Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm just interested in a rough ballpark estimate interns of how much you're spending on all of your treatments, including your tests and various machines? Are we talking thousands of dollars a month?
How long have you been taking various supplements?
Also, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you?
Oh my, no!! I don't have thousands of dollars a month to spend on this. I would let myself die if I was costing that much to stick around. Lol. So yeah, let me post about the costs later tonight when I have more time. It's less than $500 a month, not including testing and the cost of the machines I bought. It was higher with the B17, which is the reason I stopped taking it.
I had my first test done in November of 2011, so around that time.
With respect to the bolded, you should. It all hangs on that. A lot of what the o.p. calls therapy is what a lot of Integrative Medicine practitioners call prevention. The best cancer cure (in 2016) is prevention. If, despite efforts to prevent cancer, a cancer, a conventionally diagnosed cancer, does appear somewhere in the body, the whole game changes.
Yes, and no. I would use all of these things for prevention, and yes, that's how I do things. Meaning gently; using things that are used for prevention. Also slowly. I would have to be much more aggressive if I had fast-growing cancer somewhere. I'm glad it's not worse because I can't afford to do the heavy hitters of alternative care (IV B17, amalgam replacement, cannabis extract). Those are all expensive. I really want to get my amalgams replaced, as I think that would go a very long way in helping me.
Quote:
As is evidenced by the various outcomes of many, many people in the real world, all bets are off as to the health trajectory of a legitimate cancer sufferer. They may enjoy a long remission, they may not, they may be debilitated, they may not and I don't know that anyone has found any definite clue as to who does what and how.
I will be the first to agree that conventional medicine is expensive and full of inaccuracy and ambiguity but, in a scenario like the o.p. where an alternative diagnosis leads to a positive result, I for one would want a second opinion, even if that second opinion itself was not entirely conventional. Nor is it completely the case that alternative therapies are cheaper than conventional medicine! Especially in the realm of oncology there are a number of horrifically expensive and totally unproven alternative therapies that desperate people turn to.
Again, I spend way less money than those who go the conventional route. I would spend more if I could but even those costs would be low compared to conventional.
The fact is that the most expensive thing for me (out of the things I'm not doing) is the mercury removal. That's just a one time charge; not an ongoing expense. The IVs of B17 aren't actually that expensive, but I'm not able to give myself IVs, of course. I would have to go to a Mexican clinic, and that's where the expense comes in. I was taking oral doses, and it didn't feel like enough. But I couldn't afford more, plus it's safer/better to take larger doses via IV. The cannabis extract is obviously expensive (and unavailable in my state), but I think the cost is still much lower than most chemo drugs. With B17 and CBD oils, you usually have to take maintenance doses. Kinda like conventional care where if you do nothing then the cancer may come back. Not like conventional in that those two things are *not* carcinogenic like chemo and radiation.
I can't even give an estimate of how much it would cost to take those substances since I don't know exactly how much it would cost to travel to Mexico and go to a clinic there, and I don't know the going rate of a pound of cannabis and I don't know how much I would need to take for maintenance. Again, I'm guessing it's not much when compared to the hundreds of thousands for conventional treatment.
This thread will be kept open for a while. People ARE allowed to post their opinions in Alternative Medicine. People are NOT allowed to rudely challenge and attack them. No one is telling anyone to use these methods in lieu of conventional treatment. Apparently alternative cancer prevention or treatment is not allowable in the cancer forum so this is the one of the few places where it can be discussed.
A person is allowed to tell their own personal alternative/integrative/complementary narrative here if they want to without rude interruptions. Any more rude interruptions and challenges will result in infractions.
Last edited by in_newengland; 06-07-2016 at 09:42 PM..
It's called Ankylosing Spondilitis. And yes, many of my supplements help with that, which is probably why I will continue to take them even if I don't think I absolutely need them. After being on them for so long, I know that I do need them for many reasons. I just feel better overall.
One thing people should keep in mind is that I haven't "cured" anything. I treat myself for cancer and I have it under control. I have obstacles that could be limiting my ability to gain more ground, so I'm just thankful nothing has gotten worse. That's the whole point of this for me--to make it so nothing gets bad. I don't *want* to be one of those people who absolutely has to go to an oncologist because I waited too long.
