Brazilian berry 'Acai" destroys cancer cells

Hi Dierdre1

I appreciate knowing who someone is because then I can put their biases into context. People who are trained as scientists will often be far more exacting in their need for documentation, and they are willing to be called upon to provide that kind of exacting documentation in their field. It's not about a hierarchy of valuing someone's opinion more than anothers, in fact, all my posts here have been about valuing and respecting patient's completely nonscientific accounts of their experiences. That has been my main point.

People who want to grill patients for documentation and scientific support do believe they have a right to question, and some feel they have a right to attack what they see as "bad information" even when it is primarily someone's experience. It helps to know who they are in real life, when I try to accept their  position, it helps me to know where they are coming from. I can ask people to try to be as inoffensive as possible when they question others, so as not to stifle and discourage participation here.

You don't have to respect someone's training, but I do find the information helpful to understanding where they are coming from. People live in different worlds, and often communication across those worlds can be difficult.

And of course some folks are just contrarians who like to play devils advocate, and irritate people just for the #@%* of it. LOL 

I was just about to post and ask if anyone takes the supplement as I just read about it in my Body and Soul magazine. I am going to get some and start taking I think. 

Hi Fairy49

I am here because you folks help me, I'm a newbie at breast cancer. I cannot get the kind of in depth information about how breast cancer affects us personally, in real life, from any clinical literature or medical training. What people contribute here is invaluable to me.

I especially value the participation in the alternatives board, and hope very much that more people will want to weigh in with their personal experiences, both good and bad, with these alt/comp treatments. I don't want to have to rely on company literature when I consider whether to try a product. If more folks came by to talk about their experiences we would all benefit from their experience. I mean real people, not spammers. If it were not such a hostile atmosphere here more folks might come, that's why I am pleading for some kindness and consideration from everyone.

rescue, thank you for you input, and I couldn't agree more.  I value this board very much for the same reasons, that is why I choose to ignore the negative nellie's who are hell bent on disrupting the threads, thats all we need to do really.  I totally understand people having different opinions, however I don't understand the hostility in the posts sometimes, it makes no sense to me at all.  So I will continue to participate because I feel strongly that this is an important thread, and if there are people on here claiming to be something they are not, then I hope they can sleep at night. Peace out sisters!!

Lorraine ox

Hi Dierdre

As a paramedic I am very much "low man on the totem pole" in the medical field, no one regards me as any kind of expert, so I almost cannot conceive of receiving any special respect for it. If I garner any respect at all I hope it is for trying to make positive contributions on the board. I don't automatically give respect to anyone with a title, so I'm pretty immune to such claims to authority. I think over time you can discern who is for real, even on the internet, and many people who are not trained in a medical specialty can have a better grasp of the facts than those with degrees and letters after their name.

I went through the AIDS crisis here in NYC during the 80's, when patients became experts in immunology and infectious disease, and lobbied for research funds, holding their own with the "experts" on the details of HIV/AIDS care and advances, and forcing forward changes in medical institutions that had defied change for generations. They moved an immovable object, the FDA, to get real treatment for their disease. What they achieved was outstanding.

In many ways the breast cancer advocacy movement used the earlier HIV/AIDS movement as a model for pushing for funding, research, and expanded access to care. It was all patient powered at it's start, and the role of patients, like you and I, is paramount. I will always respect people most firstly for being people with breast cancer here, and whatever skills and special insight they have to offer from special training is just gravy.

Sure, there may be a few lost souls who are posting here and may not have breast cancer, and may misrepresent themselves, but I am not going to worry about things I cannot control. What people contribute to the board is the means I have to understand them.

I am NOT trying to be argumentative here, so please accept this as a legitimate question. I know no other way to word it, so I hope the tone is acceptable:

In the future, if I would like more information that a poster has said she/he has access to, how should I word the request? My first question on this thread was, "I would like links to some of those studies if you don't mind." I'm not sure how I could have asked differently. Obviously, if I thought it was inflamatory, I wouldn't have posted it that way. I have someone close to me who becomes very defensive whenever any question is asked of him, so I do try to be careful about how I word things out of habit.

rescue07, I agree with you we do have a tone in our posts.  To think that it's absent is truly a reflection of the person making such a comment.  The entire tone of this whole section has changed and it's not even comparable anymore to an exercise that a debate team might pursue. 

