My trip to the Naturopath
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My oncologist responded that it is fine to take these things. That’s all she said, no detail. She also agreed to check my vit D the next time I get labs.
So, do I want to take them or not? I’m leaning on taking them because here are my thoughts. There has to be some type of underlying issue in my body that allowed this cancer to grow that hasn’t been dealt with. I had the tumor removed, had chemo and radiation, all which focused on killing the tumor, not with fixing whatever problem caused it to grow. So, if the problem isn’t fixed, why wouldn’t it grow back? That is the most frustrating part of this whole process for me. No one has any idea how I got this horrible thing, and no one really cares to look into it. I’m not blaming them, obviously my drs have enough to deal with and their main focus has been treating the cancer, not worrying about where it came from. But I worry about how I got it all the time.
I don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but I was pretty much the epitome of health before I got cancer. So, there aren’t many diet/lifestyle changes that I can implement that I think would make a difference.If the cancer comes back will I blame the supplements? If I don’t take them and it comes back, I’ll have wish I’d taken the stupid things. Both chemo and radiation were presented to me with little proof that they would help my situation, so I guess this is not any different than that scenario.
Eli, I can’t remember the mushrooms he named. I know maitake and shiitake were in the mix. He said they were all edible.
Have a good night everyone.
Susie
Hi Susie,
That’s very interesting. Thank you so much for posting.
I wonder what was in the mushroom mix that he recommended. Any of these?
Agaricus blazei
Chaga
Cordyceps
Coriolus
Lion’s Mane
Maitake
Reishi
Shiitake
TremellaMy wife tried Melatonin when she had trouble sleeping during her treatments. She took it for a while and then stopped, because it caused drowsiness and headaches in the morning. I think she took the same dose, 20mg at night.
I think you are right to wonder about the hormone effects of melatonin. Take a look at Sloan-Kettering page on Melatonin:
http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/melatonin
The professional tab contains this warning:
Quote:Because melatonin can alter levels of estrogen, patients with hormone sensitive cancer should consult their physicians before considering melatonin supplementation.I remember reading medical studies saying that CC is estrogen-sensitive. If I recall correctly, these studies claimed two things. One, estrogen levels are increased in CC patients including males. Two, estrogen seems to promote CC growth (but that’s just a theory and not proven 100%).
The question is, does Melatonin increase or decrease levels of Estrogen???
It’s all very confusing, isn’t it?
Very interesting, Susie. I would still bring all these things up to your ONC before starting, though. I think I took that much extra stuff I would not be hungry enough to eat. Between my meds and vitamins, they sometime seem to fill me up. Good luck on it all.
So, I had a consult with a naturopath today. It took about 90 minutes. He reviewed my latest bloodwork and the only other additional testing that was ordered was to get my vitamin D level checked.
Backround on me, I had intrahepatic CC, had a resection 1 yr ago, got 3 cycles gem/cis, 6 wks radiation plus xeloda, 3 more cycles gem/cis which ended in middle of February.I had to get 2 units of blood and started on iron and was on neopogen during chemo. Had an ovary removed one month ago because of an endometrioma. My last WBC was 4.8, h/h 12/35.9, plts 189. I feel pretty darn good considering the year I’ve had.
So, anyway…The Dr I saw was very nice and appeared knowledgeable. He was not pushy at all, which I appreciated because I told him I am a skeptic of natural medicine and frankly a little afraid of it. He said I am doing remarkable well for someone with my history, which to him meant I am pretty healthy and my body does a good job healing itself. We went through my lifestyle and he basically encouraged the no brainer things such as exercise and a healthy diet with lots of fruits/vegetables/whole grains. Encouraged eating “whole” foods, organic if possible. Also encouraged green tea.
He said in order for cancer to form, there must be some type of inflammation in the body. My hepatologist also told me this a while back. So, he said his plan for me was to reduce inflammation by taking some supplements short term for about 6 months and then just eat a healthy diet.
The supplements he recommended was some type of mushroom mix, I said no to that one, but said I would eat more mushrooms.
Melatonin 20mg at night.
Chelidonium pellets under the tongue for one week. Don’t think I will take this one. I’ve read it is either great for your liver or causes hepatitis and is dangerous, so not worth the risk to me.
BCQ 2 caps twice a day, it has Bromelain, Querceting, Curcumin and Boswelia
Fish Oil I don’t have much of a problem with, it’s prescribed by cardiologists all the time for cardiac patients.
Melatonin doesn’t really bother me either except I wonder about the hormone effects. Some cancers are hormone sensitive. I’ve used it in the past for sleep, but not at this dose.
That BCQ thing, I’m not surprised about. I kind of expected they would recommend something with turmeric.I also asked about CoQ10. He said he puts tons of cancer patients on it, but since my energy level is ok, no need for me.
Comments and opinions are welcome. Be as blunt as you want, I won’t be offended.
Be well everyone!
Susie
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