Best of Breast: news for week ending 14 February 2014

I am now fundraising for treatments at:  GoFundMe http://www.gofundme.com/78jh2w  and https://www.justgiving.com/goBananasforRona

Here is the weekly summary of news alerts from Google Breast Cancer and Cancer for week ending 14 February.

We love you! We’re helping to cure cancer!

I was spoiled for choice this week – all my favourite topics came up (and not a single tedious cohort study):  curcumin (wow!), intravenous Vitamin C (double-wow!), more mouse trials (see Valentine’s Day card they sent us), cancer vaccine, new drugs (wow-wow-and-wow) and tamoxifen.

Curcumin:  One of my most popular posts is on curcumin.  Scientists have now discovered that putting an implant of curcumin into mice halted tumour growth vs ingesting it orally.  Before we all rush out and get one … remember, it’s only been tested on mice, and only available in mice-size implants.  However, the good news is that intravenous curcumin is available.  The bad news, it’s in Germany and only six clinics at the moment have access to it.  The good news, it’s available from the reputable PraxisKlinik Siebenhuner integrative clinic in Frankfurt (costs about Euro1,600 for six infusions).

Intravenous Vitamin C:  There’s a study from the University of Kansas on the efficacy of intravenous Vitamin C in ameliorating chemotherapy symptoms – I’m not sure why it’s “new” news – this has been part of the protocol at the University of Kentucky for awhile.  If you’ve followed my blog, you know I tried IV C and it didn’t work i.e. shrink the tumour.  Having said that, in the two years I was on IV C, I never got any metastasis, so maybe something was working.

Tamoxifen:  In Best of Breast (w/e 31 Jan) I mentioned that bodybuilders were taking tamoxifen, i.e. going out and buying it.  Well, this week it’s revealed that bodybuilders may be unwittingly taking tamoxifen in bodybuilding supplements – it’s not even listed on the label.  In case you were wondering … they take tamoxifen because they want to stop their man boobs from growing from steroid use.

This week’s headline:  Finally … with all the juicy topics lined up, I chose to lead with a computer game that you can download to your iPhone or Smartphone and play and help scientists analyse real genetic data for cancer faster.  Wouldn’t it be great to help beat cancer and have some fun too?  Game on!

1.  Video game to help find cure for cancer

The IV C files #6 – Intravenous Vitamin C – lessons learned

Photo credit: enerchanges.com

If this post has helped you, please would you help me?  I am now fundraising for cancer treatments at GoFundMe http://www.gofundme.com/78jh2w or at JustGiving:  https://www.justgiving.com/goBananasforRona

Revised 7 April 2014 re. importance of oxygen supply to tumour

I’ve posted previously about IV C.

Despite adhering to a strict regime of 3 x 6 days a week of infusions plus twice weekly for another 3 months, and a near raw vegan diet with juicing, and a small fortune in supplements, the tumour grew.

(I did, however, feel generally well during that period so maybe it did some good.)

I’ve been thinking about why IV C didn’t work for me, and I’ve come up with the following possibilities:

Hallwang Clinic #6 – boosting the immune system with infusions

Updated 15 December 2013 with information on where to purchase Hepa-Mertz if you are living in the UK

One thing was sure, the clinic moved fast.  There wasn’t a day when I wasn’t doing treatments or infusions.  Five hours after I arrived I was hooked up to infusions.

Infusions are a way of introducing supplements and boosters intravenously.  They are very effective because they go straight into the bloodstream, where the body can immediately use them.

The infusions themselves weren’t expensive averaging Euro20 for a combination e.g Zinc, Vitamin C, Hepa-Mertz (a liver detox), Glutathione.  Compare this to the cost of a single dose of IV C in the UK at £150-£200, and it was like being in a candy store.

The IV C files #5 – Q: “Should I try intravenous vitamin C as a cure for cancer?”

photo credit: http://www.doctorsaputo.com/

Updated 10 November 2013

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that IV C did not work for me.

