Treating estrogen responsive cancer naturally
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I think that's the big problem with herbs and supplements is there is no regulation. And you never know if something sold on amazon or another legit looking site is the real deal. My cousin was using a supplement, some kind of popular herb she got on amazon with good reviews, and after a few years buying from the same place, she got severe vertigo that about did her in. Since there is no regulation with this stuff, you're kind of stuck. Proceed with caution. In my cousin's case it took a long while. We suspect it was fake supps. It was on dr. Oz a long time ago about you just can't be sure non regulated, non fda reviewed supps are the real deal or not so much.
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Hi again. I agree there are some problems with supplements. However the fact that they are not FDA approved means nothing to me. There are lots of FDA approved drugs that cause horrible side effects, including death! Just listen to the drug commercials on TV!
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The reason you hear about the side effects from FDA approved drugs is because they ARE regulated. It is the law. You do not hear the same about alternative stuff because they are NOT regulated and so you never hear about it....unless you check. Colloidal silver was touted as a good antibiotic...which it is on your skin, but ingested, it harms the kidneys and turns your skin blue. That's not on the bottle.
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With all due respect, isn't this forum called TREATING ESTROGEN RESPONSIVE CANCER NATURALLY? I read these posts to learn more and share with others like myself natural alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs. There are other forums for other treatment choices.
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This is a discussion about "natural" txs. And supps are not natural. With regulated drugs, a minimum amount of the active ingredient must be met. The rest are fillers. They are kept in check. Supps though are not. They should have a long list of possible ses as well but they don't. Maybe a couple max for it to still sell. At least with drugs you are warned with every possible se and can decide for yourself or at least be aware. The layperson looking for natural has no such heads up on the bottles. And many are scams made in China for ex under cover sold on amazon. Amazon doesn't regulate or guarantee authenticity of supps sold there. The only natural thing is fresh stuff, never altered in any way. Once it's processed, it's no longer natural.
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I took bcp for 25 years straight to regulate my periods. I had. Heard of bc risk but thought not in family so ok.
We never have 0 estrogen no matter the pills we pop and age we are or organs we remove. Our bodies can't function with 0.
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Hi
I absolutely agree with you about supplements. However, I do take supplements like dim, myomin, flaxseed, selenium, bone supplement, and a few others. I also eat organic, plant based diet. Always have. I chose not to take hormones -too fearful, but too afraid to go totally “natural”. Rather take my chances with a few supplements than with potent pharmaceuticals along with their side effects that can also do harm.0 -
either way can do harm. Many supps are not less harmful than drugs on your body. Liver has to process them all. The myth is all supps are safer than drugs. This is because since they aren't regulated, checked on and effectively researched on it appears to be so. Supps like breast defend are more questionable than say fish oil because there aren't credible resources like the fda who will be held accountable if it causes harm to someone or if fake pills are being produced and sold under disguise. Its so easy to see contains 3 cups of these veggies all in 1 or 2 pills and think hurray! No way. You'd need several horsepills a day and it still wouldn't mount to what they claim.
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Momine,
Restorative yoga is really good for joint pain and there are poses that involve the feet. Classes are not too hard to find if you would ever want to give that a try. I love it and have been doing it for over ten years
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I would like to add this about FDA, drugs vs/ supplements:
The fact is the drug companies can test their products which costs millions of dollars. Then when their 'studies' are finally approved, they recoup those expenses in the billions of dollars they make selling their drugs. You are never going to make millions of dollars selling broccoli or anything else natural so they do not spend money doing studies to see benefits vs. side effects and the FDA will never approve anything that isn't tested and studied in the same way.
I have personally known scientists who worked for drug companies such as Glaxo and I have a friend who is an oncologist. They have both told me you have to be careful of 'studies' as they are allowed to curve the results they published.
There are some supplements that are extremely beneficial for some people. Magnesium and B2 for example helped me get off pharmaceuticals for migraines. Those are not FDA regulated but yet they are safe to take in certain quantities, they have absolutely helped me and I am not suffering side effects that the Topomax gave me that I was prescribed for migraines. There was no way I was capable of eating enough food to get the amount of Magnesium and B2 my body needed.
You have to be your own researcher and advocate. I prefer to not take AI drugs because honestly the side effects do not outweigh the 2% risk I was increased by due to my diagnosis. But, if I had invasive cancer and a higher grade and stage and not have caught mine so early on - I would have given more weight to the drugs based on any increase of risk. But what I won't do is take a drug that I have to then take more drugs to ward off the side effects. That is just not what I am willing to do.
