Vitamins May Help Cancer-Related Pain

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Vitamins May Help Cancer-Related Pain

Melatonin Supplements, Green Tea Extract, Other Complementary Remedies May Also

Lessen Fatigue

By Charlene Laino

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Jan. 28, 2008 (Orlando) -- High-potency vitamins, melatonin supplements, and

other complementary remedies may help to relieve the debilitating pain and

fatigue experienced by most people with advanced pancreatic cancer, a new study

suggests.

" Pain and fatigue are a huge issue for this population of patients, " says

researcher C. Birdsall, MD, vice president for integrative medicine at

the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, Ill.

" Many have so much pain that they need sedating doses of narcotics. And they are

often too tired to get up and move around; they spend most of the day sitting or

even in bed, " he tells WebMD.

Vitamins Help Control Pain

Birdsall and colleagues studied 50 people who had advanced pancreatic cancer and

were being treated with chemotherapy, sometimes in conjunction with radiation.

The participants were already taking narcotic drugs and anti-inflammatory agents

to help control their pain. Birdsall says that " there's really nothing,

conventionally, that we can give for fatigue. "

Thirty-six of the 50 participants were given complementary remedies, most

frequently green tea extract, melatonin, and high-potency multivitamins that had

at least 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C and 400 international units of vitamin E.

At the start of the study, 40% of those taking a complementary remedy had pain

that was considered manageable. Six months later, 67% had manageable pain. In

contrast, 35% of those who didn't take a complementary treatment had manageable

pain at the outset; by six months, that figure had dropped to 22%, the study

showed.

Complementary Treatments Relieve Fatigue

The researchers asked the participants to rate their fatigue on a 100-point

scale, with 0 corresponding to no fatigue and 100 points " being debilitating

fatigue of the worst kind, " Birdsall says.

At the start of the study, the participants who took vitamins or other

complementary remedies rated their fatigue an average of 55 points. Three months

later, the figure had dropped to 35 points. It remained there for the length of

the six-month study.

In contrast, those who didn't take complementary remedies rated their fatigue an

average of 45 points at the outset; six months later, it had jumped to 65

points.

" Complementary alternative medicine may improve fatigue and extend the period of

effective pain control of conventional analgesics in pancreatic cancer

patients, " Birdsall says.

The findings were reported at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium,

cosponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and three other leading

cancer care organizations.

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