Chemotherapy is a powerful treatment, it can be very effective but it takes it’s toll on the body. Fortunately, there are a few integrative approaches that can help make chemo work better while easing its side effects. These are not alternatives to chemo, but supportive integrative therapies that can be used alongside it. Here are some of the ones I have utilised over the years.

1. High-Dose Vitamin C (IV Only)
At high doses given by IV (not pills), vitamin C behaves like a natural cancer fighter. Important to know is that vitamin C when consumed in food or pill supplements is an anti-oxidant. When it is given by IV at a high dose , it becomes pro-oxidant. As most chemotherapies also rely on causing oxidative stress to work , vitamin c can act as a natural chemotherapy, enhancing the oxidative stress but with the benefits of protecting the healthy cells, hence why it also helps mitigate side effects.

In a nutshell, high dose vit c can help kill cancer cells, can reduce side effects and support immune function. Its a triple pronged approach.

How it works
Oxidative Stress Triggers Autophagy
At high concentrations (achieved only by IV, not oral intake), vitamin C acts as a pro-oxidant in the tumor environment by generating hydrogen peroxide. This causes a reaction, one of the key ones being:

● Inhibition of mTOR ( a signalling pathway cancer uses to grow) - In normal cells, mTOR helps keep growth and division in balance, responding to what the cell needs. But in many cancer cells, mTOR is overactive due to mutations or changes in the environment, leading to uncontrolled cell growth and division - an over expression of this is what blocks autophagy (the process in which your cells break down and dispose of waste, damaged parts, or things that are no longer needed). Cancer cells often have this signalling pathway downregulated as they are often made up of damaged and faulty parts so they need to protect themselves from this clean up
● When mTOR is inhibited, autophagy is turned on. The cell starts breaking down damaged components to survive the stress but it will be too damaged and under too much stress to be able to function and ideally will lead to cell death.

Important:

1. Must be given by a trained medical professional and a G6PD blood test must be carried out before starting this therapy; people with G6PD deficiency cannot not use it.
2. Minimum dose to start achieving the therapeutic pro-oxidant effects starts at 25g and is a good starting point. Eventually you can work up to 50-100g

2. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
HBOT involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised chamber. This floods the body and tumours with extra oxygen.

How it works
● Makes cancer cells more sensitive to chemo and radiation, especially in low-oxygen tumors.
● Supports healing, reduces fatigue, and may improve brain function post-chemo.
● Great to combine for synergistic benefits with IV vitamin C, chemo, and radiation.
Its main mechanism which makes it a great adjunctive treatment is how it floods the cancer cells with oxygen , increasing the oxidative stress already put on them from the chemotherapy when cancer cells thrive in a low to no oxygen environment which could push them over the edge and induce cell death. It can also boost immune function by helping our fighter cells to recognise the cancer and help clean up dead tissue.
This can help with the side effects of chemo by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress .Chemotherapy generates a lot of inflammation and oxidative stress- in the gut, nerves, skin, and organs. HBOT can: Calm the inflammatory response, lower markers like CRP and cytokines (inflammation markers) and help repair the mitochondria damaged by chemo. This makes it easier for your body to bounce back between treatments.

3. Whole-Body Hyperthermia
This therapy gently raises your core body temperature, like a controlled fever, to stress cancer cells while boosting your immune system.

How it works
Makes Cancer Cells More Sensitive to Chemo
Cancer cells under heat stress become more fragile. WBH will Disrupts their DNA repair mechanisms, unfolds vital proteins inside them & weakens their cell membranes This means when chemotherapy hits, cancer cells are already worn out and less able to fight back.
This treatment can also help with the side effects of chemotherapy by protecting the healthy cells from being damaged by the oxidative stress from the chemo by activating heat-shock proteins (HSPs) which protect normal tissues from oxidative damage and help regenerate damaged cells more efficiently.

4. Fasting or Fasting-Mimicking Diets
Short-term fasting (not eating for 24–72 hours before chemo) or a low-calorie "fasting-mimicking diet".

How it works
Protecting healthy cells from chemo while making cancer cells more vulnerable.
Cancer cells can’t handle the stress of fasting, but healthy cells switch into “repair mode’’ also known as activating a pathway called AMPK which switches cells into low energy mode meaning no need to focus on growth or reproduction, this is detrimental as cancer relies on rapidly dividing to grow. It can help healthy cells survive and help chemo work better.
Chemo can massively deplete your blood counts and fasting can work by triggering a process called stem cell mobilisation, where stem cells from the bone marrow are activated to regenerate damaged or depleted blood cells putting you at less risk of some of the side effects of chemo.