Book: How to Starve Cancer Without Starving Yourself

pipers_dream

by Jane McLelland. I just finished reading and then turned around and read it again. She had stage IV cancer back in the late 90's and was NED until 2004 and then had lung Mets and then got leukemia caused by the chemo, which has very low rates of survival but she was learning by then that certain drugs can be used off label to starve off the various metabolic pathways by which cancer feeds itself. She talks about using drugs like metformin, some older statin drugs, worm medicines (like was used in Joe Tippin's story), dipyridimole, and several others. Some work together synergistically for much greater effect and most have been on the market for a long time. She has a Facebook group called Jane McLelland Off-Label Drugs for Cancer, or you can get the book on Amazon. I paid $4.49 for my kindle copy.

I wanted to let you all know about this as it's another option and also let you know that Jane did conventional therapy for her cancer so she talks about being able to use these drugs while receiving lower doses of chemo because they worked so well together. She talks about how chemo mainly targets the fast growing cells while the off label meds target the stem cells. The book is roughly half her personal story and half science of how these things work and how to figure out what you need for your own particular cancer.

As a personal aside, I'm staying down in Chile until early November because I have a grand baby down here and I figured I'd have to wait until I got back to the states to get the drugs, but I was at a street market the other day and found metformin and atorvastatin for $3.00 a box! I was a bit concerned about dates but they were not even close to being expired and all pills were in bubble packs so I felt safe to take them. I started the metformin the other day and have already lost two pounds, which was needed

BevJen

There is a whole thread on the Jane McLelland book on BCO -- if you are interested, you should go to

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/...

Folks have been discussing various aspects of the McLelland book for a while now. It's an interesting book

pipers_dream

Thanks for the heads up BevJen but I’d like to discuss it on this board if you don’t mind...I noticed that the link you sent me to is for stage IV only so a lot of us are asked to stay off that board. I forgot and posted anyway lol.

Anonymous

Hi, Pipers_Dream, I had answered one of your questions in the Stage IV thread, I'll re-post my answer here in case you would like to discuss. The question was about what people were told by the MO about taking Vitamin C. Although I never asked about IV Vitamin C this is the response I got from my MO after she saw the supplements I was taking:

"My MO told me in the beginning not to use any anti oxidant supplements while on chemo because chemo uses free radicals to kill the cancer cells and anti oxidants destroy free radicals.

Beyond that, even if not on chemo, they believe anything that protects healthy cells from damage may also be protecting the mutant cells. She won't even give me an OK to take an occasional high dose C tablet to relieve constipation"

I know that there is a distinction made between IV and oral Vitamin C, which you and others pointed out, but conventional docs like mine don't really care about that. If there aren't clinical trials showing good results, they aren't going to recommend or support anything complementary or alternative.

Ironically, my MO also told me I could "take a multi vitamin" which might have megadoses of C and other vitamins. She didn't offer any cautions or advice about that. I love her skill and knowledge of conventional medicine but she is really not on board with anything outside of the conventional norms.

I am interested in possibly taking metformin, I already do claritin and baby aspirin for their other benefits and if it has anti-cancer action too, all the better. I wonder if I could get my MO or possibly my primary care doc to prescribe it.

PS I have Jane's book in my Kindle but haven't gotten around to reading yet. I may have to check and see if it is in audible.

pipers_dream

Olma, if you can’t find anyone to prescribe that, I know some folks are driving down to Mexico or ordering from India. And thank you for answering my question about the vitamin C...I’ve seen it work wonders for some people. An interesting thing they do these days is to check your blood sugar before and after the IV...the infusion will raise your blood sugar and it has to hit a certain number to know they got it in the therapeutic range but it doesn’t actually raise your glucose, just the number. If that makes sense.

Anonymous

Thanks for those suggestions, Piper!

1redgirl

I too read this book. What a journey she has had. Yikes. Just wanted to relate an experience I had this summer that underscores how unique different we all are.

Early this summer, I began taking a baby aspirin each day. So we are talking about a very low dose. I woke up one morning after a few weeks of taking aspirin and noticed a big bruise on my wrist. Wow. As I went into bathroom to see bruise better, I saw I had a black eye. Wow. I went directly to the hospital. Turns out my blood is really thin to begin with. Often that happens with older people as I am older. So no aspirin for me. My husband, also old and thin, takes a full adult size aspirin each day for his heart issue. Anyway, he has zero side effects from aspirin. So what works well for one may be a health scare for another.

Just wanted to end this post with a reflection of a close friend with breast cancer that recently passed away. She and I got breast cancer the same week many years ago. She chose an aggressive path, while I chose surgery only. We both then led full lives no longer living near each other. Her cancer came back 4 years ago with vengeance. Mine about 2 yrs ago. I spoke with her 2 weeks before she died. She sounded so weak. Just struggling. It really broke my heart, but I stayed optimistic. I really am horribly sad. I truly cannot believe she is gone. I just got back from a lovely vacation. I am glad I went. No matter what happens, I will have that memory. Best to everybody.