Just wondering what you would do in the event you got worse, thought it might be the cancer progressing? Would you ever consider going the allopathic route ( or at least consulting with an oncologist to see what your options might be), or would you look to change something in your supplements/routine to fight what was happening. Or figure you have done all you could and let nature take its course?.
It's a sincere question. While I worked in the medical profession for more years than I care to remember, and have seen and heard of many successes in the allopathic medicine arena, I'd never discount the power of one's own determination, including the placebo effect, over one's own health. To this end any number of medical professionals treating patients with cancer and chronic may encourage their use of some alternate forms of healing along with the traditional-they call it " integrative therapy".
Hopefully you know the sources of the supplements and herbals you take and what is in them, and be careful of undesirable side effects or interactions between them.
Just wondering what you would do in the event you got worse, thought it might be the cancer progressing? Would you ever consider going the allopathic route ( or at least consulting with an oncologist to see what your options might be), or would you look to change something in your supplements/routine to fight what was happening. Or figure you have done all you could and let nature take its course?.
I would change what I was doing and/or increase some of my therapies. If I had insurance and if I had something I couldn't manage myself and if I thought it would be worth it, then I might consider surgery. I'm not even a huge fan of that since there can be complications.
It's a sincere question. While I worked in the medical profession for more years than I care to remember, and have seen and heard of many successes in the allopathic medicine arena, I'd never discount the power of one's own determination, including the placebo effect, over one's own health. To this end any number of medical professionals treating patients with cancer and chronic may encourage their use of some alternate forms of healing along with the traditional-they call it " integrative therapy".
Yes, and I wish more conventional doctors would turn to integrative medicine. We would have a much healthier society if our doctors were to combine the best of both worlds. I was happy to learn that a new hospital around here has a supplement program for their oncology patients. Amazingly, they're giving out B17 as a "vitamin supplement". I'm betting they got sick of all the failures and decided to actually give their patients something they could use. Lol. Seriously, though, I think it's great that they're doing that at these newer hospitals. I hope it catches on to the rest. I just wish they would give credit where it's due instead of labeling a valid therapy as a "supplement" (thereby implying that it's not a medicine in its own right).
In regards to the sentence I put in bold. People may not realize that the placebo effect is actually better termed as the healing power of the mind. It's a shame that more don't recognize how powerful we really are and how much control we can wield over our lives. Too many have given away their power. The converse is also true, in that some people are vulnerable to suggestion and when a doctor tells them they have 6 months to live, they take it to heart. I think it's a really bad idea for them to give out death sentences like that. It's not encouraging *at all*. It may be true for that doctor because he/she is limited in what they can do for the patient and he/she is probably just trying to be honest, but geesh.
Quote:
Hopefully you know the sources of the supplements and herbals you take and what is in them, and be careful of undesirable side effects or interactions between them.
Thank you for your concern, but I have been doing this a *long* time. I do trust my supplements. Probably since about half of them or more are encapsulated by me using organic herbs and spices. I find it much cheaper to DIY as many of my supplements as possible. There are some that are just too tedious/hard to encapsulate like MSM and magnesium. Thankfully, I have found good brands for those, which don't contain fillers.
If I had all the time in the world, I would post references and links about each supplement I take. Since I don't have that much time, I can only urge people to do research on each one in a way that will give good search results. I would type in "cancer, (fill-in-the-blank)" for each one. So I would type in "cancer, magnesium deficiency" if it's a nutrient and "cancer, ginger" for the other supplements. Again, just fill in the blank with the name of the supplement (those were just examples). There is a lot of information out there; much of it being published by scientists and doctors.
I will go ahead and make some notations about several of my supplements since I've already done a lot of work to find the best brands. I don't work for any company I mention, of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freedomdove
-magnesium*
I take two different forms at two separate times of day for the magnesium. I take liquid magnesium chloride in my morning coffee and I take a couple magnesium glycinate capsules right before bed. The best I've found of the latter is from Pure Encapsulations. I prefer them for many minerals because they don't use fillers, or they use fillers that I don't find offensive. Some have no fillers at all, and some do have one or two (usually hypoallergenic plant cellulose).
