Thanks river56, pretty much what I was thinking. 

Hi Frenchie,

Thank you for posting, the moderators have asked the nurses to post a reply.

I am sorry to hear about your situation, it sounds like you are going through a difficult time.

You are right that there has been some research looking into fasting around the time you have chemotherapy. The majority of information so far is looking at how cancer cells in mice react to it. This does not necessarily mean that it is suitable for humans. As a result of those early tests, there have been a few trials looking at humans who tried fasting to various degrees over varied numbers of hours before, during and after chemotherapy.

Unfortunately it has not been possible to find robust clinical evidence due to the make-up of the trials. There were only a few hundred patients recruited to the trials and very little information about which cancer they had. Also no records were kept of what people ate although there have been low calorie diets as well as just fluids looked at so no firm conclusions are available about which diet, if any, someone should follow.

The general guidance is that you should eat a balanced diet but as has already been said, sometimes your tastes change when you are having chemotherapy. Some people find that they can’t tolerate spicy foods but often need things with more flavour, so adding herbs or other flavourings can help.

Do discuss your diet with your consultant. They can advise on any changes which might be helpful for you to make.

I hope this reply has been useful.  We are evaluating the nurse service at the moment so it would be really helpful if you could complete the short survey here

Kind regards,

Deborah

Thanks very much for your reply Deborah, it has been very helpful. The problem is obviously the lack of research results. I'll just have to press on and see what happens (seeing the Consultant 29.8.16).

Can you tell me if the treatment I am receiving is similar to the UK? It is titled Prodige 23 which I understand is a study being carried out in many countries.

The final part of my treatment is 12 fortnightly transfusions of chemo over 2or3 days.