Juven and Bomshel

 I would be amiss if I did not mention a few other items that I feel are crucial to my overall management of side effects. 

 I cannot say enough about these amazing creams from Phys Assist. Smelling like an herb garden and having moisturized skin from head to toe is really refreshing. My amazing team of Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Speech Language Pathologist really nailed this one! Thanks guys!

 A couple other products that have helped me manage my mucositis and GI issues is Arnica and Juven. 

***Disclaimer: Speak with your medical care team before using any supplements as some can interfere with specific chemotherapy, targeted, or hormone therapy treatments. This is my experience with my medical situation and is not meant to be used as medical advice! In fact, my oncologist states eating tuna can have same/similar outcomes than collagen so supplementation is not always the answer when you can focus more on nutrition!***

 Arnica can be used topically or orally (by mouth), and for decreased inflammation and pain, I have been using it orally. I've used it for years instead of NSAIDs (e.g. Ibuprofen and Voltaren Gel) for musculoskeletal pain and bruising, but the oral option has really helped recently.

 We use Juven all the time with our patients with wounds to promote wound healing. It consists of Arginine (An amino acid that promotes blood flow and is a building block for proteins, which can contribute to wound healing), Collagen Protein (A type of protein that stimulates internal collagen production), Glutamine (An amino acid that helps cells produce the building blocks needed for new tissue), Micronutrients (Vitamins C, E, B12, and zinc are important nutrients for the wound healing process), and HMB (A leucine metabolite that may protect muscle cells and preserve and maintain muscle tissue). There is some research that shows a positive impact of glutamine on decreasing the severity of mucositis and I'm here for all of that. Mouth sores are so painful!

 Here is a systematic review that states, "It [glutamine] significantly reduced the incidence of grade 2, 3, or 4 mucositis and/or reduced weight loss as well as the duration, time of onset, and/or maximum grade of mucositis."

 I'm going to really geek out on you now. As I link research articles, it is beneficial to know what types of evidence have the highest quality and least risk of bias, insert hierarchy of evidence pyramid here:

 Another study focusing on HMB:

 Now for some sister torture. The only thing she hates more than early 2000's country is late 1990's country. This one is for you sis!

TL;DR

 There are some great herbs and supplements that can help to manage chemotherapy side effects but it is important that they are used after consulting your medical care team. As I link research articles, it helps to know that systematic reviews are the gold standard to ensure high quality and low bias information. And, I love to torture my sister with country music from any era.