In fact, so far I’ve only come across two women with breast tumours (that were cancerous) for whom it worked – they are still alive and in remission more than 5 years later.

I also met a man who used IV C for lung tumours – they shrank.  But he also had a squamous cell carcinoma that had developed from a tumour on his tonsil – and that did not respond to IV C.

I met a woman who had 3 tumours in her breast – one shrank, one grew and one vanished through IV C.

So as you can see, it seems a bit hit-and-miss.

If you’re asking yourself:  “should I do IV C?” then the following will guide you:

The IV C files #4 – Still alive (and why you shouldn’t do intravenous vitamin C for cancer)

[updated 7 April 2014 – please also read my post Intravenous Vitamin C – Lessons Learned]

It’s been awhile since I last posted.

I wasn’t sure how to proceed.

When I first set up this blog it was to share my experiences with intravenous Vitamin C in resolving and healing Grade 1 breast cancer.

I was full of optimism, having talked to people for whom it worked.

However, the short of the matter is, the intravenous Vitamin C didn’t work for me.  The tumour didn’t break down.  In fact, it grew.

The (exhorbitant) cost of complementary therapies and a few ways to offset the cost

Updated 11 July 2016

I’ve noticed a lot of fundraising being done for people with Stage 4 cancer.  I understand that not everyone wants to sell or re-mortgage their house, or take out a loan, or run up huge bills on credit cards, or maybe they’ve already done so and have reached the limits of borrowing, or they’ve got families to think about and support and can’t stretch their finances any further.  Or maybe they just can’t imagine borrowing money in case they die.  But what I’ve noticed is that some of these people with Stage 4 who are fundraising, is well, by the time they meet their targets, it’s taken a month … two months (if they’re lucky) … and then they die before the money comes in because the cancer has become more aggressive and advanced.  What I want to say is:  if you’re Stage 4, don’t wait for the target to be reached.  Go now.  Time is critical if you’re Stage 4.  Run up the credit card bills.  Buy yourself that precious time.  And in the meanwhile, yes, fundraise like crazy.  Because the longer you live, the more money you will need to keep the cancer in remission.

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When I first started out with using complementary therapies as a means to heal myself of the cancer, I hadn’t realised it was going to be so expensive.

I understand that practitioners with skill and expertise should be fairly rewarded for their service, so before you jump into the world of complementary therapies, please note that complementary therapies are not as cheap as allopathic medicine because complementary practitioners believe that they can charge a fair market rate.  Often this equates what a doctor would charge in private practice.  Unlike free treatment on the NHS, all complementary therapies must be paid for out of your own pocket.

I’ll give you a quick idea of how expensive treatments can be.

The IV C files #3 – What an intravenous vitamin C infusion feels like

If you’ve ever had an intravenous infusion of anything, you probably know what intravenous vitamin C feels like.

An intravenous needle is just a way of breaking the skin into a vein, and the needle acts as a guide for the cannular (or fine tube) that allows the fluid to flow into the vein.  After the needle is inserted, the cannular follows and the needle is withdrawn.  Sounds simple?

The IV C files #2 – Intravenous Vitamin C treatment – the first week

The clinic I was receiving the intravenous vitamin C treatment had a regime of 18 sessions delivered over three weeks.   This would be followed by twice-weekly follow-up sessions for three months.

When I asked why three weeks and then three months, I was told that this replicated the protocol used by the alternative cancer treatment hopsital, the Oasis of Hope in Mexico.

I would also be having daily sessions of hyperthermia and ozone therapy.

The IV C files #1 – Intravenous Vitamin C – how it works

Just in case you’re wondering how Vitamin C (a seemingly-natural and innocuous substance) works for cancer treatment, here’s a summary from “Intravenous Vitamin C and Cancer” from http://orthomolecular.org/library/ivccancerpt.shtml