natural girls
Comments
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I posted a link to PubMed earlier. It is a site that has loads of studies on all sorts of things including nutritional supplements such as grape seed extract. Here is a link to those studies of grape seed extract and breast cancer.
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Maya ~ How much grape seed extract are you taking and how did you decide how much to take? I believe City of Hope here in California has also done extensive testing on it, and one of the oncologists I'd asked about it two years ago actually told me it sounded promising, although she would not recommend it without more conclusive research. But you are one of the first women I've heard say that you're using it as your primary estrogen modulator in lieu of Tamoxifen. Have you been having your estrogen levels tested?
Patty ~ Good luck today. I hope you'll be really satisfied with your new doctor, and I'm really anxious to hear about the appointment! Deanna
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I take 50mg of grape seed extract. The Mayo trial is using 200-800mg. I may adjust the dosage when they've completed their study.
Yes, estrogen tested, and it's very low, but don't remember the number.
When I originally began taking grape seed extract, it was reputed to help prevent BC, but I didn't know how. Later, I read about it being a natural AI. Keeping fingers firmly crossed.
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Here's a link to the Mayo Clinic Grape Seed Extract Trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00566553?term=grape+seed+extract&rank=10
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thenewme,
Thank you for the link on the grape seed extract trial. It mentions that grape seed extract increases testosterone. I wonder what the behavioral and physical SE's of increased testosterone are?
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Here's an interesting article on how grape seed extract works, one of several articles on City of Hope's website:
Deanna
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I don't if anyone else here has heard about Dr Sarah Myhill in England, but she's in a hotseat with the medical licensing board based on two complaints, one anonymous via the web, and the other by a physician. She's been practicing for 20 years and never had any such complaints from a patient. The web based complaint pertained to the doctor's website, suggesting the public was at risk somehow by the information she provides. The other complaint pertained to the delivery method of a B12 shot, subcutaneous vs intramuscular. Dr Myhill recommended to a patient that B12 shots be administered subcutaneously, but the labelling said intramuscular, and somehow this has an abundantly capable physician before the licensing board and her authority to write prescriptions has been suspended.
I viewed the video where this dr is extensively interviewed, and she epitomizes the kind of doctor I want to have for myself! It makes me ill, angry, sad all at the same time to know this doctor is being put through the wringer simply because she deviates from standard protocol in the name of truly serving her patients' best interest. Honestly, it's like the witch hunts never ended.
http://picasaweb.google.com/supportdrmyhill/videos#5473706453049169202
I highly recommend everyone here view this video!
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Althea - Sad but true...the witch hunts are still around in this day and age.
Hi Maya, I've been taking grape seed extract for about a year now. Are you sure it's 50mg, you are taking? It seems quite a low dosage. I take THOMPSON'S Grape Seed 19000mg vege caps, or Hilde Hemmes Grape Seed 12000mg. I also take high doses of T-resveratrol, which also contains grape seed extract.
Victoria0 -
notself - PubMed, is a wonderful database, and a personal favourite of mine, for some years now - as is Science Daily, AACR, and a plethora of others. Many of us girls in here are pretty savvy when it comes to research.
I recently had a truckload of blood tests done, and all my results were normal. l also just got my ultrasound results back, and the side of my BC breast was normal (yay), but my healthy/normal breast developed some tiny cysts. They say all is fine...nothing to worry about. I'm pretty elated - but my slight concern with cysts is that my onc told me that cysts might form due to excess estrogen. Bugger!! I did a little research, and he was right. It's so annoying when l do soooo much in the way of trying to maintain those damn levels.
http://breastcancer.about.com/od/mammograms/p/breast_cysts.htm
Soldiering on....
Victoria0 -
Dear Natural Girls,
I am only semi natural since I submitted to radiation at the very strong recommendation of my oncologist. I hated every minute of it and felt I was being subjected to primitive medicine from the darkest part of the Middle Ages.
Radiation increases microcalcifications in the breast which are strongly linked to tumor development. Are there any natural substances which can reduce microcalcifications?
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notself-iodine. Look for the iodine thread on this website and yahoo groups. Dr. Brownstein wrote a book on the subject.
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Asschercut--what makingway said.
There is no woman on the Yahoo Iodine Group who didn't get rid of their cysts with iodine. They can lead to cancer so that's why you need to get rid of them.