The tone is that of bickering, and I attribute this change to the presence of a bully.  LJ13 has an attitude of 'I'm right and you're wrong' and it is tiresome.  The atmosphere is acrimonious now because of this individual.  There is no free flowing exchange of ideas and opinions that are different. 

To express a belief that contradicts our resident bully is like pressing an ugly button, and all kinds of sarcasm, derision, haughty superiority, and overall intolerance of any differing thoughts comes spewing forth in copious quantities.  

When it happens daily, people who normally get along just fine end up bickering as well.  There's no reasoning with a person like this.  It's a nice sentiment, rescue, to think that a reasonable discussion could ensue with this individual, but I predict that you and I are just going to get lambasted by the bully for being wrong.  

I agree about the cranberry juice......I'd swear by it.

I went back to my posts to see if they were offensive.  I have tried to be very careful of other people's feelings for the most part.  Again, I am trying to correct basic biochemistry and biology for those who do not have a background in those areas.  We need to have our basic science correct as it is the foundation on which we base our treatment decisions.  We also need to watch our wording, calling substances effective in treating cancer when all we know is that the are effective at providing anti-oxidants. Those are the main emphases of my posts.

My purpose is not to offend.  My purpose is not to make light of alternative treatments.  My purpose is to ensure the basic science (biology, biochemistry) is correct, so that our conclusions will be correct.

The exception would be my posts about baking soda/maple sugar cure in which the evidence found on the internet pretty much shows it is a scam.

If anyone would like it, I can scan my diploma and send it to you.  There is such a feeling of mistrust on this thread that it actually hurts.

By the way, thanks for the testimonials about cranberry juice.  I think I am developing UTI subsequent to my hysterectomy/laparotomy two months ago. I hate to run to the doctors all of the time. I am going to try cranberry juice.  NOTE THIS WAS A POSITIVE COMMENT.  The poster said it was effective at preventing UTIS for her, she did not claim it cured breast cancer.

It is very disheartening that all our threads seem to end up going downhill because of a few people who seem against anything we say.

The truth is, we are all going to die--- someday. There are no statistics that can tell us when. While we can read thousands of studies that can give us statistics about our chances of this or that, there are some things that are immeasurable. That is why I take stats with a grain of salt. That is why I believe that there are a lot of great alternatives that we can all add to our regime, whether or not some study backs it up. We can not measure the power of prayer, does that mean we should not pray? We cannot measure the power of positive thinking, does that mean we should all just give up? We cannot measure the power of love, does that mean we should not care about others? Miracles do happen, so why shouldn't we believe in them. I will never in a million years understand why people will not allow us to have a forum here to talk about things that may help us prevent cancer in our futures. We are all survivors here. Why is it that some people feel the need to attack those who do not believe the same way. There are dozens of threads on these forums that I would never go to because I feel they are for people of a different mindset. I am against using drugs like tamox or arimidex, but I would never tell women on those threads that they are killing themselves just because I do not believe in them. I am not an atheist, so I would never go to that thread and admonish people for not believing in God. Why do people come to our discussions, in a sarcastic matter, just to stir up a hornets nest, but trying to put us down? It is one thing to offer constructive comments, such as "I tried that and it did not work", but quite another when we are called out for every comment we make on every alternative thread. No one  here would mind if we were advised to proceed with caution because there is a study that shows a counter evidence, but it is totally unfair for some people to constantly berate those of us on the alternatives threads who just like to do everything we can to prevent a recurrance. Many of us are living proof that it works. FlaLady is a prime example of how integrating traditional treatments with alternatives is beneficial, even when doctors say, do not bother. I know that without changing my lifestyle the way that I have, I would still fear the return of the beast. But since I have chosen this holistic path, and feel wonderfully healthy for the first time in my life, I would like to motivate others to look at alternatives too. It does not have to be an either/or proposition. For me, taking control of my health issues has been very empowering. I could easily move on now, because I am well. I only hang around here in hopes that I can help others in the same way, women helped me, when I first came here looking for answers, outside of the box.