I take Dr. Hendel's mag chloride from Swanson's. It comes from the exact place where Ancient Minerals comes from and it's half the cost. I figure if it's coming from the same seabed, that they're equal in quality. Look for the "Zechstein Inside" symbol on whatever brand you find since that's the seabed in question. It's called "magnesium oil", but it's not actually an oil; it just feels slick. It's used mainly as a topical nutrient but I don't like the feel of it on my skin. It can be too strong for sensitive people like me. I just spray a few squirts of it into my coffee. If I'm having cramps that need immediate magnesium application, I add some to my homemade lotion and rub it into the area. That helps it absorb better. Used alone, magnesium oil will sit on the skin for a long time before absorbing, and it may sting the skin of some people.
Please note that I'm not taking enough magnesium. I'm guessing I could use twice as much as I take currently.
To give some anecdotal evidence for mag chloride, I will relay what happened with my hairdresser. She had been having problems with carpal tunnel and other things, so I urged her to use the magnesium oil on her wrists. She got a lot of relief from this. So much so that she uses it pretty much every day now. As for myself, I know the magnesium helps because it takes away my muscle cramps and it helps me sleep. I'm sure it's helping more ways than that, however.
Magnesium comes in *many* forms. If you have constipation, a good form would be magnesium citrate. If you're trying to avoid the loose stools that come from high doses of magnesium, go with the mag chloride and mag glycinate. I tried the magnesium L-threonate for the supposed extra benefit of it passing the blood-brain barrier, but I honestly didn't feel that it was all that much different than normal magnesium. Plus, it's the most expensive form out there.
Quote:
-selenium (with vitamin E)* --- 200 mcg per capsule
-MSM* --- 1000 mg per capsule (four per day, but could use much more)
-zinc* --- 30 mg per capsule
-tyrosine (just one a week)
My selenium is in the form of selenomethionine from Pure Encapsulations (it's the most recommended form). That's also the brand I use for my zinc citrate. I alternate these two supplements every other day. I take selenium on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The zinc is on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I take my tyrosine on Sunday, since I don't feel a need to take a lot of that in my circumstance. I was taking selenium every day and only taking the zinc once or twice a week, and that wasn't a good balance for me. I was shedding way more hair than normal and I was a little dehydrated, I think. After switching to my current schedule, all is back to normal.
MSM is methylsulfonylmethane, which is the best form of sulfur besides having it through the diet. Doctor's Best has a good one with no fillers; they use OptiMSM, which is what I always look for in this particular supplement. MRM used to make one without fillers, too. I'm not sure if it's still that way or not with them; I switched to DB because the cost was less. If you can stand it, MSM can be found in pure powder form which you add to liquid.
Quote:
-greens powder, which usually includes chlorella and spirulina
-whole-foods organic multivitamin
-whole-foods B complex
-bee pollen
-organic whole-foods vitamin C* blend, which I create myself from various powders
My greens powder and whole-food B complex are also certified organic. Garden of Life finally came out with a one-a-day organic B-complex. I take that and their one-a-day organic whole-foods multivitamin (labeled "MyKind"). There are few whole-food multivitamins on the market, unfortunately, and I wouldn't touch a synthetic multi with a ten-foot pole. Lol.
I use Blue Bonnet organic greens after having tried a couple others. This one is affordable and contains all the greens I was wanting in a supplement, including spirulina and chlorella. It *doesn't* contain any herbs, which is important since I share this supplement with my teenage son who doesn't need herbs (just wanted a green powder to use as a preventative for him). I encapsulate it because I'm not a big fan of green drinks/smoothies. I don't get a full serving, but I come close by taking 3 caps twice a day. Thankfully, my son doesn't mind the taste when I put it in a glass of organic unfiltered apple juice.
The bee pollen comes from beekeepers who work with Azure Standard, which is a natural and organic buying club based in Oregon. I love that company, and have been shopping with them for over 2 years. They have drop points all across the country, and even in Hawaii. I encapsulate my bee pollen and take 2 large caps a day.
The last bottle of vitamin C powder I bought wasn't from tapioca. I found one that's made with non-GM-corn that I'm trying out. The name is "UltraFine Inteligent" from Empirical Labs. It was less expensive and more available than the tapioca. I may alternate between brands from here out. The tapioca-based C I take is from Ecological Formulas.
Quote:
-moringa leaf
The moringa tree is a wonderful being. The leaves have many benefits, including having a high protein content. I take it for that, and for its other virtues. I use an organic brand found at Amazon called Organic Veda, but you can find a few other organic brands besides them.