Have you seen Dr. Dach's pictures??? http://jeffreydach.com/2009/11/13/iodine-against-breast-cancer-the-overwhelming-evidence-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx?ref=rss
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Cool! Great link... thanks guys....x
I take iodine drops. Perhaps I should up my dosage?
Victoria0 -
Some research on resveratrol...
From what l understand, low concentrations are estrogenic and high concentrations are antiestrogenic.
Here's some info.... it's quite a long read...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1813930/?tool=pmcentrez
"High concentrations of resveratrol have antioxidant, proapoptotic, antigrowth, anti-inflammatory, antiangiogenic, and anti-invasive effects. Therefore, resveratrol is considered to be a cancer-preventive agent.
At a low concentration, 5 µM resveratrol increases cell migration and invasion, whereas 50 µM resveratrol inhibits cell migration and invasion.
Overall, these data indicate that resveratrol can act as a breast cancer metastasis-preventive agent but should be used with caution with regard to concentration. Even though such high concentrations may not be achieved by consumption of foods containing resveratrol, pharmacological concentrations of resveratrol may have breast cancer-preventive/therapeutic potential. Therefore, this disparate unique mechanism of action of a common dietary compound at low and high concentrations directly impacts the use of resveratrol in breast cancer prevention and therapy."
http://aacrmeetingabstracts.org/cgi/content/abstract/2005/1/647-c
"Resveratrol induces methylationchanges in a variety of CpG islands, including those known tobe altered in human cancer. This suggests that alterations inmethylation may be an important mechanism by which resveratrolprovides protective effects in human disease, including ER+breast cancer."
I take it in quite high doses, and transport it with MSM, and vitamin C. (a tip l got from other BC patients) I did cart wheels in and out of rads. My onc said "take as much jungle juice and elephant hairs as you want...it's ionised radiation, and it's going to do it's job." Well he was right in a way...but l gave my body a helping hand, replenishing my self on a cellular level, and l felt wonderful. In fact after 25 days of being scorched, I had a 4-day break because the machine was being serviced. So I had time to think about the boost, which was to follow. I knew that having had a small tumour and no node involvement...that I wasn't a candidate for the boost. My onc said it was up to me. So I went to Hong Kong for three nights/four days.... shopped ‘till I dropped...came back and didn't go through with the boost. I've been feeling great ever since. I do a whole lot of other things of course...but resveratrol is something I don't think I'm ready to give up.
Victoria0 -
You know an Australian scientist discovers SIRT1 activating compounds via resveratrol in the early 1990's ...and we're the last ones to hear about it, Down Under.
I heard that a pharmaceutical company in the US has forked out half a billion dollars to create a synthetic form of resveratrol...and are going to flog it off as an anti-ageing drug. Anything synthetic is going to have side effects as far as I'm concerned. I just don't get it? Why would you want to eat a plastic apple when you can pick one off the tree...so to speak! Mind you all the unlearned, un-researched folk will follow all the hype, when it's been under their nose in a more natural form all along.
Hey guess what? A few weeks ago I saw Olivia Newton John performing a couple of numbers outside the Myers Melbourne city store. She's almost a TWENTY year BC survivor...and she looked fabulous.
Have a great day ladies...x
Victoria
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Thanks Althea for sharing the video on Dr. Sarah Myhill's health philosophy. I smiled at the "stone age" diet. Very hard to follow but I am doing my best....lots of casseroles and veges and trying to stay away from restaurants and fast food.
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Hi Everyone, I just found this site and am so happy to have this support. I am trying to find someone who has taken Myomin and who might be able to tell me what they know about it. I would like to use this as an alternative to Tamoxifen.
Thanks!
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Iodine newbie update.
I had asked around the middle of May about it, and then ordered a bottle of Iodoral. Started taking just one 12.5 tablet each morning as soon as it arrived in the mail. I'm also taking D3 and B supplements (OTC). Since I'm self dosing, I decided to take it slow, LOL! Anyway ... the cysts had hit me hard and fast in March. They never really simmered down as they were numerous, large and in both breasts. Painful all the time. This is unbelievable, but I had to do some searching to find one in the right side yesterday! I'm really excited to see what the next few days bring, as I'm moving into that part of the cycle where they would go from painful to "super"painful. I haven't checked the left side as I've got a relatively fresh biopsy incision and don't want to disturb the scar tissue process.
This is awesome!