I love that this forum gives us information if we do indeed want to stay pharmaceutical free. I trust supplements that are clear about what is in them and that I have researched to the best of my ability. I do tend to stay away from products that are not clear about what is in them and have some 'proprietary blend'. If I feel sick from them, if they upset my stomach or whatever, then I know it was not for me.
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Supps are the big money makers too. Those unchecked and unregulated companies can put whatever they want on their labels and carefully select their words. Regulated manufacterers cannot. We hear all the time the fda is mandating such and such to disclose or further clarify on something. Not saying drugs are perfect, they are not, but at least you know it got on the shelf approved. Supps and herbs are considered drugs too. They've been chemically altered to be in pill form.
You can't go wrong with fresh. Smoothies and such are the way to go over pills any day.
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HapB
The only way I know to trust a supplement is complete disclosure on the label, reports about the company and their practices and I thoroughly check out every ingredient in them. Honestly if you are looking to food - unless you are growing ALL your own, you don't know everything about the food you are getting either. Look at how many recalls are happening with vegetables. I guess my answer is do your absolute best.
I need 400mg of magnesium and B2 a day to help ward off the migraines. I was not getting enough in my food (I was getting 3 migraines per week minimum) and then take into consideration how my body digests the food and after what is left that actually gets into my body via my intestines. Though, that being said, I do try to get as much as I can from food. DIM is actually made of all the cruciferous veggies I have already been eating. I have a food processor and chop up all cruciferous veggies and eat them that way.
I also do what I can with essential oils and I only buy from companies that I know how the oils are produced.
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FYI. Dietary Supplements are regulated and as someone else pointed out, lots of our foods contains supplements (fortified cereals, breads, flour, etc). FDA regulation of supplements is similar to the FDA's regulation of our foods. The idea that supplements land on our store shelves with no FDA regulation is simply wrong.
https://www.chpa.org/FAQsDS.aspx
" Dietary supplement products are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is probably the most commonly misunderstood fact about the dietary supplements industry. Most of the misunderstanding occurs when people confuse dietary supplements with prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and expect them to be regulated in the same manner.
Dietary supplements are meant to supplement the diet; accordingly, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) defines them as a subset of foods, and they are regulated as such. As is the case with foods, FDA regulates the types of ingredients allowed in dietary supplements and the types of claims that can be made about an ingredient and/or a product. FDA also has detailed requirements for the labeling of dietary supplements (e.g., nutrition labeling, allergen labeling, statement of identity, and a net quantity statement, among others).
While dietary supplement manufacturers must ensure that their products are safe prior to marketing, FDA also has several post-marketing responsibilities to ensure the safety of dietary supplements. Among those is enforcement of the final rule on dietary supplement Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs), released on June 25, 2007. This rule is mandatory for all dietary supplement companies and it became effective for all companies in June 2010 following a three-year, phase-in period. cGMPs establish uniform standards needed to ensure quality throughout the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and storing of dietary supplement products.
FDA also oversees mandatory adverse event reporting by dietary supplement manufacturers. In 2006, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, requiring that dietary supplement manufacturers promptly communicate serious adverse events to FDA. This requirement went into effect December 22, 2007. Serious adverse events associated with the use of a dietary supplement should be reported to FDA's MedWatch Program.
In addition, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates dietary supplement advertising. More information on FDA's and FTC's responsibilities are available online.
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supps do say themselves not fda tested..
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I actually educate on this topic and teach it at my medical facility. The burden of proof falls to the FDA, which is very different route vs prescription medications. To prove there is a supplement that is harmful requires manpower and resources. Something the FDA does not have. Usually the FDA gets involved once a case is filed - once the harm has been caused. There are a handful of certifications for supplements that are purchased by companies to undergo "quality" control BUT the truth is - no there is very little actual control of knowing what is in a supplement and whether or not the supplement will actually dissolve in the environment of the stomach and GI tract. My patients will always say "look at this research - this person lost weight or was cured or whatever." While research is done on some supplements most of them are not double blind, and do not go through an approval process by an IRB board and most outcomes are not able to be replicated. In addition, the research that is done on many supplements that quote clinical trials is done using a chemical form of the supplement that is not purchasable or usable by the public or is able to hold its form in a pill. There are medicinal supplements that do provide some benefit to people, BUT there is not enough control on quality/labels/content/safety - take them at your own risk. I just had a talk with one of our docs about alkaline water....I could not believe the misinformation that was given to a patient...that is one that makes me cringe. Before I was a breast cancer patient, I would speak at breast cancer events about supplement use...interesting turn of events in the past year....
