Strange side effects with my "alternative" approach

I am sorry to hear that.  I thought you were still waiting for the biopsy to confirm it was cancer.  How did the biopsy go?  I hope you are feeling well.

Hi I'm glad your having a really good day , It does  feel good to have them .Any news on a  up date on your diagnose yet ??? have you seen any results from a biopsy  . i read your first post and replied to that and I'm just wondering how your going

 Joanne

hey, are you on chinese medicinal herbs?  i know i feel SO much better since i changed my diet but the herbs for me add an extra boost.  if it wasnt for the ongoing disability i have from chemo is suspect i wud be running marathons by now.  my father has also converted, its the weirdest thing.  my whole family has.  my father is the last person to give up red meat and dairy but he has and he feels great.  he drinks wheatgrass juice every day and eats herbs and he doesnt even have cancer as a motivation.  he now insists on his daily green salad and vegetable juice, its pretty funny.

also acupuncture and qi gong help my mood so much.  im always happy afterwards, no matter what sort of bad mood i was in at the start.  i have to say that before i went to my chinese doctor, i was in the most awful mood possible, and i felt so tired and depressed and cranky with everyone.  he has totally turned me around.

also since i changed my diet including ditching caffeine, which was hard, i loved my earl grey tea  with sugar.., i dont get ANY headaches anymore.  i dont even know what one feels like.  i used to be on nurofen all the time for them.  i wud never go back to eating badly even tho i loved the taste of bad foods like KFC and choccy cake.  you can get chocolate w no dairy and no sugar but a stevia type thing thats sweet but still ok re: cancer.

also other cures i want to share that are natural.  since i started drinking raspberry leaf tea mixed with mint tea at that time of the month, i dont get cramps or period pain anymore.  i used to be on nurofen all week for it.  its really amazing.  one of the most amazing and instant results ive had from any herbal stuff.

another one is elderberry tea.  i buy it as 'cold rid' tea from my health shop.  havent had a flu since i started taking it whenever i felt one coming on.  mainstream sci studies found in 90plus % effective against normal flus and 99% effective in curing avian flu.  it is hardcore stuff and it really does work.  personally based on my experience i believe they've underestimated its effectiveness. i find a 100% cure /prevention rate.  when combined with tumeric and garlic and vit c and wheatgrass juice you're pretty set i imagine.

ps if anyone wants PROOF that this diet i suggested will make you feel so much healthier and better/happier, here it is:  since i started, i have not touched a chocolate eclair.  now anyone who knows me, knows that a few years ago, me not eating a chocolate eclair if it was around to be eaten, wud be like the sun not rising.  but i havent even touched one in years.  it scares me a little actually.... but thats how much better i feel.  i just cant do it to myself when i know the bad stuff it does to my body.  its not worth it anymore.

Hi Crunchy,

I'm sooo glad you are feeling great.  It has been 9 months since my diagnosis and I finished my radiation in Aug.  I am on Arimidex but haven't experience any SEs yet.  I am considering stopping the drug and going for only alternative treatments but I'm not there yet.  My husband and I went to an event last night and he said it was like being with a different person.  We danced the night away!  I never realized how badly I felt after menopause until now.  Because I did not have chemo, the effects of my changed lifestyle have shown up more quickly than others who had longer treatment periods.  The nutritional supplements, good food choices, and excersise have all brought me back to life.  Too bad I had to get BC to realize that my body was suffering.  I don't want to blame everything on the docs but I had been having my annual physicals.  If they had checked my blood levels for nutrients and estrogen dominance, I would have felt better for the past 9 years and may have avoided BC all together.  The health decline happened so gradually that I didn't notice.  Looking back, I  know I was depressed but because I still was able to work, it went undiagnosed.  I was tired and had no ambition.  Now I not only work, but also have a social life.  In April I'm going back to school for my masters degree in Experiential Health and Healing.  It is a 2 year program but it may take me longer because of my work schedule.  Not sure what I'll be doing with it other than learning information I can share with others.  Not bad for a 59 year old!

Sheila,

You are very brave.  I'm curious about what you are doing to support your healing instead of chemo.  If you haven't read these books, I strongly recommend them..."Breast Cancer and Iodine by Dr. David Derry, "Beating Cancer With Nutrition" by Patrick Quillin Phd, RD, CNS and "What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Breast Cancer".  I also recommend daily meditation.  Deepok Chopra believes that our healing starts with our spiritual energy so by connecting with our spirits through meditation, our bodies will naturally heal.  So much to learn!

I'm not sure about this Alternative Thread because alternative ideas are sometime received with hostility.  I'm wondering if some of us who want a noncensored forum for our ideas should be using the PM feature.  I'm all about the freedom to express but I don't want to upset others with what may appear to be "far out" concepts.  I also don't want to be verbally assalted by those who don't agree with me. 

Peace, love and healing...

Roseann

Crunchy: all that matters is that you are feeling so good now. Now that you are "back," you can concentrate on what matters: your research, and your difficult decisions.

Crunchy, if you were so strongly affected by someone you don't know on this forum, wait till your oncologist tells you what the odds are of living 10 years based on whether or not you have chemo!  That won't happen till you know all the details such as how many lymph nodes involved etc. They'll tell you that they have to kill any micrometastases before they turn into secondaries which chemo can no longer deal with.  Micrometastases are controversial.  It seems most people get them throughout life but our immune system normally deals with them and that's why I'm opposed to wiping out my immune system with chemo.  At the same time I'm aware that my immune system allowed the cancer to grow in the first place so I have to work on fixing my body so it's working at it's peak to fight any new or secondary cancers. 

People being offered chemo after the surgery seem to fall into one of three categories, either 1) the cancer isn't advanced enough to form secondaries as long as the surgery and any radiation deal with all the primary and local tumours/nodes and they are now cancer free, or 2) the secondaries have already begun somewhere, perhaps with stem cells and the chemo won't stop it.  This second group are the ones who have the chemo but still get secondaries later, 2, 5, 10, even 18 years later. 3) The third group are the ones that are helped by the adjuvant chemo and they are the smallest group, maybe 2% to 20% of those who are offered chemo depending on the stage etc.  Unfortunately there is no way to tell which group we are in since no scans or tests can detect micrometastates or stem cells or which ever undiscovered mechanism the cancer uses to spread.

If you get as much knowledge as you can before that decision time comes then you will be better informed before making the decision as I only had a week to make up my mind whether to have chemo and found myself going through a week of grief, crying like a baby in front of all the specialists and everywhere I went, shops, library etc and I don't normally cry in front of anyone.

You will find yourself on an emotional roller coaster so enjoy the highs and remember when the lows come that it's just temporary.

Hugs to you and good luck for Tuesday.

Crunchy -

Just pm'd you. 

Sheila:

You have hit the nail on the head, and your explanation is crystal clear.

However, when you write: .........3) The third group are the ones that are helped by the adjuvant chemo and they are the smallest group, maybe 2% to 20%.........one correction/question, maybe? Everything I have ever read points to the fact that this third group never exceeds 2% in terms of ABSOLUTE statistics (see, for instance, what these Australian oncs once had to say: Aussie oncologists: http://www.natural-progesterone-advisory-network.com/aussie-oncologists-criticize-chemotherapy-part-one/)