Anybody with cmml-2 using TCM, integrated therapy

Hi Cliff, Welcome to Mayo Connect. It’s never easy when you’re newly diagnosed with a life altering health condition such as leukemia. What to do??!! You’re faced with having to take a treatment you’re concerned about and yet wanting to rid your body of cancer.
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia is a generally slowly developing form of leukemia but does require treatment. Without intervention it can continue to proliferate. Your doctor has you in the first stages of treatment with the AZA chemo and then plans a bone marrow transplant to keep you in remission.
I had a similar journey with my AML/BMT 6+ years ago and happy to say it worked wonderfully to keep me healthy and active.

So the first thing is to get you into remission as healthy as possible during treatment. I appreciate your desire to have a say in your treatment and being proactive. I was the same way and my doctors were amazingly accommodating with limitations…at some point we need to trust them to make the decisions for our treatment and follow their guidance.

In my case, my oncology team for AML and then my BMT team all put a big red flag on supplements of any kind without running it past them. There can be serious interactions between even the most basic, seemingly harmless supplements can create issues. Some medications can amplify the actions of meds or the supplements causing serious overload to the liver and kidneys. Case in point, I was told no turmeric, ginger, gi gong, ginseng, no rooibos teas, no green tea supplements. etc.
Instead, I was encouraged to eat foods rich in anti-oxidants, lean proteins, evoo as the preferred oil…but no supplements.

Chemo is rough on the organs. So especially if you’re going into a bone marrow transplant situation you want your organs as healthy and unscathed as possible. If you’re planning on taking anything beyond your prescribed treatment, please talk this over with your oncology team.

Have you talked with a transplant team yet? Do you know where you’d be having the transplant?

Thanks for your input! Never been sick before, the Stanford transplant team is awesome and my Kaiser team has been so supportive. I've read so many articles about the integrated treatment of TCM and western conventional treatment. Still figuring out how I can best stay healthy and reduce the chemo side effects.
I appreciate your inspiration al comments, take care, Cliff

@cliffyzman Hi Cliff, I’d always been very healthy and active too. Having watched older relatives pass away from cancer I did everything I could during my adult life to mitigate my chances of developing cancer. Exercised religiously, avoided toxins, ate thoughtfully, no smoking, and I followed some TCM practices of Acupuncture, Tai Chi, Massage therapy but not extra supplementation.

But never did thoughts of a blood cancer enter my mind, until out of the blue at 65 when I was diagnosied with AML. I had, what I now know as obvious symptoms of aggressive AML for only three weeks prior to diagnosis. My doctor ignored the symptoms 3 weeks in a row until I was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

Where I’m going with this is I understand absolutely understand your desire to maintain a certain level of health and well-being during chemo. And from my understanding it’s ok to follow some of the traditional eastern theories for health while undergoing treatments at a conventional medical center. I was able to continue with Massage therapy which is highly beneficial during chemo! I was not able to have acupuncture because each needle is a potential point of entry for bacteria (no pun intended 😊). Acupressure is fine because it isn’t invasive. Exercise such as walking, yoga, light weights are incredibly helpful during chemo. I have photos the nurses took of me walking 4 miles a day while pushing my chemo IV cart around the bed tower. I was there a total of 8 weeks totaled up a lot of miles! LOL. While not being able to keep up that level during the BMT, I still walked as much as I could after my transplant at Mayo. There have been many articles citing the benefits of exercise for recovery.

The supplements can be an issue, as I mentioned previously. They are not regulated and can often contain dangerous compounds. Some can impact the metabolism of other meds, or interfere with medications and their expected outcomes. Simple supplements like turmeric and ginger, as an example, can be dangerous because they are blood thinners. If you’re going through chemo, blood cells are usually on the decline mid cycle anyway. So adding a blood thinner to already dangerously low platelets can be catastrophic.

There are naturopathic hematologists/oncologists who may subscribe to TCM during treatment. You might get a 2nd opinion. Also check in with your oncology/BMT team to see what they suggest. Both of my medical teams at my local health center and Mayo encouraged massage and acupressure, but no supplementation during treatment. They’re too unpredictable.
So my advice from having gone through all of this medical excitement is follow team advice, but certainly keep up a healthy diet and exercise as much as you can. We are what we eat! ☺️
How are you doing with the AZA?

Thanks so much for the encouragement and words of wisdom gained through experience...just finishing my 1st round of sub-q injections of AZA...some nausea, lots of fatigue, but really not as bad as I figured it would be, a bit of trouble sleeping as I have a ton of anxiety awaiting 3 more rounds, then the bone marrow transplant...trying to stay strong