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- Foods are not tested either, but they are regulated. Dietary supplements are treated similarly. Just as manufactures of food items must list ingredients,ingredients must be listed on supplements and just as with food, manufacturers of supplements cannot use fillers not shown to be safe, etc. Untested is not the same as unregulated. Medications are tested and so are allowed to make certain claims that manufacturers of supplements are not allowed to make. Regulation of supplements is similar to the regulation of foods meaning they may or may not do what you think / hope they will do but they must contain what they are labeled to contain and are manufactured, packed, processed a
- In a facility that meets certain standards. Basically, if you trust your foods to be safe (mostly, usually) you can trust your supplements. Neither manufactures of food nor supplements can use ingredients known to be unsafe. It was posted that supplements are unregulated and that is simply not true. Tested and regulated are two different things. My neighbors homemade BlackBerry jam is unregulated, but my supplements are not. Neither is FDA tested or approved. My Femara is both FDA tested and approved to help prevent a recurrence of breast cancer but I dare say it is more likely to cause and has caused me more health problems than my neighbors jelly or my supplements!
- Although I'm pretty sure my neighbor's jelly would make me very fat if I ate enough of it-even though there is no calorie count on the label, actually there is no label because it is not regulated, I'm still willing to believe eating it (in moderation) will not harm me. Unregulated, untested does not necessarily mean unsafe.
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very interesting peacetoall... thanks for teaching us. makes sense.
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Supplements are not necessarily 100 percent chemicals. I eat flaxseed as a dietary supplement. It is 100 percent flaxseed. Now, my Femara (FDA tested and approved) that is a chemical. Personally, I have followed a Paleo diet for years, so do not eat much in the way of Franken foods-cheats like my neighbors jam are an exception, but I do believe supplements are sometimes needed. Without supplements my vitamin D was extremely low which is known to be not healthy and may be connected to a higher risk of Breast cancer, so tested or not I will keep taking it. While not tested it should be remembered our doctors sometimes advise us to take them because vitamin supplements can and do correct vitamin deficiencies. I would hate to see someone with pernicious anemia refuse to take their b12 because it is a supplement and therefore unregulated and by extension unsafe. That is untrue and if you have pernicious anemia unwise.
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I do eat real flaxseed, but it is generally considered a dietary supplement not a food. Maybe because most people don't sit down to a nice bowl of flaxseed and it doesn't seem to fit the traditional description of a condiment.
Now, I take a kelp supplement (also not a chemical) because I really don't like kelp (the food-yuck). Turmeric is not a chemical, it is a spice. Mine is mixed w black pepper and suspended in coconut oil in a kosher gelatin capsule (no chemicals). I used to take tumeric with pepper and a bit of olive oil, but it tastes like crap and left yellow stains all over my countertops-sometimes the supplement is just the better option. Since I eat Paleo I'm pretty careful about my supplements, biggest problem is avoiding soy (also not a chemical, but not Paleo) which seems to be a popular filler in many supplements. Point being, lots of supplements are not chemicals and don't contain any chemicals. As with food, you need to be aware of the ingredients and read the labels. And because supplements are regulated, they are required to lists the ingredients on their labels-just like food.
Interestingly enough, even though supplements don't undergo the same kind of testing FDA drugs do, several of my doctors recommend them. My OC recommends turmeric and magnesium supplements (to help w inflammation, aches and pains while taking anti-hormonals and the magnesium to help w constipation sometimes associated with these drugs from hell) and my gastroenterologist also recommended I take turmeric after having several colon polpys. She believes turmeric can help prevent these. Not FDA approved, but these doctors are specialists in their fields, so I don't think their opinions can be totally discounted nor do I think they would recommend them if they felt they presented serious health risks.
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A note about flaxseed. If you are a fan, cadmium contamination is IMO a real issue with most flaxseed. I buy Northern Edge brand only. It can be ordered online.
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what process is used to break down/create these supp pills? Heat? Chemical? What ever it is it's altered. As was stated in that nice educational post, by the time it's a pill, that kelp and tumeric are not the same. My dad gets this as hes an engineer with great interest in health but just feels better popping his fish oil and various other "natural" stuff, though after his stroke he's eating kale, broccoi and other stuff he doesn't like on it's own. He bought a nice juicer and tossed it in from various recipes with fruit to kill any bad taste. Lots of great smoothie made of veggies and fruit pallatable, some even good. Toss flax seeds in. No supp can beat the real deal. If you are that low on something, otc supp may or may not help. If someone's got severe anemia, they are getting rx iron.