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What kind of magnesium do you recommend and how much. I was taking 750 mg of magnesium. I'm still not sure if I should take calcium citrate or not. My doc seems to think I should take 500 or 1000 of calcium. My calcium citrate includes 189 mg of magnesium which is listed as a different kind of magnesium than what's listed on my magnesium bottle.....which prompted this question.
Which kind of magnesium should I be taking?
Thanks Ladies!
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Chevfan, that is GREAT!! The same thing happened with me... within three months of Iodoral, all the lumpy-bumpiness has melted away (I had a very "busy" breast on the non-DCIS side too)... it's truly amazing.
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Hi Luna5,
I believe that magnesium citrate provides good absorption....more so than the non-chelated forms like magnesium oxide. Some months back I did a little research on magnesium chloride and it's health benefits, and stumbled onto systemic magnesium. I never heard of it before - apparently you spray it on, or spread it on. Interesting...
Here's a good read on Magnesium on...Natural News.com
Victoria0 -
Thank you Victoria. Thanks for the article, too.
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Chevfan--
I had both breast and ovarian cysts. My stomach was even slightly distended. My periods were irregular. Then I got breast cancer. My naturopath put me on iodine for breast cancer and somehow it got rid of both the breast and ovarian cysts. My periods now come on time. He said iodine "repairs" the estrogen receptors.
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I've been on the iodine protocol for, well, it depends on how you count. I started supplementing with iodine in late december 08. Took my first iodine loading test in may 09 and learned that I have lousy absorption rates. I had subscribed to the iodine list in feb/mar of of 08, but there were so many emails, I felt overwhelmed and allowed them to stack up. Then I plowed through the list and realized that iodine alone is not the answer, that taking the 'protocol' provides optimal results. So I've been mostly compliant with the iodine protocol for nearly a year now.
For magnesium, I take ancient minerals brand magnesium chloride spray. I get it from
http://www.oasisadvancedwellness.com/products/ancient-minerals-pure-magnesium-oil.htmI've also ordered the sublingual B12 spray from there and really liked it. I've tried 3 or more sublingual B12's, and the spray from oasis advanced wellness is the one that tastes the best to me. I haven't scraped together money for testing, so cant' comment on how effective it is. I first tried sublingual B12 2 1/2 years ago, convinced it would be the the missing puzzle piece for kicking fatigue to the curb. Alas, I can't report that it did that for me, but clearly, B12 is a crucially important piece of the nutrient mix.
I've lost count of how many things I've felt so certain would be my magic bullet for fatigue. I have to say, though, that I've had more good days this month than I've had in a month for a long time. I'm true to the iodine protocol, approximately at least, but not to the letter. Right now, for example, my bottle of magnesium is getting low, and I'm skimping on magnesium until I have a new bottle on order.
I'm also drinking infusions of red clover, oatstraw and stinging nettle that I learned about from susun week. Plus, nearly all of my dinners in the last months I've made from recipes I found in the Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr Cabot. Today I made barbequed chicken kebobs with spicy mango sauce made from scratch. I'm feeling the best I've felt in a very long time. Dr Cabot's recipes are all made from scratch, no dairy, no red meat. No calorie counting, just good honest food. I highly recommend it. I've long been envious of others who start iodine supplements and feel better right away. I began to suspect my detox pathways were clogged, so the liver cleansing diet seemed apprpropriate. I've lost some weight, I feel better. I've waited a looooooooooooooooong time for these results.
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My fatigue was helped with soy protein shakes. Although, I wasn't worried about cancer when I started on those in Jan. It was other issues. I had underwent several extremely stressful months and decided I needed to cool down my adrenal glands. I just up and decide these things sometimes. I find taking 1/2 dose of powder in water works for me. More protein than that at once in a shake kills my stomach.
And thanks girls for the Iodine supportive words! I'm really happy I found this section of the boards!
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Good morning althea - I smiled when I read about your Susun Weed infusions. You are the 1st person I've seen here (not that I read a lot) who drinks stinging nettle infusions. do you make your own? gather the stinging nettles? order them from an organic herb farmer? I have a huge bag i bought 2 yrs ago, tried to drink it during chemo - was so utterly repulsive I couldn't stand it. Ditto for burdock root yuk! same with all the tinctures. utterly barfacious.