Quote:
-sublingual vitamin D3*
I tested out the effects of Superior Source's vitamin D3 to see if it worked or not since I was skeptical. I got a blood test done before starting to supplement and then again 2-3 months later after taking 10,000 IU per day. My level had gone up so much that they made a notation to tell me that I shouldn't let it get that high. So yeah, that's a good brand for D3 supplementation. Plus, they're easy to take. I do 3 of the 5,000 IU tabs every Sunday morning. I lay them out the night before and take them early in the morning before getting out of bed. I take them and fall back to sleep because my morning coffee gets more nutrients that I want to keep separate from the D3.
All sublingual medicines need taken in a certain way for best effectiveness. Nothing to eat or drink for 15 minutes before and after taking the supplement.
Quote:
-organic whey protein powder (for cachexia and to aid in glutathione production) ---- brand name "Protein 17"
-krill oil* (using in conjunction with whey to help gain weight, but also deficiencies in EFAs) --- NatureWise and Viva Labs are the best and least expensive I've found
-creatine (small amounts to help with cachexia)
Just by adding these three supplements to my regimen I was able to gain 10 pounds in about 2 months, and made it so that I wasn't feeling so weak. I wasn't even taking the full daily dose of whey protein. It's a very expensive supplement at the recommended dose (a scoop per serving). I don't like the taste of whey that much, even though this is the cleanest one I've had, so I encapsulate the powder. It takes 50 of the biggest capsules for one scoop of protein powder, and there's no way I can take that many each day while still taking everything else. So I ended up starting out at 8 capsules a day, split into 2 doses at mealtimes. That alone was enough to help me gain weight, so I feel okay not taking a full scoop a day for now. I had to back down to 4 caps a day and that's barely enough, but it does help me when I have a dip in energy.
I encapsulate my own creatine using Bulk Supplements' product. I'm not sure I trust this company 100% but I don't know of any *really* good sources for isolated amino acids. If anyone knows of one, please post about it.
Quote:
-astaxanthin
I take the Nutri-Gold brand for this. They are a good company who strives to never use GMOs or harmful fillers, etc. You have to watch these krill oil and astaxanthin supplements because the cheaper ones usually contain GM-soy lecithin.
Quote:
-broccoli sprouts (for sulforaphane)
I don't take these anymore, but I would if I was still taking as many pills as I did 5 years ago.
Quote:
-R lipoic acid (to aid in glutathione production)
This is a little expensive so it's one of the supplements I don't take regularly. A decent brand is Genceutic Naturals.
I will continue with the rest of the list in separate posts, as I have the time. I apologize if it's slow-going. I have many projects that need my attention.
If I had all the time in the world, I would post references and links about each supplement I take. Since I don't have that much time, I can only urge people to do research on each one in a way that will give good search results. I would type in "cancer, (fill-in-the-blank)" for each one. So I would type in "cancer, magnesium deficiency" if it's a nutrient and "cancer, ginger" for the other supplements. Again, just fill in the blank with the name of the supplement (those were just examples). There is a lot of information out there; much of it being published by scientists and doctors.
Please realize that the information you find might not be enough to convince skeptics that natural substances fight cancer. Because there are no clinical trials of herbs and spices, the majority of the studies are done on a smaller scale--like in petri dishes and animals, rather than human studies. I'm okay with that type of research because I'm not afraid to use myself as a guinea pig. In other words, when a paper says "further research needs done in humans", I am one of the humans. I choose to take the results of these studies and apply it to my situation, regardless if they've been "proven" by clinical studies. Minerals/vitamins, herbs, and spices can't be patented, so it's up to people like me to show effectiveness in real-life settings. If the substance seems really promising, I will try it--providing there aren't any contradictions in my personal situation. I am careful to investigate each herb/spice since I do have some conditions which preclude me from taking some of them (such as low blood pressure and blood sugar). Thankfully, or not, most people can benefit from such supplements because they're already dealing with hypertension or high blood sugar.
