How best to help/coach an elderly cancer patient?

[SeanThornton]

I have a friend who's currently finishing up chemotherapy, and has lost ~45 pounds during treatment. He's 74, but is (was) in pretty decent shape for his age.

We know each other through Special Olympics, where a friend of his family is one of my son's teammates for basketball and powerlifting. He's asked me about what to do to get strength back, and add weight, once the chemo is done (no energy or appetite at all right now), since he's seen what a boon strength training has been for the boys.

Obviously, I can coach him in the lifts for strength training, but that's probably not step one. I'm asking for help from the community on how to best start him on the road to recovery. Nutrition probably being item #1, but if any of you have any experience with this, I'd appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Get some testosterone in him. It will improve his appetite and everything else.

[jfsully]

I don’t think there is any reason to delay strength training, especially once the chemo is finished, unless he had a surgical or radiation treatment that would warrant restriction on specific lifts.

Training through chemo is possible, and will help with energy and appetite. There will be limits to what can be tolerated, but there’s no reason not to find a way to train.

[SeanThornton]

Get some testosterone in him. It will improve his appetite and everything else.

Thanks for the response, Mark. I will encourage him to get a testosterone supplement.

[dalan]

Thanks for the response, Mark. I will encourage him to get a testosterone supplement.

Hopefully you can find a doctor that will prescribe it given his situation. Its getting better but many doctors are still afraid of prescribing testosterone if there is ANY variable at all, even if it's an unrelated slightly out of range result on a blood test.

[SeanThornton]

Hopefully you can find a doctor that will prescribe it given his situation. Its getting better but many doctors are still afraid of prescribing testosterone if there is ANY variable at all, even if it's an unrelated slightly out of range result on a blood test.

Pardon my complete ignorance on the subject....

There's a difference between prescribed testosterone and a supplement bought OTC?

[Mark Rippetoe]

There is no such thing as OTC testosterone.

[SeanThornton]

There is no such thing as OTC testosterone.

OK, I see my confusion.

I did a search, and found this: The 8 Best Supplements to Boost Testosterone Levels

Supplements which boost testosterone, as opposed to actual testosterone (injections? pills? however it's administered).

[Mark Rippetoe]

Pick any of these things, and find where they tell you how much they increased test levels, and then look at their data.

[Soule]

I believe there are several T clinics that now provide home delivery service now as well.