Yet years before, thought it so delicious. I just gathered some new, before they bloomed. Just got to get that kettle boiling.. you've inspired me...and of course my taste buds have long been back to normal
I'm a bit hesitant about the rd clover blossoms, though, have some notion they arfe pro-estrogen? have to read up.....
In Canada we have a brand name supplemet called femMed for women, at a national drug store chain, and I've been using one called Breast health ever since i suspected I had br ca, and each capsule has 50 mg urtica dioica leaf extract, 50 mg. This product also Indole-3 carbinol, milk thistle, calcium d glucarate, schizandra, HMR lianans and vit d. Hey any canadians reading this you might not know this is at Shopper's! it was rec by my gynecolgist who happens to be very interested in complementary things and helped devise this formula.
Anyway, fun to meet another susun Weedo! OK will now get out the 1q qt jar and the nettles and start boiling water.....I use this as a cold drink, sort of like "spinach" water.
have a great day, all.
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I just made my own almond milk to mix in shakes instead of soy. (I am allergic to soy.) It was easy and very nice tasting. Too much almond milk will suppress the thyroid so I am going to use it only occasionally. Here is the recipe.
- Raw almonds, 1½ cups
- Filtered water, 4 cups
Soak almonds in water for minimum six to eight hours. Drain the water, and blend the almond with 4 cups of water, until it reaches a milk like consistency. Strain it to remove almond skin and granules. One can store almond milk in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator for four to five days.
I am going to try making my own rice milk next.
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Hi ladies! I am just now getting a chance to tell you all about my visit with my alternative doc. He was amazing! He was like this brilliant mad scientist, lol. He talked to me for about 2 hours. I think he was shocked about how much I already knew. I told him I could not afford it all right away so we are taking just a couple of things at a time. He wanted to start out with blood work to check my vit d3 level and thyroid. He said he thinks I have thyroid issues and I totally agree. I got a call from his office today and found out my d3 level is 67!!!!! He told me to keep up with whatever I'm doing in that regard. The thyroid panel is not back yet. The next step he wants to do is hormone levels. He checks that with saliva. He also wanted to know what kind of chemo I had so that we can detox my liver. He said I could try Evista to prevent a recurrence. I looked up the side effects and I don't care for them. He said if the typical dose was to much for me I could cut in half or even take one every other day. He said he does not believe in the "one dose fits all" theory. I think I will wait and talk to him more about that before I decide. If any of you gals have any thought about Evista I would love to hear them. So all in all I am totally thrilled with the "mad scientist"
Love to all Patty
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Oh, Patty, I'm so glad you had a great experience. Sounds like money well spent!
Funny that you should ask about Evista because when I saw my PCP about a week ago for my annual check up, she, too, was really pushing Evista, and also suggested that I at least try it every other day. She said that she has many women on it and it helps with the menopause issues -- like achey joints and being able to think more clearly. So I'm right there with you, hoping to get some input, although I am just so darn suspicious and leery of pharmaceuticals, because so many of them have damaging SEs that aren't known about until people have been on them for awhile. I'm also waiting for results of the blood work I had last week before making a decision.
Deanna
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Patty-
Congrats on the D levels! I'm glad that you had usch a positive experience with your new doctor.
Patty & Deanna-
I have never researched it - but I looked up Evista in Jonathan Wright's revised Hormone book. Here are some quotes from p.211:
" The problem with SERMs is that, while they may be relatively benign in the breast, they act very differently in other tissues, such as bone or uterud, where they are potent estrogen stimulators. This is fine if your goal is to prevent osteoporosis. However, Novladex(tamoxifen) and Evista(raloxifene), even when taken at recommended doses, can and do cause serious adverse side effects in other estrogen-sensitive tissues, ranging from worsened hot flushes, leg cramps, urinary incontinence, and other meopausal discomforts, to uterine cancer, strokes, and blood clots in the legs and lungs. Although Evista was originally hailed as being safer than Nolvadex as a potential cause of uterine cancer, a closer look at the results have not supported this conclusion. In fact, Evista may actually increase the risk of ductal carcinoma in situ(DCIS),....needless to say, no such risks has ever been associated with estriol.."
Note: He lists multiple references - the one on the DCIS risk is:
Vogel VG, Costantino JP, Wickerham DL, et al. Effects of Tamoxifen vs Raloxifene on the risk of Developing Invasive Breast Cancer and other disease outcomes: The NSABP study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene(STAR) P-2 Trail. JAMA 2006; 295:2727-2741.
Beth
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