Also even fresh unless you have a garden, if you're buying it from a market, they tell you shelf life for that veggie. Tony tantillo on cbs tells you how to store produce as this differs and how long you have to gain the most nutrients from it.
This is like the cooking vs eating veggies raw. Overcook it and it's basically no good, now let alone when its a pill. It doesn't just shrink into pill form on its own...
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Labelle - oh so true re: soy fillers! Since going Paleo 3 years ago reading labels became part of life for me, and shopping twice as long. Soy, along Many other no-nos literally oozes down store aisles!
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I watch the old game show channel at late night. I laugh at this dumb commercial called super beets. It's 3 beets! It's this powder you mix in water and it shows people energized and a couple are dancing for joy. OMG folks, you really believe it's actually 3 beets you are getting?? After the processing to powder form, you may not even have any sign of any beets in it. But on the label they aren't lying, it is beets, but at the molecular level, not any more and certainly not 3 beets. It may have started that way but that's not the end product. And the price! Rip off! Buy 3 beets and juice it.
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There are reputable supplement companies that have their products third party tested in order to provide the consumer with a safe product (heavy metals are a huge problem in fish oil, clorella and turmeric, green tea..). Consumer lab.com is the place to check.
I’m more trusting of taking fish oil from one of the companies that regularly tests the product as opposed to trusting the wild caught salmon I can find at the store. That’s just me.
I’m sure I don’t eat enough vegetables and certainly not the recommended variety of vegetable but I am also pretty sure that my tumor didn’t come about from my diet either. Then again since the asparagus has been vilified who know which others are lurking bad tumor strengthening properties (its fresh fava bean season and those areas where fava beans are regularly consumed have higher rates of BC) —- go figure.
Unless my tumor grew from my high consumption of fava beans and asparagus when in season - I suppose anything is possible.
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Hi everyone...I didn't mean to start a debate on prescription drugs vs supplements. My point was just that FDA approved prescription drugs can cause very serious SEs. IMO I got breast cancer from the HRT I took with a docs approval. You also don't really know what fillers are in them, especially generic drugs. I have Celiac Disease and cannot have gluten. Trying to ascertain if there is wheat in generic drugs is next to impossible. When a generic drug is prescribed the pharmacist can pull from a variety of that drug so you never really know what you are getting. So to sum it up they both have their issues and we have to be diligent about doing research. Good luck to all.
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Hi everyone...I didn't mean to start a debate on prescription drugs vs supplements. My point was just that FDA approved prescription drugs can cause very serious SEs. IMO I got breast cancer from the HRT I took with a docs approval. You also don't really know what fillers are in them, especially generic drugs. I have Celiac Disease and cannot have gluten. Trying to ascertain if there is wheat in generic drugs is next to impossible. When a generic drug is prescribed the pharmacist can pull from a variety of that drug so you never really know what you are getting. So to sum it up they both have their issues and we have to be diligent about doing research. Good luck to all.
PS Consumerlab.com is a great resource for supplements
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Dtad - Very true. Diligent research is essential!
Case in point - Thalidomide. Touted as the miracle cure for morning sickness in the 50s & 60's. It was aggressively pushed at my mother while pregnant with me (she was crazy sick). Her doc told her it was safe, effective and had no side effects. What a heinous train wreck Thalidomide was! Upwards of 100,000 babies born worldwide with deformities along with other heartbreaking health issues, that is if they survived. Thousands of women miscarried, the loss is undetermined.
Thankfully my mother refused it on the grounds that her gut told her not to take as much as an aspirin during pregnancy and to just roll with the morning sickness.
I'm not in any way saying not to take meds or suppliments, but Dtad is so very right. Go in armed to the teeth before popping pills in your mouth. It may save you future misery.
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any idea about noni fruit??? Is it ok to take it daily??
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So if all supplements and all prescription meds are off the table, how is everyone preventing cancer naturally? Edited to add: If there is any reading material that helped you go plant-based, I'd love to read it. I do well, in my opinion, with my diet, but I know I should improve upon it.
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That’s a tropical fruit, very anti cancerous, I take two spoons every morning with empty stomach .. I know a lady with big tumor that had to stop chemo due to heart problem and couldnt do surgery either, after 6 months using noni syrup the tumor was totally gone.
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