled stomach. 

4) Real results to reduce reflux

If you are struggling with persistent burning or indigestion-type sensations as a result of your treatment, chewing slippery elm tablets or taking it as a powder with lots of water can be very helpful. Slippery elm provides a soothing action the whole way down the oesophagus and into the stomach, helping to ease the discomfort and burning experienced almost instantly, allowing you to eat and sleep without feeling constantly like your stomach is on fire. Slippery elm needs to be taken with lots of water so make sure you are constantly sipping at some fluids according to your tolerance.

5) Move the body, move the bowel

For many people, cancer treatments can result in reduced digestive transit, leaving you feeling bloated, uncomfortable and even in pain. It is important to keep hydrated and try to consume fibrous foods whenever possible, as low levels of both fluids and fibre will reduce the volume and consistency of the stool, making it harder to pass. Drinking the above-mentioned teas, water whenever you can and consuming small amounts of legumes, green leafy vegetables, fatty fish and a few prunes can all help to aid transit and prevent things getting backed up. Lack of movement can reduce the blood flow to the digestive tract, reducing its natural peristaltic actions and slowing bowel transit. Trying to move as often as possible can help promote bowel movements so going for a gentle walk might be worth a try to get things moving.

6) Follow my 4Rs for reducing side effect risk: 

1. Rest is vital to make sure your body has the time to repair and recover following treatment. Whilst it may be easier said than done, allowing yourself the time needed for your body to deal with the body-wide damage treatment causes is as important as the treatment itself. Too much extra stress and activity will divert energy and resources away from where it is needed, making side effects potentially worse.
2. Rehydrate regularly to make sure you are able to flush out the potentially harmful chemicals produced in the body as a result of treatment, as well as keep the digestive tract moving and fluid levels stable for carrying nutrients to the cells.
3. Refuel as often as you can with natural whole foods. This is important to ensure you provide your body with the energy and nutrients it needs to process the treatment and its impact on your cells. Prioritising plant foods, proteins and healthy fats and of course your bone broth is the best way to support the body’s needs.
4. Relax! Stress is your worst enemy at this time as it will compete with your immune system for resources, potentially worsening side effects and reducing treatment effect. Stress is also a major contributor to digestive symptoms, so whilst worrying and getting stressed is a natural part of undergoing cancer treatment it’s important to try to engage in regular relaxation and calming activities that take your mind off things and help you stay calm and happy. Mindfulness, meditation, gentle exercise such as yoga or walking, sitting outside and listening to audiobooks can all be great ways of keeping stress in check. 

If you would like to know more about any of the above, please feel free to call Nina, Sophie or Kyla, all of whom will be very happy to answer your questions.

They can be reached at 0845 1300424 (not a premium rate number) or you can email them at education@igennus.com. You can also find out more on the Igennus website.

Don’t forget all Yes to Life blog readers are entitled to 15% discount with Igennus and for every purchase made using the coupon code ‘YesToLife’ Igennus will donate a portion back to Yes To Life to help fund our ongoing support for you.

Feeling Like a Human Being Again

Today's blog is from Susan who writes about her experience of conventional treatment for breast cancer and how taking a new approach helped to make her feel more human again. 

I was originally diagnosed with a Grade 2 mixed ductal and lobular carcinoma of the left breast, both oestrogen and HER2 positive. I have a long history of breast cancer in my family, so I wasn’t that surprised to finally succumb to the same thing, particularly having had several years of acrimonious separation from my daughter’s father.

At first, being rather depressed at the time, I didn’t care if I lived or died, but after a few days, I pulled myself together and made a conscious decision that I wanted to live. I have always said that I would never do chemotherapy, but in 2010 when I was diagnosed, I didn’t know where to turn for information about alternative therapies and indeed, I never imagined so much research into alternatives existed. I was quite ‘matter of fact’ about the whole thing but realised much later that I had just gone into survival mode and got on with what I thought had to be done at the time.

I certainly had some very low days, some suicidal days and some total panic days – mostly I felt a failure as a mother, as at the time it was almost impossible for me to meet all my daughter’s needs – she was only 6 when I was diagnosed and still reeling from the family break-down. One day she told me she liked her father’s new girlfriend better than me and that one thing shattered me more than anything, but of course what she meant was that it was more fun being with the healthy new girlfriend rather than the very sick mummy who she had to leave alone every third weekend and much of the time in between.

After that, I started to look for all the information I could and a friend told me about a few good websites on natural and alternative cures and treatments, so I started reading everything I could find and was amazed by it, and so began.

As I didn’t know what else to do and presumed that time was very much of the essence, I initially agreed to go down the mainstream route.  I  had four months of chemotherapy, followed by a lumpectomy, in which a large part of my left breast was removed.  Shortly after this I started radiotherapy for four weeks. I also had Herceptin, an antibody drug, for 6 months, as I was participating in a trial.  Others were on it for 12 months.

The side-effects of the treatment were pretty horrendous, although not quite as awful as I had expected. My hair fell out within a fortnight and I was very sick from the FEC chemotherapy drugs. I turned down extra drugs that I was offered to help with the nausea because I wanted to minimise the overall poisoning of my system and each drug came with its  own complications.

 Midway through the treatment, the chemotherapy drug was changed to docetaxol, which caused me to lose all the hair on my body, my eyebrows and my eyelashes, but on the upside, much less sickness, which was a result as far as I was concerned.

