Vitamins and supplements when on chemo

It’s very tricky because there is so much misinformation out there. I’ve never heard the don’t drink bottled water before from anyone and drank bottled water throughout. I was given a list of foods to avoid and told not to take anything more than a multivitamin if absolutely necessary. Lots of herbal remedies can interact badly with chemo, including echinacea, St. John’s wort and turmeric to name a few. I was also told not to eat ‘live’ products or use yakult or similar whilst on chemo. I think they key is only use reputable sites for information, don’t use anything more than a multivitamin and check the actual source of what you are reading. Most chemo patients (75%) have a vitamin d deficiency, I am finished chemo now and have been prescribed high dose vitamin d for a bit x

 I normally take my vitamins in on chemo day so they can look at it and the pharmacy can check it. 

So far no probiotics, no antioxidants, calcium & vit d is ok in line with recommended daily allowance, that's it so far .

Definitely take them in and ask them , 

I eat a healthy diet , spinich once a day, chickpeas, different meats,  veg, fruits, couscous, nuts, dried apricots.

I bought a water filter to get the best water do don't pick up any germs from Tap water.

I had EC where I didn't eat much ,so now I'm on the pax I'm working hard at my diet.

Hi fiddlesticks, my oncologist recommended that I take nothing whilst on chemotherapy, his belief is that just let the drugs do their work without anything else interfering or potentially interfering. I was told to take panadol for pain if needed or brufen and also prescribed and anti sickness odnan something and omazaprole if I had acid redux. I tried to keep everything to a minimum and followed his advice. I am now on herceptin and perjeta for 1 year, 5 to go and I take 1 x Vitamin D daily and 1 x neurobion daily. I am now also taking kefir daily to build up my good gut bacteria naturally and I will have a full blood check done for vitamins and minerals at the end of the month so we can check if deficient in anything. Post chemo I was only showing a vitamin D deficiency and the neurobion is B vitamins to help with neuropathy. So sorry that your oncologist is dismissive, it’s really unhelpful, maybe ask your breast cancer nurse if you can see the nutritionist or dietician they may know someone who can help. It’s so difficult as lots of recommendations and it’s hard to know if it’s a trusted source and we are all different. 
Hope you get some better advise from your care team x 

That's a good idea, thank you.

Thanks so much. I hope the end of your treatment goes well - the end line is in sight!

My advice would be to worry about getting back to health once chemo is complete. I don't think any amount of vitamins would counteract the effects and anything that would slightly help are likely antioxidants, which as you've already said, would go against the chemo.

Trying to eat a healthy diet when you're on chemo will give you all the vitamins and minerals you need without overdosing and that becoming a problem for the chemo. It can be hard to want to eat much on chemo, so I forced myself to eat healthily.

As others have said, you need to run everything past your oncologist. It is surprising what they say no to as there are drug interactions.

I completely changed my mind about supplements after speaking to my pharmacist oncologist at my first 6 monthly check. She said never buy anything that is above the recommended daily amount as it can do more harm than good (most supplements seem to be way above RDA). We should be able to get everything from diet. That said, I do take a few things now as I'm in a medical menopause so I take vit D and calcium for bones, hemp oil (not CBD) for joint pain and 5-htp for headaches, mood & sleep though I was already taking that for years for headaches before cancer. Also have a magnesium spray for headaches. I barely get a headache now, so reluctant to give those ones up!

I'm not anti-supplement, but I did drop everything during chemo and think more about what I take now.

Thanks for all your answers! I will ask my doctor about any supplements he can recommend to me while on chemotherapy.
Normally, I take a brain-stimulating supplement from https://brainreference.com/alpha-brain-review/. It contains all the necessary amino acids and natural ingredients to increase brain and memory function and help me fight stress and anxiety. But I stopped taking it when the therapy started because I didn’t want them to interfere. I don’t know whether I did the right thing, but there’s no reliable information online about the compatibility of supplements and chemotherapy.

Your doctors seem great! Mine haven't tested any minerals or vitamins and don't seem likely to either. 

Did you take the Vit D or neurobion during chemo? Were you on Paclitaxel?