-sodium bicarb/potassium bicarb pills (just started these a month ago to replace the B17 and to help alkalize a bit and act as an anti-fungal agent)
Okay, so one of the main reasons I don't take as many pills as I did in the beginning is because of the experiment with sodium bicarbonate I had. For me, it wasn't a good fit. I was already dealing with low stomach acid for many years, and since baking soda is alkaline, it didn't do me any favors. I did *not* take it in the "traditional" manner where the baking soda is mixed with maple syrup--and that may have been a big mistake. I think perhaps the maple syrup buffers the baking soda so I would definitely mix it with maple syrup if I were to try this treatment again.
The whole point of the sodium bicarbonate treatment is to bring the body more into a neutral pH zone rather than acidic, and to let the antifungal properties of the baking soda do its job on pathogens. I am acidic, so I thought I would remedy it by taking the sodium/potassium bicarbonate pills. I was trying to avoid the taste of the baking soda but that was to my detriment because of my low stomach acid levels. Turns out that I should have just done my best to tolerate the maple syrup/baking soda mix, since maple syrup has recently been shown to be anti-cancerous.
What happened was that the sodium/potassium bicarbonates caused further problems for me. It's very hard to explain, but in short, it caused me issues when it comes to taking supplements and food. I went from being able to take 75 capsules a day to half that amount because my stomach was in distress from lack of digestive acids. I feel like a better way to use sodium bicarbonate would be injections directly into the tumor, such as Dr. Simoncini has done. That's where I feel like it would be most effective. Taking it orally can cause problems if the stomach conditions aren't conducive to alkaline substances. (Again, it may be different if it's taken with the maple syrup).
Once upon a time, I had been prescribed HCL-betaine for my low acid. I never took it because it was a liquid form and I was so very ill with the IPL effects. I just wasn't able to handle everything at once. After my baking soda fail, I bought some capsules of Betaine HCL/Pepsin and started taking them with my meals. This made it so I was able to eat normally again, and after a few months taking them, I no longer feel the need to have them at every meal. Your stomach *can* be retrained to produce stomach acids in the proper amounts.
Unfortunately, a couple people on the forum are trying to scare people away from the Navarro HCG test. This is based on a horribly-biased article written by a surgical oncologist who is totally against *anything* alternative or natural. David Gorski worked very closely with the oncologist who just got sent to prison for cancer fraud.
I trust the Navarro test enough to keep using it. I'm not forcing anyone else to use it. I'm not even recommending it. It's what *I* use and what I will continue to use to monitor my situation. I wrote about it because I knew some people would want to know what I use for testing. There are several tests you can get done through DirectLabs which are the more traditional ones. Just keep in mind that many of them aren't specific as to site--which is one of the reasons Navarro's test gets criticized, ironically.
Quote:
CA 19-9 is elevated in about 70% of people with advanced pancreatic cancer, but it may also be elevated in other cancers, conditions, and diseases such as colorectal cancer, lung cancer, gallbladder cancer, bile duct obstruction (e.g., gallstones), pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, and liver disease.
CA-125 is a protein present on the surface of most ovarian cancer cells. Testing for CA-125 is used to monitor treatment or detect recurrence of ovarian cancer. It is not typically used as a general screening test because levels can be elevated in other conditions such as normal menstruation, pregnancy, endometriosis, and pelvic inflammatory disease.CA 125 can also be detected in other cancers such as pancreas, liver, colon, breast, endometrial, fallopian tube, gastrointestinal, and lung.
CA 15-3 is a blood test used to monitor response to breast cancer treatment and disease recurrence.
Elevated levels may also be seen in lung, ovarian, endometrial, bladder, gastrointestinal cancers, as well as liver disease (cirrhosis, hepatitis), lupus, sarcoid, tuberculosis, and non-cancerous breast lesions.
Etc. As you can see, these tests aren't going to tell you exactly where the cancer is by themselves. If you must know where cancer is in your body before you will treat it then run--don't walk--to your nearest cancer clinic and request image diagnostics and whatnot. I'll pass.
The main reason I use Navarro testing over the others is because it's a urine test rather than a blood test. The last several times I've had my blood drawn, it hurts. Like as they're drawing it out, it hurts. My vein feels like it's collapsing. This has just been in the last several years; it never used to hurt to have my blood drawn. So anyways, I'd rather just not go through anymore blood tests than necessary. I use them for general blood work, and that's enough for me.
Last edited by in_newengland; 06-09-2016 at 06:43 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
