In Japan

Hi,

My best friend is having cholangiocarcinoma. It has been confirmed by doctor in Singapore Hospital and also Indonesia .. both has confirmed that the got Bile Duct Cancer in the middle of Duct/

I read the article from Peter Betts and i found it interesting .
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=394

Anyway now i got Shiitake Mushroom from Canada by Biotic Research http://www.bioticsresearch.com/node/1620

Since my friend is going to take oral chemotherapy medicin (Xeloda) and i would likt to ask how many pils should he take at once… and it is 3 x a day ? In the box it does only say 1 to 4 pills per day.

Please help

Geoff,
Our Drs. don’t seem to worry either. His ALP levels have been very erratic. As I look through his bloodwork since June and see when it has gone the highest( up to 615) it seems to be when they have done certain procedures or when he has had infection. When he was first diagnosed his liver enzymes were normal and have gone up and down since he had his radiation and chemo treatments. By what I have read and what they say it can be caused by irritation, liver damage and even the healing process ( I can’t think of the actual term right now) can cause elevations. What milk thistle does is help increase levels of gluthione, an enzyme necessary for liver regeneration. You can not take supplements of gluthione or eat foods to increase levels, I guess it doesn’t work that way. Milk thistle has been shown to increase gluthione levels by up to 35%. My feeling with my husband is that he has had damage caused by the radiation he received and the different procedures they did in order to administer the radiation( drains etc.). My hope is that the milk thistle will help his liver heal and in turn cause his ALP to return to normal. He does not have any tumors in his liver and his Klatskin has shrunk or is dormant so I don’t worry about that being the cause as much. His CA -19 was 235 in Jan but they claim that can even be elevated due to cholangitis which I believe my husband was suffering from at that time. He was having chills and fever about once a week. Since they removed one stent and replaced the second a month ago he has not had any fever. Plus, as I said his color has improved markedly which I would think shows improved liver function.His other liver enzymes were almost normal when he had his last bloodwork three weeks ago. I will write after his next bloodwork in 2 weeks to let you know if his ALP level has fallen. He will have been on the milk thistle for one month. Take care. Mary

My husband has been taking Maitake Mushroom D Fraction for months now.He is doing very well but I don’t know whether it is the result of the mushrooms, diet etc. I guess time will tell as he is not receiving any chemo or other medical treatment at present.They are watching for any recurrence as his tumor has been reduced to the point of not being visible on Cat Scan or MRI. I do believe it has helped his immune system greatly because he has not had a sniffle, sore throat or anything and has been surrounded by sick people all winter.I credit the mushrooms for that. Also I started giving him milk thistle the past few weeks due to the fact that his Alkaline Phosphate levels have been high -most likely from damage caused by his extensive radiation treatments. His color improved almost overnight. Even though his bilirubin has been normal he still had a yellow appearance to his eyeballs and skin( that may be the carrot juice) but within days of starting milk thistle his eyes have cleared substantially and his skin is pinker. He will have bloodwork in a few weeks so I am very curious to see what that shows. Mary

I just started taking Lentinan, a Japanese pharmaceutical grade mushroom extract, along with Xeloda and the chinese medicine herbs I use.
I’ll have blood work done later this month to check my CA19-9 levels in hopes that the mix is helping. As in other countries my goal is to find what works for me as a patient. Not to isolate each variable to be able to gain statistical data.
Lentinan has shown some good results in Japan with increasing quality of life and longevity. Check PubMed for articles. It is not legal in this country and I had to get special compassionate use from the gov’t to have it imported.
I’d be most interested in other studies showing success with CC as would we all!!!!
-Peter