Things got much harder as time went on, as the effect of these drugs is cumulative, and I got weaker and weaker - I could hardly function, which made me feel very miserable and desperate. I was also in a huge amount of pain, as I had very severe peripheral neuropathy in my hands and feet, so the slightest touch was agony.  My fingers split to the bone on almost every finger, which made doing anything at all almost impossible.

It took about three years before I started to feel like an ‘almost normal’ person again – just in time to be diagnosed with a new primary cancer and secondaries in my liver and the base of my spine. So, we began again with chemo and Herceptin and now Pertuzumab as well – another antibody drug, which works much the same way as Herceptin but costs the NHS a mere three thousand pounds every three weeks. However, I had so many unpleasant side effects from this drug that I stopped it just before Christmas.


A New Approach

I decided that a new approach was needed. I first cleaned up my environment, such as disposing of all plastic containers, as these leach chemicals which are oestrogen mimics. I then changed my diet, using organic food as much as possible eating a lot of green veg each day.

I now take a number of supplements as well - astragalus, Siberian ginseng, quercetin, indole 3 carbinol, high dose vitamin D3, green tea extract, curcumins with piperine, cordyceps muchrooms, resveratrol, high dose of vitamin C, vitamin K2, selenium, magnesium, natural vitamin E – must be natural, vitamin B complex and also PectaSol-C (modified citrus pectin). More recently I started taking a wonderful probiotic, which is finally making all the difference to 2 years of diarrhoea. It is in a liquid form and called Symprove.

I also do yoga when I can and walk and get as much fresh air and exercise as I can manage – little and often is better and loads now and then. In general I live my life with as much optimism as I can, which is quite a lot now that I have all these wonderful herbs and therapies at my disposal.

So far my experience is that I am defying the odds of a person who has had chemo twice and has secondary lesions and two primaries. I have been in stable remission for the last year and a half and so far there is not one sign of any cancer anywhere in my body.  I am healing slowly but still better than I could have hoped after the ravages of mainstream treatment. I feel confident that if I stick to the protocol, I will continue to beat the odds.

I spoke to a lovely lady called Patricia Peat who runs Cancer Options and she told me about Yes to Life and how they could help me.  Paying for the many supplements herbal treatments was a struggle and so Yes to Life was a God send for me. I can’t recall now exactly but I know I spoke on the phone to several very kind and patient people at Yes to Life.

I had a consultation with Patricia Peat and found it very reassuring.  I am still doing most of the things she recommended two years later and apparently I am doing much better than the average cancer patient, which I feel certain is not a matter of luck but due to the various therapies which are working their magic for me.

Yes to life has helped me many times with a donation towards my supplements, items like the glass kettle I bought to replace my plastic one and with the cost of my consultation with Patricia Peat.  It made all the difference to me - as single mum on incapacity benefit I could not have paid for any of these things without help.  They have made a huge difference to me – my oncologist told me that only about one percent of patients up and down the country doing as well and I am and I know it’s because of the natural meds that I’m taking.

So far I haven’t been well enough to start fundraising but I’m gradually persuading my friends who run for cancer research, to fundraise for Yes to Life instead and hopefully they will do that soon.

I'd like to attend some of the Yes To Life workshops but they've been quite a distance from me and I’ve been very ill for a long time, as it’s taking an age to recover from the second round of chemo and the allergic reactions to the antibody drugs, but I hope to get to some of them soon, as I am slowly starting to feel like a human being again.

The support I’ve received from Yes To Life has meant peace of mind to me, as I have such confidence that the various remedies I am taking are going to be the difference between life (for more than the prescribed 5 – 10 years) or death. I’m just incredibly grateful for your support and wish more cancer patients would trust that they can be well and live a normal life without chemo – if I’d known in 2010 what I know now, I would have gone down a different route with my treatment and improved my chances of longevity even more.

Feeling Like a Human Being Again

Today's blog is from Susan who writes about her experience of conventional treatment for breast cancer and how taking a new approach helped to make her feel more human again. 

I was originally diagnosed with a Grade 2 mixed ductal and lobular carcinoma of the left breast, both oestrogen and HER2 positive. I have a long history of breast cancer in my family, so I wasn’t that surprised to finally succumb to the same thing, particularly having had several years of acrimonious separation from my daughter’s father.

At first, being rather depressed at the time, I didn’t care if I lived or died, but after a few days, I pulled myself together and made a conscious decision that I wanted to live. I have always said that I would never do chemotherapy, but in 2010 when I was diagnosed, I didn’t know where to turn for information about alternative therapies and indeed, I never imagined so much research into alternatives existed. I was quite ‘matter of fact’ about the whole thing but realised much later that I had just gone into survival mode and got on with what I thought had to be done at the time.

Top tips for reducing digestive symptoms related to cancer treatment

Today's post is by Sophie Tully BSc MSc, a Nutrition Scientist at Igennus Healthcare Nutrition on how you can improve your digestion following cancer treatment.

You've probably been hearing a lot in the media recently about the importance of the gut in promoting overall health. Researchers are increasingly linking our digestive function and the health of the ‘good’ bacteria that live in the gut to everything from mental health, energy, autoimmunity, autism, allergies and of course cancer. As such, supporting digestive health is important for everyone who wants to improve or protect their health. Undergoing treatment for cancer puts a huge strain on the body and in particular can lead to some very nasty digestive tract side effects that leave you feeling worse than is often necessary, as well as leading to further potential complications of treatment. Supporting the digestive tract is vitally important, not only to help reduce the severity of symptoms but also to help ensure your treatments can work as well as possible without further reducing your body’s natural defences.