Temozolomide and Ascorbic Acid in Treating Patients With Recurrent High-Grade Glioma

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have pathologically proven diagnosis of high grade glioma * Patients must have received prior radiation therapy and standard temozolomide * Patients must be three or more months from the end of chemoradiotherapy or have biopsy or imaging consistent with disease progression * Patients must have recovered from toxicity of prior therapy * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 or better * Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) count \>= 1,500/mm\^3 * Hemoglobin \>= 8 g/dL * Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3 * Serum creatinine that is at or below 2.0 mg/dL * Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) less than 1.5 times the upper limits of normal; note: if hepatic function is abnormal, the decision to initiate temozolomide treatment should carefully consider the benefits and risks for the individual patient * Serum alkaline phosphatase less than 2.5 times the upper limits of normal; note: if hepatic function is abnormal, the decision to initiate temozolomide treatment should carefully consider the benefits and risks for the individual patient * The patient must be aware of the neoplastic nature of his/her disease and willingly provide written, informed consent after being informed of the procedure to be followed, the experimental nature of the therapy, alternatives, potential benefits, side-effects, risks, and discomforts * Women of reproductive potential must be non-pregnant and non-nursing and must agree to employ an effective barrier method of birth control throughout the study and for up to 6 months following treatment * Women of child-bearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test within 7 days of initiating study; (no childbearing potential is defined as age 55 years or older and no menses for two years or any age with surgical removal of the uterus and/or both ovaries) Exclusion Criteria: * History of uncontrollable allergic reactions to temozolomide or ascorbic acid or to antiemetics appropriate for administration in conjunction with protocol-directed chemotherapy * Known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positivity AND actively being treated with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) * History of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency * History of oxalate nephrolithiasis or urine oxalate \> 60 mg/dL * Anuria, dehydration, severe pulmonary congestion or pulmonary edema or fixed low cardiac input since all are conditions for which osmotic diuresis are contraindicated and ascorbic acid has high osmolarity * Any other clinically significant medical disease or condition laboratory abnormality or psychiatric illness that, in the Investigator's opinion, may interfere with protocol adherence or a subject's ability to give informed consent * Patients who are on the following drugs and cannot have a drug substitution: flecainide, methadone, amphetamines, quinidine, and chlorpropamide; note: high dose ascorbic acid may affect urine acidification and, as a result, may affect clearance rates of these drugs * Simultaneous participation in other therapeutic clinical trials will not be allowed * Inability to co-operate with the requirements of the protocol * Pregnant and nursing women are excluded from this study