This pointed animosity towards anything alternative needs to stop. It is not healthy for any of us, and most of all for those who perpetrate it. What is the point? We are all here as sisters. Can we please start acting like it? If you do not believe in any of this stuff, I totally respect your right to follow whatever therapies your doctors recommend. I just wish those of us who do think outside the box, would be allowed the same freedom to share our findings here, without constantly being painted into a corner and forced to defend ourselves.

That said, berries, of any kind, are very good for. So how about we all just "Eat, drink, and be Berry!"

07, in text there are no facial cues. There is no tone, because you can't HEAR anything. There is only the inflection you choose to put on the words. Women are particularly inclined to attach some sort of tone to text, because they are more inclined to look for the emotional basis. Again, this is your choice.

This is all well documented in studies of contemporary communication modalities.

I had kidney stones and my  urology doc recommended cranberry juice..did the job..I have been drinking it now for 39 years and no more stones or UTIs

Worked for me on that front

Vivre, for the umpteenth time, no one is prohibiting you from discussing whatever you like. No one is being censored. If your posts go away, it's because the mods find them inappropriate

Actually, she didn't say she was prohibited from discussing, she explained that there are constant jabs at the women who choose alternative.  These threads are for those seeking info on alternative and who are using it. And there are some people CONSTANTLY bashing them.

I didn't see any of her posts go away.  But usually its not the mods who delete them, deletions are caused by the community ... and the community can be just 3 people (or 3 id's from one person) who hit report this post and POOF your post is gone.  So much of this board is controlled by a few ..... And the mods don't bother to read the pm's about the deleted posts. There have been a bunch of victims of some pretty controlling women who follow posters around just to cause them trouble.

I have been using "the juice" Mona Vie for that last 6 weeks and while I don't know if it's killing cancer cells, I do know I feel better...

Who decides what is a cancer cure? Conventional medicine does not know...or for that matter what is a good protocol from prevention. Conventional medicine does not know this either. Prevention has only been talked about for the last five years or so. Why? Conventional only treats after the condition shows up until recently and now only touching the very edge of prevention for most diseases not just cancer. I posted a thread that has 100's of  possible supplements working in the cancer area.  There are over three thousand supplements in trials.  They must have some value to be spending research dollars on them. For something to make it to trials it has to have a history of positive out come. Also most of these vitamins/supplements are being research still after fifteen years of study.  This is by no means cut and dry...yes or no if it will work. Just because it can't be proved under a microscope does not make it a useless supplement or protocol.  Most supplement will not hurt you as long as you don't over dose or in a care of a naturopathic/conv. doctor.   We all agree that the cure may be out there some where....but just because a trained person does not see all the research does not mean any of us have all the facts.  We have to  remember the political aspect of our medical industries. Perfect example is Vit D why are they just finding out the importance?  They forgot to go back to the basic's of the WHOLE body being looked at and treated.  Not just what is the obvious symptoms you are now having. Until conventional medicine learn to treat the whole body as a support systems we need to do it ourselves.

I do not think it fair to show credentials that can't be proven in this area in most cases. It's can be like one doctor is giving their opinion and you can go get a second opinion and get a whole different answer.  The key is are you showing a example... or are you trying to sway people to your thought process without being a specialist in the field to be speaking that it is only as you perceive it to be.  Showing a example on hands on experience is one thing but what you supposely learned in school is another.  That is why I post research that is for all to read and take from it what they want.  I only ask that we each take responsibility for our research and choices. I just hope we all can share information that leads others to want to know more and look for answers and take charge of your own health.  It's your body and you need to be in charge of it.

I sure no one wants to offend about your credentials but we have been burnt pretty bad in the last few months with posters say they are the authority on everything and we have become more on the defense about being spoke down too.  No one needs to be saved on this site and it is none of us job to save anyone. We are all adults a can make decision about our health needs.

Everything posted in this section can be research before use.  They all any of us can do.

Flalady